FW: Today's News Summaries
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Robert Hand
Jul 14, 2015, 7:12:06 PM7/14/15
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From: pvprea...@webtv.net
Subject: FW: Today's News Summaries
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 17:53:45 -0500
To: pvprea...@webtv.net
Subject: Today's News Summaries
From: voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 14:39:59 -0400
Editor's Note: Tuesday July 14, 2015
JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
18-day negotiation yields landmark Iran nuclear accord CLICK HERE for article and video 'Israel will not accept a reality dictated by Iran' CLICK HERE for article and video In Good Faith? No Nukes for Iran! - Iran Short Film Series #2 YouTube video - 02:11 (March 30, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
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Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran Nuclear Deal Is Reached With World Powers, nytimes.com, David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon
- Amb. (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger on the Strategic Alliance between America and Israel, ruthfullyyours.com, Amb. (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger
- Speaker Boehner Statement on Iran Nuclear Agreement, Press Release, John Boehner (R-OH)
- A Bad Iran Deal, RJC, Press Release
- With Iran deal in the bag, what's Israel to do now?, timesofisrael.com, Raphael Ahren
- Israeli deterrence in the eye of the hurricane, jpost.com, Louis Rene Beres
- 'Iran to be major gas exporter after 2020', presstv.com,
- Senator Predicts 'Open Congressional Rebellion' (Even Among Dems) If Obama Admin Follows Through With THIS, westernjournalism.com, Norvell Rose
David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon
nytimes.com, July 14, 2015
VIENNA — Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States said they had reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.
The deal culminates 20 months of negotiations on an agreement that President Obama had long sought as the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency. Whether it portends a new relationship between the United States and Iran — after decades of coups, hostage-taking, terrorism and sanctions — remains a bigger question.
President Obama, in an early morning appearance at the White House that was broadcast live in Iran, began what promised to be an arduous effort to sell the deal to Congress and the American public, saying the agreement was “not built on trust, it is built on verification.”
But Mr. Obama made it abundantly clear that he would fight to p reserve the deal in its entirety, saying, “I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal.”...
Amb. (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger
ruthfullyyours.com, July 10, 2015
...On July 4, 1976, Israel’s Entebbe hostage-rescue operation was a turning point in the battle against Islamic terrorism, dealing a blow to America’s enemies and adversaries.
After the 1973 War against pro-Soviet Egypt and Syria, Israel shared with the US its battle experience, and transferred to the US captured Soviet military systems, which tilted the global balance of power in favor of the US and upgraded the research & development, exports and employment of the US defense industries.
The US-Israel Strategic Partnership Video
In 1970, Israel’s power projection forced a rollback of the Soviet-backed Syrian invasion of pro-US Jordan. The Syrian invasion aimed at toppling the Hashemite regime, and then surging into Saudi Arabia, which would have given the USSR a dramatic triumph, while devastating US economic and military interests.
In the 1967 Wa r, Israel obliterated the Egyptian military, aborting an attempt by the pro-Soviet Egypt to topple the pro-US Arab oil-producing regimes.
In 2015, Israel is the only stable, reliable, predictable, capable, democratic and unconditional ally of the US....
John Boehner (R-OH)
Press Release, July 14, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC - House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the Obama administration announced a final agreement in nuclear negotiations with Iran:
“At the outset of these talks, the Obama administration said it would secure an agreement that affirmed Iran does not have a right to enrich and permanently dismantles the infrastructure of its nuclear programs. It said that sanctions would not be lifted until Iran met concrete, verifiable standards. And if these terms were not met, the president promised he would walk away.
“The American people and our allies were counting on President Obama to keep his word. Instead, the president has abandoned his own goals. His 'deal' will hand Iran billions in sanctions relief while giving it time and space to reach a break-out threshold to produce a nuclear bomb - all without cheating. Instead of making the world less dangerous, this ‘deal’ will only embolden Iran – the world’s largest sponsor of terror – by helping stabilize and legitimize its regime as it spreads even more violence and instability in the region. Instead of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, this deal is likely to fuel a nuclear arms race around the world.
“The House of Representatives will review every detail of this agreement very closely, but I won’t support any agreement that jeopardizes the safety of the American people and all who value freedom and security. This isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats. It’s about right and wrong. And we will fight a bad deal that is wrong for our national security and wrong for our country.”
Press Release
RJC, July 13, 2015
Washington, DC (July 13, 2015) - Today, the Republican Jewish Coalition released the following statement from RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks about the announced agreed framework for a nuclear deal with Iran:
"This deal meets zero of the criteria for a good deal - it is not enforceable, verifiable, or in America's national security interest. Unless Congress stops it, the world will be less safe as the United States will remove sanctions on Iran, and in return, Iran will still pursue nuclear weapons. The Republican Jewish Coalition calls on all members of Congress to reject this deal.
If it passes, it will mark a low point for American foreign relations and worldwide security. Several of the issues not included in this deal - inspections anytime, anywhere, adequate and timely disclosure of Iran's nuclear history, renouncing terrorism and the maintenance of the ballistic missile and conventional weapons bans - keep this f rom being a workable agreement. Iran cannot be trusted and their word means little without resolving these issues. It is amazing how far President Obama has moved from his original position that Iran must dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The President is making a huge mistake."
Raphael Ahren
timesofisrael.com, July 14, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the United States Congress in the House chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, in a speech warning against the then-looming US-backed deal with Iran. (Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP)
If the Iran deal announced Tuesday has any silver lining, from an Israeli perspective, it is that a usually bitterly divided country is joining hands in rejecting it. In unfamiliar unison, both the coalition and opposition denounce the agreement the six world powers struck with the Islamic Republic, lamenting that it will allow it to become a legitimate threshold nuclear state within the foreseeable future.
Even before she learned the details of the deal, MK Tzipi Livni spoke on Tuesday morning of a “dr amatic day.”
While everyone in Israel considers this agreement supremely dangerous (though not necessarily an existential threat), politicians and pundits will spend the next few days arguing about whose fault it is and what should be done now that it’s a done deal....
Louis Rene Beres
jpost.com, July 12, 2015
“Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult.”– Carl von Clausewitz, On War
Left to themselves, especially as more “normal” hostilities dissolve into a full-blown regional chaos, Israel’s adversaries could drive the Jewish state toward an unconventional war. This fateful endangerment could be produced singly or collaboratively, by deliberate enemy intent or by the “collateral damage” of sectarian strife. Militarily, these Islamic adversaries of Israel, both Sunni and Shi’ite, could be either non-nuclear, or, in the future, nuclear.
They might also include certain wellarmed sub-state or terrorist forces. Already, Iranian-backed Hezbollah may have more usable missiles than all NATO countries combined.
To most effective ly deal with such interpenetrating threats – including reasonably expected “synergies” and “force multipliers” – Israel’s leaders will first need to consider some largely-opaque factors. These include: 1) probable effects of regional chaos upon enemy rationality; 2) disruptive implications of impending Palestinian statehood; and 3) re-emergence of a corrosively Cold War-style polarity between Russia and the United States. Apropos of a “Cold War II,” there is already evidence of growing contact between Russia and Saudi Arabia, the world’s two largest oil producers....
presstv.com, July 11, 2015
The global rating agency Fitch says Iran will become a major exporter of natural gas within the next five years.Fitch in a statement released on Friday said Iran has the long-term potential to become one of the world's top gas producers, thanks to its 34 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of natural gas reserves, or around 18% of the world's total.
However, it emphasized that major exports from Iran will not materialize anytime before 2020 by considering that international sanctions against the country are lifted.
Fitch added that Iran will need more time to ramp up production and build the pipelines necessary to become a large gas exporter....
Norvell Rose
westernjournalism.com, July 13, 2015
...“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an open congressional rebellion, to include congressional Democrats,” Cotton told Arkansas ABC-affiliate KATV’s Talk Business & Politics program on Sunday.
“I think that many congressional Democrats are very worried about the path the president has taken, especially in these last two or three weeks,” he added, “and that you’re apt to see an open congressional rebellion and perhaps a veto-proof majority to stop the deal from going forward.”
Under a law signed by President Obama following Capitol Hill discontent over the deal-making process, Congress will have 60 days to review any agreement coming out of the talks in Vienna. Congress may vote on a joint resolution of approval or disapproval, or lawmakers may choose to take no action and let the arrangement with Iran stand.
If GOP Sen. Cotton is to be believed, adoption of the “let it stan d” option appears unlikely.
Robert Hand
Jul 17, 2015, 1:25:32 AM7/17/15
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Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2015 00:03:23 -0500
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 14:50:59 -0400
Editor's Note: Thursday July 16, 2015
Eight Ways to Judge President Obama’s Iran Deal
CLICK HERE for table - Where they started & Where they finished
'World is gambling with Israel's future'
Eight Ways to Judge President Obama’s Iran Deal
CLICK HERE for table - Where they started & Where they finished
'World is gambling with Israel's future'
Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama's Iran Deal Has the Makings of a Catastrophe, National Review Online, Daniel Pipes
- Ya'alon says Iran nuclear agreement built on 'lies and deceit', jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- Netanyahu on Iran deal: The more you read it, the worse it gets, timesofisrael.com, Avi Lewis
- Obama chose dishonor and war, UCI Exclusive, Shoula Romano Horing
- Greenfield: Time to Call Obama and Kerry What They Are: Traitors, frontpagemag.com, Daniel Greenfield
- Iran Deal: The Right to Despair, commentarymagazine.com, John Podhoretz
- 16 reasons nuke deal is an Iranian victory and a Western catastrophe - Excerpts, timesofisrael.com, David Horovitz
Daniel Pipes
National Review Online, July 14, 2015
...The United States alone, not to speak of the P5+1 countries as a whole, have vastly greater economic and military power than the Islamic Republic of Iran, making this one-sided concession ultimately a bafflement.
The smart guys (two Iranians) wear tie-less white shirts and look the happiest.Of the administration's accumulated foreign-policy mistakes in the last six years, none have been catastrophic for the United States: Not the Chinese building islands, the Russians taking Crimea, or the collapse into civil wars of Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. But the Iran deal has the makings of a catastrophe.
Attention now shifts to the U.S. Congress to revi ew today's accord, arguably the worst treaty not just in American history or modern history, but ever. Congress must reject this deal. Republican senators and representatives have shown themselves firm on this topic; will the Democrats rise to the occasion and provide the votes for a veto override? They need to feel the pressure.
Mr. Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum.
Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, July 14, 2015
The agreement between world powers and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program is built on “lies and deceit,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Tuesday.
Iran “arrived at the negotiating table in a weak position, and has emerged victorious. Instead of fighting terror with all its might, the free world has granted legitimacy to Iran’s hateful, murderous ways. This agreement is a tragedy for all who aspire for regional stability and fear a nuclear Iran,” he said, speaking soon after negotiators confirmed they had reached a deal in Vienna.
Ya’alon reiterated his warnings about the Islamic Republic aggression in the region, describing it as “the world’s leading exporter of terror, maliciously involved in every angle of the Middle East conflict – either directly or indirectly, through its emissaries – undermining moderate Arab regimes, battling Israel and harming Western interest s in the region....
Avi Lewis
timesofisrael.com, July 15, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that perusal of the previous day’s nuclear deal with Iran yields a picture that grows ever bleaker.The agreement is “filled with absurdities,” Netanyahu said, scolding world leaders for caving in to Iran’s “charm offensive” and crediting Israel with leading the fight against an Iranian bomb.
He called on the Knesset to present a united front in the fight against the “bad in every respect” pact. “The agreement that was signed in Vienna is not the final word. We will continue to fight,” Netanyahu pledged.
Iran and the world powers signed an agreement Tuesday in Vienna that mandates the Islamic Republic scale back some of its nuclear capabilities in exchange for a rollback o f economic sanctions.
“When we examine this agreement — which is bad in every aspect — when we read this agreement, the picture becomes more bleak and we discover it’s filled with absurdities,” Netanyahu said.
“For example, the agreement gives Iran 24 days’ [notice] before an inspection; it’s like giving a criminal organization that produces drugs a 24-hour warning before performing a search,” he said....
Shoula Romano Horing
UCI Exclusive, July 14, 2015
...The Islamic state will continue to fight its Shiite enemies with disregard to its own casualties and will try to find a dirty bomb to use. The Middle East is not Europe and Iran is not a rational player like ex-Soviet Union. It is a suicidal Shiite state alongside suicidal Sunni states in the powder keg called the Middle East which is not susceptible to the cold war discipline of mutual deterrence or to a written agreement.
Having a threshold nuclear Iran is not only disastrous to Israel and the Persian Gulf States, but also to the US and the world. Just imagine what would have happened if Hitler had acquired a nuclear weapon before Germany was defeated militarily. Iran, just as Hitler in his time, has a design not only to kill Jews, but also to rule the world by controlling the oil rich Gulf nations which control 50% of the world's oil supply.
The threat of nuclear attack will be enough for Iran to dictate oil prices, as well as the oil sup ply to the US and Europe. Then, the only option available to the US and the world will be to fight Iran, perhaps resulting in a nuclear war which could destroy the oil supply and many countries in the process....
Daniel Greenfield
frontpagemag.com, July 14, 2015
The last time a feeble leader of a fading nation came bearing “Peace in our time”, a pugnacious controversial right-winger retorted, “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.” That right-winger went on to lead the United Kingdom against Hitler.
The latest worthless agreement with a murderous dictatorship is being brandished by John Kerry, a man who instinctively seeks out dishonor the way a pig roots for truffles.
John Kerry betrayed his uniform and his nation so many times that it became his career. He illegally met with the representatives of the North Vietnamese enemy in Paris and then next year headed to Washington D.C. where he blasted the American soldiers being murdered by his new friends as rapists and murderers “reminiscent of Genghis Khan”.
Even before being elected, Kerry was already spewing Communist propaganda in the Senate.
Once in the Senate, Kerry flew to support the Sandinista Marxist killers in Nicaragua. Just as Iran’s leader calling for “Death to America” didn’t slow down Kerry, neither did the Sandinista cries of “Here or There, Yankees Will Die Everywhere.”
Kerry revolted even liberals with his gushing over Syria’s Assad. Now he’s playing the useful idiot for Assad’s bosses in Tehran....
John Podhoretz
commentarymagazine.com, July 14, 2015
The United States and its allies have struck a deal with Iran that effectively ensures that it will be a nuclear state with ballistic missiles in 10 years, assuming Iran adheres to the deal’s terms, which is a very large assumption. And though I’ve only made a preliminary pass at the deal sheet and don’t want to make definitive calls about it, it appears from the language that Iran will have 24 days before it has to allow inspections at its sites, none of which has been shut down or dismantled — which will make cheating unbelievably easy. And, while the president this morning declared that violations would make sanctions “snap back,” the only way they will do so is after a U.N. commission meets and agrees such violations have happened and then imposes them — which you know Russia will never allow. The president and the secretary of state are making large claims for the deal that are not true; the same will be true of all of its signatories, who are seeing Nobel stars in their eyes. This is an infamous day, and while those of us who see Iran’s nuclearization as the threshold threat for the rest of the 21st century will not be silent and will not give up the fight against it, it is appropriate to take a moment to despair that we — the United States and the West — have come to this.
David Horovitz
timesofisrael.com, July 14, 2015
1. Was the Iranian regime required, as a condition for this deal, to disclose the previous military dimensions of its nuclear program — to come clean on its violations — in order both to ensure effective inspections of all relevant facilities and to shatter the Iranian-dispelled myth that it has never breached its non-proliferation obligations? No.
2. Has the Iranian regime been required to halt all uranium enrichment, including thousands of centrifuges spinning at its main Natanz enrichment facility? No.
3. Has the Iranian regime been required to shut down and dismantle its Arak heavy water reactor and plutonium production plant? No.
4. Has the Iranian regime been required to shut down and dismantle the underground uranium enrichment facility it built secretly at Fordo? No. (Convert, not dismantle.)
5. Has the Iranian regime been required to halt its ongoing missile development? No....
Robert Hand
Jul 21, 2015, 1:19:01 AM7/21/15
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Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 00:08:23 -0500
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2015 16:16:36 -0400
Editor's Note: Monday July 20, 2015
Iran's Supreme Leader slams 'arrogant' U.S. YouTube video - 01:24 (July 18, 2015)
Islamic St ate Publishes First Child-Beheader Video
A boy around 10 years old beheaded a captured regime air force captain in the city of Homs, the first time ISIS has used a child in a beheading video. CLICK HERE for article and video
Tomi's Red, White, Blue & Unfiltered Final Thoughts the Slaughter of 4 Marines by Another "Mohammad" YouTube video - 02:37 (July 18, 2015)
Iran's Supreme Leader slams 'arrogant' U.S. YouTube video - 01:24 (July 18, 2015)
Islamic St ate Publishes First Child-Beheader Video
A boy around 10 years old beheaded a captured regime air force captain in the city of Homs, the first time ISIS has used a child in a beheading video. CLICK HERE for article and video
Tomi's Red, White, Blue & Unfiltered Final Thoughts the Slaughter of 4 Marines by Another "Mohammad" YouTube video - 02:37 (July 18, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran won't bow to excessive demands on security, defense: Leader, presstv.ir,
- PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Start of the Weekly Cabinet Meeting , pmo.gov.il, PM Netanyahu
- UN Security Council unanimously approves Iran deal, timesofisrael.com, Marissa Newman and AP
- US Lawmakers Say Obama Moving too Fast with Iran Deal, unitedwithisrael.org, AP and United with Israel Staff
- Obama Lights Firestorm on Capitol Hill , the-american-interest.com, Walter Russell Mead
- Report: Israel, Arab States Conferring Over Implications of Iran Nuclear Deal, algemeiner.com, David Daoud
- 'Fifty girls' taken from UK to Somalia for FGM, bbc.com,
presstv.ir, July 18, 2015
...“God willing, the country’s defense capabilities and security privacy will be safeguarded. No one will be allowed to harm the fundamental principles of the Islamic establishment,” Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out.
The Leader further emphasized that the latest round of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers and the text of the nuclear conclusion would never lead to a change in the Islamic Republic’s policies towards the “arrogant US government.”
The US policies on regional issues are exactly on the opposite side to those pursued by Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei said....
PM Netanyahu
pmo.gov.il, July 19, 2015
Photo by GPO Following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting today:
"If someone thought that the extraordinary concessions to Iran would lead to a change in its policy, they received an unequivocal answer over the weekend in Iranian ruler Khamenei's aggressive and contrary speech. The Iranians aren't even trying to hide the fact that they will use the hundreds of billions that they will receive under this agreement in order to arm their terror machine and they are clearly saying that they will continue their struggle against the US and its allies, first among them being Israel, of course.
Today Iran is arming terrorist organizations with missiles &ndash ; tomorrow they will have the ability to arm them and themselves with much deadlier weapons. The agreement that was signed paves Iran's way to arm itself with nuclear weapons within a decade, if Iran decides to honor the agreement, and before then if it decides to violate it, as it is usually does....
Marissa Newman and AP
timesofisrael.com, July 20, 2015
...Ambassadors from the so-called P5+1 touted the deal in a Security Council debate following the vote.
“It is a good deal, good for the United Kingdom, good for the United Nations, good for Iran,” UK ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power speaks after Security Council members voted on the Iran resolution at the UN headquarters in New York on July 20, 2015. (AFP/Jewel Samad)
On condition that Iran respects the agreement to the letter, seven UN resolutions passed since 2006 to sanction Iran will be gradually terminated, according to the text of the deal, reached in Vienna last week.
Israel has opposed the terms of the deal.
Among those voting in favor at the Security Council was Jordan, a non-permanent me mber of the UN Security Council, putting a dent in Israel’s claim that all the Sunni Arab states in the region oppose the deal as vociferously as Jerusalem.
A senior Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity dismissed Jordan’s vote....
AP and United with Israel Staff
unitedwithisrael.org, July 19, 2015
The UN Security Council (UNSC) scheduled a vote for first thing Monday morning on a resolution endorsing the Iran nuclear deal.The resolution was circulated to council members Wednesday by the United States. Members were also briefed by both Iran and the other countries that negotiated the landmark agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
With all five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council involved in the marathon Iran negotiations, the resolution’s adoption Monday was almost certain.
The resolution implements an intricate deal that places restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program while allowing relief from sanctions that the country’s leaders say have hurt its economy.
Monday’s vote c ame despite calls from some US lawmakers to delay Security Council approval until Congress reviews the deal....
Walter Russell Mead
the-american-interest.com, July 17, 2015
The Obama administration’s determination to take the Iran deal to the UN Security Council before Congress votes on the agreement has set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill, with leading Democrats joining Republicans in calling on the President to wait. On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry boasted that by having the Iran deal incorporated in a UN Security Council resolution, President Obama could tie the hands of future presidents, legally obligating them to abide by the Council’s resolution. From Foreign Policy:
“If Congress were to veto the deal, Congress — the United States of America — would be in noncompliance with this agreement and contrary to all of the other countries in the world. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Tuesday.
Congress isn’t happy. Late Thursday, Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the highest ranking Democrat on the Sena te Foreign Relations Committee joined the Republican chair of the committee, Senator Bob Corker, in calling on the White House to hold its horses at the UN until Congress votes. As The Hill reports, Cardin told the press that:
“Acting on it at this stage is a confusing message to an independent review by Congress over these next 60 days. So I think it would be far better to have that vote after the 60-day review, assuming that the agreement is not effectively rejected by Congress,..”
On Friday, the House leadership spoke up as well. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (also of Maryland) issued the following statement:
I agree with Senators Cardin and Corker that the U.N. Security Council should wait to move ahead with a resolution implementing parts of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action until after Congress has completed its review of the agreement with Iran. I believe that waiting to go to the United Nations until such time as Congre ss has acted would be consistent with the intent and substance of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act....
David Daoud
algemeiner.com, July 19, 2015
Israel has been carrying out contacts with Arab countries to confer over the nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran last week, U.S. based Arabic-language Al Hurra reported on Sunday, citing Israeli press reports.According to the reports, the contacts are strengthening ties and rapprochement between various Arab states and Israel.
Israeli officials declined to comment on the reports, but Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, hinted to the establishment of a united Arab-Israeli front against the Iran deal.
Gendelman pointed out that Netanyahu has stressed on multiple occasions that the Iranian nuclear crisis has presented an opportunity for Israel to partner with its Arab neighbors in facing the common threat.
Netanyah u has also emphasized in previous public statements that Israel does not constitute a threat to its Arab neighbors, and instead should be considered an ally against the Iranian threat.
bbc.com, July 17, 2015
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Tonge contacted the Metropolitan Police after spotting a large group of girls on a flight from Heathrow last Saturday.
The girls were said to be aged 11 to 17 and with their mothers or grandmothers.
It comes as Bedfordshire Police secured the UK's first FGM (Female genital mutilation) protection order, preventing two girls from going abroad.
The Metropolitan Police said officers from the Specialist Crime and Operations Command were investigating Lady Tonge's report....
Robert Hand
Jul 22, 2015, 12:51:32 AM7/22/15
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Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 23:43:01 -0500
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 18:25:01 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday July 21, 2015
U.N. Security Council Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to endorse the Iran nuclear agreement. The 15-member body adopted the resolution that was negotiated as part of an agreement reached last week between Iran and major world powers. The European Union also endorsed the agreement Monday. Following the vote, Security Council members and the Iranian ambassador to the U.N. delivered remarks.
CLICK HERE for video - 01:31:35 (July 20, 2015)
The Unity Coalition for Israel proudly presents a series of YouTube videos that focus on the technology, diversity and sheer brilliance leading the nations in these trying times - all pouring forth from the tiny nation at the center of attention in the Middle East. Follow and share our newsletters as we focus on the good news from the “Startup Nation,” Israel.
Israel Inside: Netafim
Discover how the Israeli company Netafim turned an adversity into an advantage. Their innovative ideas transform deserts in Israel and the developing world into flourishing agricultural centers.
YouTube video - 03:04 (June 9, 2015)
U.N. Security Council Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to endorse the Iran nuclear agreement. The 15-member body adopted the resolution that was negotiated as part of an agreement reached last week between Iran and major world powers. The European Union also endorsed the agreement Monday. Following the vote, Security Council members and the Iranian ambassador to the U.N. delivered remarks.
CLICK HERE for video - 01:31:35 (July 20, 2015)
The Unity Coalition for Israel proudly presents a series of YouTube videos that focus on the technology, diversity and sheer brilliance leading the nations in these trying times - all pouring forth from the tiny nation at the center of attention in the Middle East. Follow and share our newsletters as we focus on the good news from the “Startup Nation,” Israel.
Israel Inside: Netafim
Discover how the Israeli company Netafim turned an adversity into an advantage. Their innovative ideas transform deserts in Israel and the developing world into flourishing agricultural centers.
YouTube video - 03:04 (June 9, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Obama's Iran deal is worse than we could have imagined, pottsmerc.com, Charles Krauthammer
- Iran's Khamenei hails his people for demanding death to America and Israel, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Iran military, security secrets off-limits: Defense minister, presstv.ir,
- Former IAEA Official: Inspectors to Rely on Israeli, US Intelligence for Iran Surveillance, algemeiner.com, Eliezer Sherman
- Column One: Obama's age of nuclear chaos, jpost.com, Caroline B. Glick
- Boehner Statement on U.N. Security Council Vote, Press Release, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
- Israel Fuming Over West's Promise to Protect Iran's Nuclear Facilities, breakingisraelnews.com, Ahuva Balofsky
- In an IS training camp, children told: Behead the doll, seattlepi.com, Zeina Karam and Bram Janssen, Associated Press
Charles Krauthammer
pottsmerc.com, July 20, 2015
When you write a column, as did I two weeks ago, headlined “The worst agreement in U.S. diplomatic history,” you don’t expect to revisit the issue. We had hit bottom. Or so I thought. Then on Tuesday the final terms of the Iranian nuclear deal were published. I was wrong.
Who would have imagined we would be giving up the conventional arms and ballistic missile embargoes on Iran? In nuclear negotiations?
When asked at his Wednesday news conference why there is nothing in the deal about the four American hostages being held by Iran, President Obama explained that this is a separate issue, not part of nuclear talks.
Are conventional weapons not a separate issue? After all, conventional, by definition, means non-nuclear. Why are we giving up the embargoes?
Because Iran, joined by Russia -- our “reset” partner -- sprung the demand at the last minute, calculating that Obama and Secretary of State John K erry were so desperate for a deal that they would cave. They did. And have convinced themselves that they scored a victory by delaying the lifting by five to eight years. (Ostensibly. The language is murky. The interval could be considerably shorter.)
Obama claimed in his Wednesday news conference that it really doesn’t matter because we can always intercept Iranian arms shipments to, say, Hezbollah.
But wait. Obama has insisted throughout that we are pursuing this Iranian diplomacy to avoid the use of force, yet now blithely discards a previous diplomatic achievement -- the arms embargo -- by suggesting, no matter, we can just shoot our way to interdiction....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, July 20, 2015
The Iranian nuke deal — peace in our time, right?“Iran’s Khamenei hails his people for demanding death to America and Israel,” Times of Israel, July 18, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday hailed the Iranian masses for demanding the destruction of Israel and America, and said he hoped that God would answer their prayers.
In a viciously anti-US speech delivered in Tehran four days after Iran and the world powers signed an accord designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised “the slogans of the people of Iran” which “indicated what directions they’re heading for,” according to the English translation of his speech by Iran’s Press TV....
presstv.ir, July 20, 2015
Iran's Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan“We will by no means allow any [foreign] authority access to our military and security secret," said Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, noting that the resolution of outstanding past and present issues "have been agreed on with the [International Atomic Energy] Agency and we will act accordingly.”
The IAEA is tasked with resolving issues related to what it calls Possible Military Dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program or PMD, known by Iranian negotiators as “past and present issues.”
Dehqan also noted, “There is no place in our defense doctrine for unconventional weapons and we consider keeping and using such weapons to be religiously prohibited.”...
Eliezer Sherman
algemeiner.com, July 20, 2015
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will rely on foreign intelligence by countries like Israel and the U.S. to identify possible concerns in Iran’s nuclear program, said a former IAEA official on Sunday.
Thomas Shea, Former Head of Trilateral Initiative Office, Department of Safeguards, International Atomic Energy Agency. (Photo: Screenshot)
“[Iran] is under close scrutiny by its neighbors, by Israel, by the United States and others, with satellite imagery going on. And in those cases the intelligence services have spies on the ground and carry out electronic eavesdropping so their knowledge is much greater than any international organization can have,” Thomas Shea, former senior IAEA official at the Safeguards Department, told C-SPA N.
“But, as … in Iraq and North Korea, providing intelligence came to be part of the overall system. And so the access to this remarkably strong source is available. Once you know there’s a location, getting to it is a matter of request,” he said....
Caroline B. Glick
jpost.com, July 16, 2015
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures as he talks with journalist from a balcony of the Palais Coburg hotel where the Iran nuclear talks meetings are being held in Vienna, Austria. (photo credit: Reuters)
On Tuesday, we moved into a new nuclear age.
In the old nuclear age, the US-led West had a system for preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It had three components: sanctions, deterrence and military force. In recent years we have witnessed the successful deployment of all three.
In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, the UN Security Council imposed a harsh sanctions regime on Iraq. One of its purposes was to prevent Iraq from developing nuclear weapons. After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, we learned that the sanctions had been successful. Saddam largely abandoned his nuclear program due to sanctions pressure.
The US-led invasion of Iraq terrified several rogue regimes in the region. In the two to three years immediately following the invasion, America’s deterrent strength soared to unprecedented heights.
No one was more deterred by the Americans in those years than then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In 2004, Gaddafi divulged all the details of his secret nuclear program and handed all his nuclear materials over to the Americans.
As for military force, the nuclear installation that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad built in Deir a-Zour with Iranian money and North Korean technicians wasn’t destroyed through sanctions or deterrence. According to foreign media reports, in September 2007, Israel concluded that these paths to preventing nuclear proliferation to Syria would be unsuccessful.
So then-prime minister Ehud Olmert ordered the IDF to destroy it. The o utbreak of the Syrian civil war three years later has prevented Assad and his Iranian bosses from reinstating the program, to date....
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Press Release, July 20, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement after the Obama administration allowed – and joined – the United Nations Security Council in approving the president’s proposed nuclear deal with Iran before Congress completes its mandated review:
“Today President Obama ignored the concerns of the American people, and senior members of his own party, and allowed the United Nations Security Council to take up his proposed nuclear deal with Iran. Enabling such a consequential vote just 24 hours after submitting the agreement documents to Congress undermines our national security and violates the spirit of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which passed the House in May with more than 400 votes. This is a bad start for a bad deal. The American people expect their representatives to review this potential agreement and stop Iran’s push for a nuclear weapon, and we will cont inue our critical work to do just that.”
NOTE: Today House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) issued a joint statement expressing disappointment with today’s U.N. vote, and concern with provisions in the agreement that lift Iran’s arms and missile embargoes.
Ahuva Balofsky
breakingisraelnews.com, July 21, 2015
(Photo: Emil Salman/POOL)Israel reacted in anger Monday to a hidden detail in the Iran nuclear deal which promises Western support and training to protect Iranian nuclear facilities from attack or sabotage, Israeli media reported.
According to Israel Hayom, the commitment in Article 10 did not appear in draft versions of the agreement. Israel National News noted it was buried on page 142 of the 159-page agreement.
“The US has to protect Iran as it pursues nuclear weapons because its program is allegedly civilian?” one senior official in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office fumed.
Iran’s nuclear program, which the Islamic Republic claims is peaceful in nature but which most Western allies doubt, has been subject to several sabo tage attempts in the past, some successful. The crippling Stuxnet virus cyber-attack in 2010 has been popularly attributed to either Israel or US President Barack Obama. Now, the P5+1 are promising to help Iran defend against such attacks....
Zeina Karam and Bram Janssen, Associated Press
seattlepi.com, July 19, 2015
In this April 19, 2015 picture, Syrian boy Ahmad, 7, whose parents went missing in Syria, attends a class of religious lessons at an Islamic teaching center designed to counter Islamic State group indoctrination, near the Turkish-Syrian border city of Sanliurfa, southern Turkey. "They are planting extremism and terrorism in young people's minds," said Abu Hafs Naqshabandi, who runs the classes. "I am terribly worried about future generations." (Photo: Hussein Malla, AP)
SANLIURFA, Turkey (AP) — The children had all been shown videos of beheadings and told by their trainers with the Islamic State group that they would perform one someday. First, they had to practice technique. The more than 120 boys were each given a doll and a sword and told, cut off its head.
A 14-year-old who was among the boy s, all abducted from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, said he couldn't cut it right. He chopped once, twice, three times.
"Then they taught me how to hold the sword, and they told me how to hit. They told me it was the head of the infidels," the boy, renamed Yahya by his IS captors, told The Associated Press last week in northern Iraq, where he fled after escaping the IS training camp....
Robert Hand
Jul 24, 2015, 1:01:53 AM7/24/15
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Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 23:47:04 -0500
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:29:26 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday July 23, 2015
IRANIAN AGREEMENT
In the aftermath of the signing of the Iranian Agreement, UCI presents a special issue focusing on the agreement and the fury of the opposing sides. The following 7 articles focus on the agreement and developments that are occuring even before Congress has had a chance to review the Iranian Agreement.
FBI Investigating Terrorism in All 50 States
IRANIAN AGREEMENTIn the aftermath of the signing of the Iranian Agreement, UCI presents a special issue focusing on the agreement and the fury of the opposing sides. The following 7 articles focus on the agreement and developments that are occuring even before Congress has had a chance to review the Iranian Agreement.
FBI Investigating Terrorism in All 50 States
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Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran pushes nuclear deal as U.S. lawmaker aims to stop it, businessinsider.com, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin Nouri and Richard Cowan
- Obama's Secret Iran Side Deals, rushlimbaugh.com, Rush Limbaugh
- Boehner Vows to 'Do Everything' to Combat Iran Deal, israelnationalnews.com, Arutz Sheva Staff
- ObamaDeal: US to Protect Iranian Nuke Sites from Israeli Attack, jewishpress.com, Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
- Iran buys 100 Russian refueling aircraft for its air force to reach any point in the Mid East, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
- Nuclear Chief: Iran in Talks with China to Build 2 More Nuclear Power Plants, english.farsnews.com,
- Responding to the nuclear deal, Saudi Arabia forms Sunni alliance with Hamas and Brotherhood, egyptindependent.com, Al-Masry Al-Youm
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin Nouri and Richard Cowan
businessinsider.com, July 22, 2015
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) listens to questions from journalists as he stands next to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi (L) and Hossein Fereydoon (2nd L), brother and close aide to President Hassan Rouhani, on the balcony of Palais Coburg, the venue for nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria, July 10, 2015. (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's pragmatist government tried on Wednesday to sell its nuclear agreement with world powers to hardliners at home, just as a U.S. Congressional leader promised to do "everything possible" to sink the deal.
With both Tehran and Washington facing stiff opposition to the accord, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Saudi Arabia in the ho pe of reassuring leaders there who fear their arch-rival Iran will make major mischief in the region.
Last week's agreement was a big success for both U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. But both have to promote it to influential hardliners in countries that have been enemies for decades.
In Washington, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, was deeply skeptical.
"Members of Congress will ask much tougher questions this afternoon when we meet with the president's team, and because a bad deal threatens the security of the American people, we're going to do everything possible to stop it," Boehner said....
Rush Limbaugh
rushlimbaugh.com, July 22, 2015 RUSH: "Senator Tom Cotton and Congressman Mike Pompeo Discover 'Backroom' Iran Deals Not Shared with Congress." Not surprised, right? It turns out the US made a secret side deal with Iran on two of the more important sticking points in the negotiations. Number one, the inspection of a military base where Iran had done major nuclear weapons research in the past, and, number two, the requirement that Iran tell us about their past nuclear work, which is necessary in order for there to be a baseline for the inspectors.
I mean, we have to know how far they've made it in order to judge how far they're going. On both of those points, according to Cotton and Pompeo, "there will be a secret, opaque procedure to verify Iran’s compliance with these side agreements." They say, "Both arrangements will not be vetted by any organization other than Iran and the IAEA, and will not be released even to the nations that n egotiated the JCPOA [Iran nuclear agreement].
"This means that the secret arrangements have not been released for public scrutiny and have not been submitted to Congress as part of its legislatively mandated review of the Iran deal," which means Congress will have no way of knowing whether Iran complied with either of these side agreements. "The United States has been shut out of this aspect of the verification of the deal, the inspection of a military base where Iran had done major nuclear weapons research."We have no access to it. We agreed to this! Secretary of State Kerry agreed to this, and the requirement that Iran tell us about their past nuclear work so we can get a baseline of how far they had made it? Not allowed to know that. Two side deals were made betwee n the United States and Iran to eliminate the US ability to learn either data point....
Arutz Sheva Staff
israelnationalnews.com, July 22, 2015
US Speaker of the House John Boehner vowed to "do everything possible" to stop the deal between Iran and nuclear powers from being approved by Congress, he said during a press briefing Wednesday. "While the president's Iran deal may have been applauded at the United Nations, I think he faces serious skepticism here at home," Boehner asserted.
"Members of Congress will ask much tougher questions this afternoon when we meet with the president's team, and because a bad deal threatens the security of the American people, we're going to do everything possible to stop it," he added....
Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
jewishpress.com, July 23, 2015
President Barack Obama.“ObamaDeal” explicitly states that the United States and the other P5+1 powers can help Iran deflect and even “respond” to sabotage and nuclear threats to its nuclear sites.
The damming evidence that ObamaDeal directly allows Western powers to help Iran to protect its nuclear sites, and possibly even to stage a counter-attack on the source of the threat, is stated in Annex III of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Congress is reviewing the agreement and has the option to cancel America’s commitments under the deal.
You have to reach page 142 of the JCPOA until you reach “Annex III: Civil Nuclear Cooperation,” where Section “D 10 states that the P5+1 “and possibly other stat es are prepared to cooperate with Iran on the implementation of nuclear security guidelines and best practices. Cooperation in the following areas can be envisaged:
Co-operation in the form of training courses and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to prevent, protect and respond to nuclear security threats to nuclear facilities and systems as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems;
Co-operation through training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage, as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems.
Emphasis should be placed on the word “respond.” It leaves open for interpretation the possibility that the United States and other P5 +1 countries can take action in the form of training and preparing Iran to stage a cyber attack or ret aliation in the event of a third-party assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities....
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
DEBKAfile, July 22, 2015
Russian IL78 MKI tanker aircraft sold to IranIn defiance of the international arms embargo, Iran last week placed an order with Moscow for a huge fleet of 100 Russian IL78 MKI tanker aircraft (NATO: Midas) for refueling its air force in mid-flight, thereby extending its range to 7,300 km. This is reported exclusively by debkafile from its military and intelligence sources. The transaction runs contrary to the terms of the nuclear accord the six world powers and Iran signed in Vienna earlier this month.
These tanker planes can simultaneously refuel six to eight warplanes. Their acquisition brings Israel, 1.200km away – as well the rest of the Middle East - within easy range of Iranian aerial bombardment. It also puts Iran’s air force ahead of Israel’s in terms of the quantit y and range of its refueling capacity.
Whereas opponents of the Vienna deal have warned that Tehran will spend the billions of dollars released by sanctions relief as a bonanza for fueling its campaigns of terror in the region, it turns out that Iran’s first post-accord purchase is a heavy investment in the rearmament and upgrade of its armed forces’ aggressive capabilities....
english.farsnews.com, July 22, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran is conducting negotiations with Beijing to construct two 100-MW nuclear power plants."We are in talks with the Chinese over the construction of two 100-MW power plants," Salehi said, addressing AEOI staff in Tehran on Wednesday.
He also referred to the contract signed with Russia on building two other nuclear power plants, and said, "God willing, the construction work will start this year."...
Al-Masry Al-Youm
egyptindependent.com, July 20, 2015
King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Khaled Meshaal(Photo: Al-Masry Al-Youm)
Political analysts are speculating that the new nuclear deal signed with Iran and Western powers, could empower Saudi Arabia under King Salman bin Abdulaziz to form a Sunni alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to counter Shia influence in the Middle East.
After a lapse of three years, Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas political bureau, paid a visit to Saudi Arabia and met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations and reconciliation with Fatah.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, member of the Hamas political bureau, had said in March there was rapprochement between Hamas and Saudi Arabia, adding that Saudi Arabia began to improve its relations with many countries in the region in light of the Houthi control over Yemen....
Robert Hand
Jul 24, 2015, 10:07:21 PM7/24/15
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Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 21:01:44 -0500
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 15:52:26 -0500
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 15:52:26 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday July 24, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
The Iran Deal in 200 Words CLICK HERE for short overview of important highlights from the Iran nuclear deal. White House acknowledges ‘side’ deals between Iran, IAEA CLICK HERE for video and article Iran Secures $2 Billion in Trade Deals with European Companies CLICK HERE for video and article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- How and why to kill the deal, jpost.com, Caroline B. Glick
- Iran to get $700 billion in sanctions relief, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Obama gave Europe control of the Iran sanctions 'snap back' mechanism, washingtontimes.com, Steven Rosen
- Israel's nuclear strategy after the Iran agreement, thehill.com, Louis René Beres, contributor
- Are We Witnessing the Birth of a New Mideast Order?, foreignpolicy.com, Thanassis Cambanis
- Analysis: Nuclear accord intensifies power struggle in Tehran, aawsat.net, Amir Taheri
- Saudi Press: We Must Have A Military Nuclear Program Within A Decade, MEMRI, Special Dispatch No. 6112
- Thousands Gather in Times Square to Protest Nuclear Deal, breakingisraelnews.com, Lea Speyer
Caroline B. Glick
jpost.com, July 21, 2015 ...The devil in Obama’s deal with Iran is not in the mind-numbing details, but in the big picture. The deal guarantees Iran will get the bomb. It gives the Iranian regime $150b.
To secure these concessions, Obama has trampled congressional authority.
If the American people think this doesn’t advance their national interest, they should encourage their congressional representatives to ditch Corker-Cardin and use their full authority, as a co-equal branch of the government, to scupper it.
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, July 22, 2015
This will pay for a great deal of jihad terror.“Former Israeli Ambassador: Iran to Get $700 Billion in Sanctions Relief,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, July 22, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Iran is slated to receive some $700 billion in sanctions relief and economic windfalls as a result of a recently inked nuclear accord reached with global powers, according to former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.
Oren, citing Israeli government sources, claimed in a recent op-ed that the Obama administration is being deceitful about the full cost of reaching a deal with Iran.…...
Steven Rosen
washingtontimes.com, July 20, 2015 ...“If Iran violates the deal, all of these sanctions will snap back into place,” President Obama said in his White House statement on the nuclear agreement. He added, “we’ve built in a snap-back provision so we don’t have to go through lengthy negotiations at the U.N. to put the sanctions right back in place.”
But any inspections at Iranian military facilities to which Iran objects, and the “snap-back” re-imposition of United Nations sanctions would require the United States government to win the unanimous support of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy—ALL of them. This would be necessary to have the five votes required under the agreement’s Dispute Resolution Mechanism to override objections from Iran, Russia, and China. (See Articles 36-37 and Annex I Article 78). And, under the Treaty of Lisbon rules controlling the EU’s “Common Foreign and Security Policy,” key decisions on the CFSP require unanimous approval by ALL 28 MEMBERS of the European Union.
It may be true that “No one country could block a snap-back of sanctions,” as Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said, but no one country—not even the United States—could re-impose them either unless all of Europe went along....
Louis René Beres, contributor
thehill.com, July 22, 2015
Getty Images"Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence." — Sun-Tzu, The Art of War
Following the new agreement with Iran, Israel must face one overriding question: How shall the Jewish State best prevent any involvement in conflicts involving nuclear weapons? In turn, this unavoidably core question should bring Israeli decision-makers to plainly antecedent considerations of strategy and doctrine.
What exactly are these more-or-less urgent military considerations? One has to do with continuance of Israel's "bomb in the basement." To ensure that pertinent enemy states will harbor no meaningful doubts about Israel's capacity to launch "assuredly destructive" retaliations in response to certain mega-aggressions, Jerusalem will soon have to consider an incremental end to its historic policy of "deliberate nuclear ambiguity." As corollary, it will also be necessary that would-be aggressors, such as a nearly nuclear Iran, acknowledge that (1) Israel is willing to launch its nuclear forces in retaliation for certain substantial aggressions; (2) Israel maintains nuclear forces that are sufficiently invulnerable to any first-strike attacks; and (3) Israel deploys nuclear forces that can adequately penetrate any aggressor's active defenses....
Thanassis Cambanis
foreignpolicy.com, July 21, 2015
Photo credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images“The World Has Changed,” trumpeted the front-page headline of the Iranian reformist daily Etemaad on July 15, the day after Iran signed a nuclear deal with the six world powers. But as U.S. President Barack Obama attempts to build on this agreement, he will find that changing the destructive dynamics of the Middle East is far more difficult than any negotiation in Vienna.
For years, U.S. leaders have staked their hopes for calming decades of sectarian war, insurgency, and tension in the Middle East on rehabilitating Iran, a bête noire in the eyes of Washington and its allies. But if there’s any hope of changing these dynamics, the United States is going to have to dive quickly and deeply into the region’s feuds. Wars have spiraled out of control in four Arab countries, and Iran is only partly to blame. A more cooperative Tehran — which may or may not materialize after the nuclear agreement sinks in — could open the door to calming the bloodshed in Syria, where Iran is a lead player. But the roots of the wars in Iraq and Yemen go deeper than Tehran’s machinations, and Iran has almost no role in the Libyan conflict.
After the deal, like before, U.S. interests will be challenged by clever and aggressive foes, but also by ruthless allies. If the United States wants to alter the dynamic, it will have to give up its linear approach and play what Joseph Nye describes as “three-dimensional chess.” Until now, Washington has insisted on taking on one crisis at a time, meaning that a pileup of disasters has festered while the White House looked only at the Iran nuclear deal.
That mindset won’t work. It will take far more than a change in Iran to end the Syrian civil war. Same for Yemen.
So, what will work?
First, the United States will have to engage Iran and other bad actors in each of the region’s hot spots. Obama has already expressed the intention of doing so: At his press conference on July 15, he spoke of “[jump-starting] a process to resolve the civil war in Syria” and that “it’s important for [Iran] to be part of that conversation.”
Second, at the same time Washington tries to engage diplomatically with Tehran, it will also need to raise the costs for Iran of continuing to do business in the same bloody way it has across the region. With billions of dollars flowing back into the country after the lifting of sanctions, there’s a risk that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will intensify its expansionist approach and investment in proxy wars. A direct war with Iran isn’t a wise option, but ignoring its machinations has left it free reign to expand its dominion in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The only remaining option is to engage in messy proxy warfare as well, giving sustained military and political backing to anti-Iranian proxies, which will make it expensive for Iran to meddle around the Arab world. This will give the United States a new card in the negotiations to come: It can offer to restrain its proxy militias if Iran does the same.
Third, the United States will face the challenging task of getting its recalcitrant allies onto the same page. In the Syria conflict, that will mean butting heads with Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, all of which have poured money into rival rebel factions, allowed a free-for-all in the border zones, and paved the way for the entrenchment of hard-line Islamists within the uprising. Washington will need to convince its partners to pick a single rebel coalition to back and then endow it with real and sustained support. That’s the only way to tilt the balance inside Syria and increase the likelihood of a political solution that empowers nationalist rebels at the expense of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the radical Islamists....
Amir Taheri
aawsat.net, July 21, 2015 ...Worse still, the draft of the Security Council resolution, published last Wednesday and taken up yesterday, offers yet another twist to the plot if only by keeping some key issues in the shadows.
There is no doubt that the declared “deal” has divided the Khomeinist ruling elite and, beyond it, society at large.
Despite Rouhani’s failure to organize “spontaneous mass celebrations” of the deal there is no doubt that a majority of Iranians support an accord that promises a lifting of sanctions. Iranians are tired of being seen by the outside world as fanatics and terrorists. A deal that might restore some of the respect they enjoyed before the mullahs took power would be welcome. Some also hope that normalization with the West, especially the US, could trigger a process that might end in the demise of the Islamic Republic.
“When the head of the camel enters the tent, the rest is sure to follow,” says Azar Ahmad-Beigi, a human rights activist. “We should welcome any move that might increase contact with countries that respect human rights rather than places such hellholes as North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe.”
In any case, the announced deal has opened a new chapter in the ideological war that has been tearing the Khomeinist movement apart for more than a decade. Disagreement over what has been agreed to is the first element in the new fissure.
“Shouldn’t Iranians be told, in their own language, what has been decided on their behalf?” demands a Hamid Rasa’i, a member of the Islamic Majlis.
The roots of the ideological fight among rival factions go deeper.
Some want Iran to close the chapter of the revolution and reorganize itself as a normal nation-state in a world of nation-states.
“We cannot forget that this is a country with real people who want a real life,” says sociologist Hormoz Massoudi. “All nations that have experienced a revolution end up closing that chapter at some point, and restart their life as a normal member of the international community.”...
Special Dispatch No. 6112
MEMRI, July 22, 2015 Following the July 14, 2015 announcement in Vienna of the Iran-P5+1 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Saudi press featured numerous articles openly calling for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to use the coming decade – the time frame of the JCPOA – to develop their own military nuclear program, against the nuclear threat that they say Iran will constitute after the agreement expires.
There have already been calls for a clandestine Saudi nuclear program to parallel Iran's, which were backed up by official Saudi sources. For example, the month before the announcement of the JCPOA, Saudi Ambassador to the U.K. Emir Muhammad bin Nawwaf bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Saud told the Daily Telegraph that if the upcoming nuclear agreement with Iran did not include a serious Iranian commitment to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, then as far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, "all options are on the table." He emphasized that over the years, his country had opposed the development of nuclear weapons, but that Iran's policy on the issue "has changed the whole outlook in the region."[1]...
Lea Speyer
breakingisraelnews.com, July 23, 2015
Thousands gathered in the heart of New York City on Wednesday to protest the threat of the Iran nuclear deal. Those gathered called on members of Congress to block the deal, which puts Israel’s security and that of the world at risk.Right-wing Jewish and Christian Zionist groups had a major presence at the rally, including StandWithUs, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), Israeli American Council and the Zionist Organization of America.
Busses and caravans from across the country converged on Times Square, with similar rallies taking place in Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix and Toronto....
Robert Hand
Jul 28, 2015, 1:10:31 AM7/28/15
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Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 20:39:32 -0500
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:47:22 -0400
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:47:22 -0400
Editor's Note: Monday July 27, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE |
Your Link to Israel |
| QUITE SIMPLY ONE OF THE BEST SPEECHES EVER! Former Congressman and US army veteran Allen West making a passionate and emotional speech to over 12,000 people in Times Square at the 'Stop Iran Deal Rally' YouTube video - 07:07 (July 22, 2015) Iranian Leader: Israel's security will not be ensured whether there will be a nuclear agreement or not YouTube video - 00:15 (July 20, 2015) WATCH: Police release footage of clashes with Palestinian rioters on Temple Mount JPost video - 01:32 (July 26, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Immoral to say Israel should stay out of Iran accord debate in US, minister says, jpost.com, Herb Keinon
- Sharansky Calls on US Jews to Stand Up to White House Over Iran Nuclear Deal, algemeiner.com, Shiryn Ghermezian
- Iran: Challenging Our Missile Program Means Crossing a Red Line, jcpa.org, Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
- China's New Islands Are Clearly Military, U.S. Pacific Chief Says, defenseone.com, Kevin Baron
- Israel gives Jordan helicopters for border security - U.S. source, reuters.com,
- U.S. State Dept. Bars Christians from Testifying about Persecution, gatestoneinstitute.org, Raymond Ibrahim
- The new Hezbollah: How Israel's No. 1 enemy is preparing for third Lebanon War, ynetnews.com, Ronen Bergman
Herb Keinon
jpost.com, July 26, 2015
US Secretary of State John Kerry is seen in silhouette as he deplanes against an evening sky after arriving in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 29, 2015. (photo credit: State Department Photo)
Efforts to muzzle Israeli voices in the US debate over the Iran nuclear accord are unacceptable, illogical and even immoral, National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday.
Steinitz, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responded in an Israel Radio interview to comments US Secretary of State John Kerry made Friday that were interpreted by some as a veiled threat to Israel to tamp down its criticism of the nuclear deal.
Kerry, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said that if Congress overturns the accord, “our friends in Israel could actually wind up being more isolated and more blamed, and we would lose Europe and China and Russia with respect to whatever military action we might have to take, because we will have turned our backs on a very legitimate program that allows us to put their [Iran’s] program to the test over these next years.”
Steinitz completely rejected warnings that Israel should stay out of the debate.
“To demand from a country which Iran threatens publicly to destroy, to wipe it off the map, that it not express its opinion on something so relevant for our national security, future and existence is an illogical and even immoral demand,” Steinitz said....
Shiryn Ghermezian
algemeiner.com, July 26, 2015
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky called on Jews to stand up to the White House in opposition of the nuclear deal.(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Jews in America should take a stand against the White House and oppose the nuclear deal recently agreed between world powers and Iran, famed Soviet dissident and now Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said on Friday in an op-ed for The Washington Post.
“Those of us who believe that the nuclear agreement just signed between world powers and Iran is dangerously misguided are now compelled to criticize Israel’s best friend and ally, the government of the United States,” Sharansky said.
Sharansky acknowledged that standing up against the White House in support of “what we think is right” for both Jews and the world, puts American Jewry at odds with the “power best able to protect us and promote stability.” Nevertheless, he said Jews must even risk giving the impression “that we somehow prefer war” rather than join those who believe “peace is on the horizon.”...
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
jcpa.org, July 27, 2015
Cartoon: Iran’s missiles will never be negotiable. The scrap Obama is holding: “The Iranian missile file” (Source: IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency)
Following the UN Security Council’s endorsement of the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian military and political spokesmen clarified Iran’s uncompromising position on the continued development of its ballistic missile program and emphasized that any attempt to challenge the program means crossing a red line. Security Council Resolution 2231 leaves in place for eight years the embargo on selling missile technology to Iran and for five years the embargo on selling heavy weapons to it.
Defense Minister: We Will Not Permit Access to Military Facilities
Iranian Defense Minister Hussein Dehghan again affirmed, reiterating Iran’s position throughout the nuclear talks with the world powers, that issues involving Iran’s missile program are not up for discussion and Iran is determined to keep developing all of its missile programs. As for attempts to clarify Iran’s past activity regarding “possible military dimensions” of its nuclear program, Dehghan again underlined that Iran will definitely not grant anyone access to its security and military secrets and facilities.1...
Kevin Baron
defenseone.com, July 24, 2015
Adm. Harry Harris, the new head of the U.S. Pacific Command, attends the opening of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-la Dialogue, or IISS 14th Asia Security Summit Friday, May 29, 2015, in Singapore (Wong Maye/AP)
ASPEN, Colo. – The top U.S. military officer in the Pacific sternly warned China on Friday to immediately cease its “aggressive coercive island building” in the South China Sea, which he argued was intended clearly for China’s military use as forward operating bases in combat against their regional neighbors.
Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, said the U.S. would use military force to defend its interests and its allies against any threats from the islands.
“I believe those facilities are clearly military in nature,” Harris said at the Aspen Security Forum, an annual gathering in Colorado of dozens of top U.S. national security leaders, convened by the Aspen Institute....
reuters.com, July 23, 2015 Israel has given retired U.S.-supplied Cobra combat helicopters to Jordan to help the Hashemite kingdom fend off insurgent threats on the Syrian and Iraqi borders, a U.S. official with knowledge of the deal said.
The handover, initiated last year, was approved by Washington, which provided mechanical overhauls for the aircraft before they were incorporated free of charge in Jordan's existing Cobra fleet, the official said.
"These choppers are for border security," the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters....
Raymond Ibrahim
gatestoneinstitute.org, July 24, 2015
During the height of one of the most brutal months of Muslim persecution of Christians, the U.S. State Department exposed its double standards against persecuted Christian minorities.
Sister Diana, an influential Iraqi Christian leader, who was scheduled to visit the U.S. to advocate for persecuted Christians in the Mideast, was denied a visa by the U.S. State Department even though she had visited the U.S. before, most recently in 2012.
She was to be one of a delegation of religious leaders from Iraq -- including Sunni, Shia and Yazidi, among others -- to visit Washington, D.C., to describe the situation of their people. Every religious leader from this delegation to Washington D.C. was granted a visa -- except for the only Christian representative, Sister Diana.
After this refusal became public, many Americans protested, some writing to their congressmen. Discussing the nun's visa denial, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said:
This is an administration which never seems to find a good enough excuse to help Christians, but always finds an excuse to apologize for terrorists ... I hope that as it gets attention that Secretary Kerry will reverse it. If he doesn't, Congress has to investigate, and the person who made this decision ought to be fired....
Ronen Bergman
ynetnews.com, July 24, 2015 On Friday, May 15, a convoy of about 12 bright black vehicles left Beirut along with a number of off-road vehicles packed with uniformed fighters. The convoy turned east and drove quickly towards the Syrian border. They didn't raise too much attention among the passersby: Similar convoys of Hezbollah members have been entering the bleeding battlefields in Syria for the past two years. Only some of them will get to see Lebanon again.
But this time, it was different. The black vehicles were carrying Lebanese and Western journalists – including correspondents for Reuters, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, German media, etc. – not the population segment which Hezbollah is usually fond of.
They were driven to the border of the fighting zone in the Qalamun Mountains in Syria in order to view the lands Hezbollah recently conquered from the "takfiris" (the infidels, a combination of Arabic and English, as Hezbollah refers to the rebels in Syria). The goal was clear: To show the world how Hezbollah is fighting the Islamic State and other members of the "radical and dark Islam," according to one of the escorts on behalf of Hezbollah, which the West is so afraid of.
One of the participants of this unusual tour told Yedioth Ahronoth last week in a conversation from Beirut that the escorts had gone out of their way to make sure that the journalists were satisfied and received everything they wanted, so that they would produce a favorable article. He said there had been some preconditions – no "political talk" and handing over all cell phones at the beginning of the tour – but the refreshments were not bad and there was a pleasant atmosphere. Relative to Hezbollah, of course....
Robert Hand
Jul 29, 2015, 3:14:49 AM7/29/15
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Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2015 00:05:34 -0500
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:35:51 -0500
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:35:51 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday July 28, 2015
MUST SEE VIDEO
Caroline Glick speaks at Stop Iran Rally in New York City #StopIranRally
Caroline Glick speaks out against Obama's surrender to Iran and his facilitation of their mass murder terrorist operations and acquisition of nuclear weapons.
YouTube video - 13:12 (July 22, 2015)
CNN/ORC poll: Majority wants Congress to reject Iran deal
MUST SEE VIDEO
Caroline Glick speaks at Stop Iran Rally in New York City #StopIranRally
Caroline Glick speaks out against Obama's surrender to Iran and his facilitation of their mass murder terrorist operations and acquisition of nuclear weapons.
YouTube video - 13:12 (July 22, 2015)
CNN/ORC poll: Majority wants Congress to reject Iran deal
Hamas 'summer camp' trains 25,000 Gazans as fighters
12 impossible ideas that Israelis turned into reality No mission is impossible for inventive Israelis who read ‘impossible’ as ‘I’m possible’ and don’t regard probable failure as a reason not to try.
CLICK HERE for article
Contents: (summaries below)
- Know Your Enemy: A Primer on Islamic Jihad, nationalreview.com, Steve King, Iowa-District 4 (R)
- Iran: Nuke Deal Permits Cheating on Arms, Missiles, freebeacon.com, Javad Zarif
- Report: Iran Threat of Genocide Against Israel Could Hinder Lifting of International Sanctions, algemeiner.com, Algemeiner Staff
- Into the Fray: The Iran deal - moronic, myopic, malevolent, mendacious, jpost.com, Martin Sherman
- Iran to install latest air defense radar system in Sept., en.mehrnews.com,
- Turkey and U.S. Plan to Create Syria 'Safe Zone' Free of ISIS, nytimes.com, Anne Barnard, Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt
- Proselytizing for and whitewashing Islam in…Teen Vogue, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
Steve King, Iowa-District 4 (R)
nationalreview.com, July 25, 2015 ...Islamic jihad has declared war on the United States and all of Western civilization. ISIS has announced its intention to dominate the world and fly its black flag from the White House in continuation of a 1,400-year-old war against us “infidels.”
In the first 100 years after the death of Mohammed (a.d. 632)', Islamic jihad conquered most of the known world except Western Europe. Christian forces blocked the first century of Islamic conquest at the very bloody Battle of Tours on October 10, 732. Islamic jihad continued to threaten the very existence of Christianity throughout the next millennium. October 7, 1571, marked the destruction of Islamic jihad’s massive fleet by the Holy League fleet in the Aegean Sea.
More than a century later, Islamic jihad, having conquered the Middle East and most of Eastern Europe, had surrounded and besieged the crown jewel of Western Christendom, Vienna. If Vienna fell to Islam, all of Western Europe would be likely to follow. After a two-month siege of Vienna, relief forces from Poland and Germany arrived.
The battle for relief of Vienna began on September 11, 1683, and ended with the rout of the Islamic forces the following day. On September 11, 1697, Prince Eugene caught and routed a large Islamic army and delivered a decisive blow at the Battle of Zenta.
In keeping with the September 11 theme, the British established a mandate for Palestine on September 11, 1922, and at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes were killed on September 11. Millions of Islamists remember the humiliations of September and seek to humiliate the “Great Satan,” the United States. Thus the attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012....
Javad Zarif
freebeacon.com, July 27, 2015
Javad Zarif (AP)Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator in nuclear talks said that under the terms of the recently inked accord, the Islamic Republic is permitted to violate current embargoes on the shipment of arms and construction of missiles, according to recent comments made before Iran’s parliament.
Zarif, who spoke to the country’s parliament about the terms of the nuclear deal, also bragged that the finalization of the accord "puts the Zionist Regime in an irrecoverable danger," according to an independent translation of his Persian language remarks provided to the Washington Free Beacon.
Zarif insisted that "violating the arms and missiles embargo" placed on Iran by the United Nations "does not violate the nuclear agreement."
Algemeiner Staff
algemeiner.com, July 27, 2015
Iran’s threat of genocide by calling for the eradication of the Jewish state of Israel could complicate the removal of certain international sanctions against the Islamic Republic, an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Monday revealed.The U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obligates signatories to prevent all forms and threats of genocide, which recent calls by Iranian military and political officials for the destruction of Israel clearly seem to contradict.
And since a nuclear payload delivered by intercontinental ballistic missiles are the Iranian regime’s most logical tool to execute its apparent genocidal ambitions, lifting sanctions against its missiles program after eight years, as the recently agreed nuclear deal stipulates, without any sort of Iranian disavowal of seeking to destroy the Jewish state would appear to belie international law on preventing genocide.
Lifting U.S. sanctions against Iran’s central bank could also prove difficult, influential attorneys David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey contended in the WSJ piece, because these sanctions cannot be waived until the president has declared Iran “has stopped its ballistic-missile program, ceased money-laundering and no longer sponsors international terrorism.”...
Martin Sherman
jpost.com, July 23, 2015
US secretary of State John Kerry reacts as he delivers a statement on the Iran talks deal at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2015(photo credit: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)
Our goal is to get Iran to recognize it needs to give up its nuclear program and abide by the UN resolutions that have been in place...the deal we’ll accept is: They end their nuclear program. It’s very straightforward.
– Barack Hussein Obama, October 2012, presidential election debate
I don’t think that any of us thought we were just imposing these sanctions for the sake of imposing them. We did it because we knew that it would hopefully help Iran dismantle its nuclear program. That was the whole point of the [sanctions] regime.
– John Kerry, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, December 2013
As details emerge on the deal concluded with Iran last week in Vienna, the full extent of its calamitous significance is coming to light. Indeed, it appears that when, shortly after the announcement of the agreement, Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a “stunning, historic mistake,” he was grossly understating the case.
(Forlorn) hope & (disastrous) change
What took place in the Austrian capital was nothing less than a catastrophic failure of strategic resolve on the part of the US-led West. It was a craven capitulation on a calamitous scale, which, as time passes, looks less like an unintended mistake and more like an act of deliberate design....
en.mehrnews.com, July 26, 2015
TEHRAN, Jul. 26 (MNA) – A senior Iranian commander said on Sunday that the country will install its latest radar detection system with 1,000 kilometers range on Sept. 1.Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili announced on Sunday the air defense base affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (IRIA) will install a new strategic radar system on September 1 at one of the strategic points of the country.
“This air defense radar system has a range of 1,000 kilometers and can identify a wide range of targets from micro air vehicles (MAV) to ballistic missiles and wide-body aircrafts,” said the Iranian commander.
Noting that Iran’s air defense monitors threats 24/7 and will make the airspace 'a living hell' for the enemies before they could reach the country’s borders, the Brig. Gen. dismissed the threat of the ISIL terrorist group in the face of Iran’s mighty army, adding that the courageous people in Syria and Iraq will win the fight against the ISIL militants.
Esmaili had also said in March that the country’s airspace was the most secure in the Middle East....
Anne Barnard, Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt
nytimes.com, July 27, 2015
The Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey on Monday. Turkey and the United States agreed on a plan that would create what officials are calling an Islamic State-free zone, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians. (Credit Murad Sezer/Reuters)
BAGHDAD — Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say.
The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, July 24, 2015
Over at PamelaGeller.com, I discuss yet another sly exercise in Islamic proselytizing slipped into a forum that would have no space for a similar presentation from any other religious group:Teen Vogue is just that: a magazine for teenage girls. Articles featured on its front page today include “Justin Bieber and Sam Smith Are Already Listening to Tori Kelly’s New Album, and You Should Be, Too”; “The 35 Coolest Back-to-School Backpacks”; “7 Desserts That Require No Baking At All”; “The Complete Guide to Washing Your Makeup Brushes — Yes, You Need To”; and the immortal “I Understand My Period, But What’s Coming Out Of Me The Other Three Weeks of the Month?” In that company, “10 Misconceptions About Islam That Muslim Americans Are Tired of Hearing” stands out like Hillary Clinton at a Tea Party meeting, and manifests the indefatigable determination of Muslims to proselytize anywhere and everywhere they can, as well as the naive multiculturalism of Leftist publishers and editors who give them a platform to speak positively about their religion that they would never offer to Jews or Christians or any other religious group.
This piece, like so many others of its kind, packages its proselytizing in the guise of clearing up “misconceptions” that people supposedly have about Islam, and follows the pattern of other articles like it in presenting some “misconceptions” that no one really holds and are entirely innocuous anyway amidst others that are more or less straight proselytizing and outright deception designed to keep Americans — even those far more concerned about Kendall Jenner and Katy Perry than about Mohammad Abdulazeez and Usaama Rahim — ignorant and complacent about the jihad threat....
Robert Hand
Jul 31, 2015, 12:14:43 AM7/31/15
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Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 22:58:19 -0500
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 14:58:48 -0500
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 14:58:48 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday July 30, 2015
'ENTIRE IRANIAN DEAL IS REPREHENSIBLE' SIGN OUR ACTION ALERT TODAY!
Click here to send.
Newsmax Prime | Gen. Paul E. Vallely discusses the Stop Iran Rally
Retired U.S. Army General is in New York to take part in the Stop Iran Rally and he joins Newsmax Prime to discuss why the deal is bad for America, plus his thoughts on if U.S. military should be armed at recruiting centers. YouTube video - 05:57 (July 22, 2015)
Shocking Video - Radical Islams Children
This horrific video precedes ISIS, warning the world of how cheap a child's life is in radical Islams fight with the West. Today we see ISIS Children trained with automatic weapons and groomed as suicide bombers. ISIS and radical Islams vision for children goes against every American instinct and value.
YouTube video - 04:37 (July 21, 2015)
'ENTIRE IRANIAN DEAL IS REPREHENSIBLE' SIGN OUR ACTION ALERT TODAY!
Click here to send.
Newsmax Prime | Gen. Paul E. Vallely discusses the Stop Iran Rally
Retired U.S. Army General is in New York to take part in the Stop Iran Rally and he joins Newsmax Prime to discuss why the deal is bad for America, plus his thoughts on if U.S. military should be armed at recruiting centers. YouTube video - 05:57 (July 22, 2015)
Shocking Video - Radical Islams Children
This horrific video precedes ISIS, warning the world of how cheap a child's life is in radical Islams fight with the West. Today we see ISIS Children trained with automatic weapons and groomed as suicide bombers. ISIS and radical Islams vision for children goes against every American instinct and value.
YouTube video - 04:37 (July 21, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- IDF says it could launch preemptive strikes in Sinai, timesofisrael.com, AFP
- Obama Cannot Alter Non-Proliferation Treaty By Executive Order, forbes.com, Harold Furchtgott-Roth
- Obama's 50 'moderates' trained in $500 million program to fight the Islamic State have disappeared in Syria, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Saudi Arabia Responds to Iran Deal: Give Us 600 Patriot Missiles, defenseone.com, Marcus Weisgerber
- Israel's Foreign Ministry chief: Sunni Arab nations are our 'allies', jta.org,
- US to Sell TOW Missiles to Lebanon, israeldefense.co.il,
- Jews stood up to the U.S. government 40 years ago, and should again on Iran, washingtonpost.com, Natan Sharansky
AFP
timesofisrael.com, July 30, 2015
An IDF Merkava tank rolls along the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Monday, July 28, 2014 (AFP/David Buimovitch)
A senior military officer has said Israel could attack militants affiliated to the Islamic State in neighboring Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, if they were about to attack Israeli soldiers or civilians.
The “threat of terror from Sinai” has grown in recent years, Brigadier General Royi Elcabets said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the end of his two years as commander of the Edom division that controls the border with the Sinai, Elcabets said IS’s Egypt affiliate could attempt an attack on Israel....
Harold Furchtgott-Roth
forbes.com, July 27, 2015
...The Iran Deal will not have the status of even a statute. As currently planned, it will not be subject to the constitutionally mandated process for Senate consent for a treaty. Nor will the Iran Deal become a statute even under the Corker-Cardin process of Congressional review. Moreover, as seems likely, the Iran Deal will result in a joint resolution that will have the support of fewer than half of the members of either house of Congress, hardly the foundation for a statute.
Congress had not seen the Iran Deal before the Corker-Cardin process was enacted and had no reason to believe that it would violate the NPT. On April 27 just before the Corker-Cardin bill was approved, Secretary Kerry remarked at the 2015 NPT meeting that “nonproliferation must be non-negotiable. There is no room under the NPT for a country to negotiate its way into becoming a nuclear-armed state … “[A]ny deal with Iran will rely not on promises, non on words, but on proof…verification is at the heart of the NPT.”
The Corker-Cardin bill established a process to review an executive order, not review a treaty amendment. No one has put forth an argument that Congress can bind itself in advance to a process to create or amend a treaty by a process different from that stated in the constitution.
Perhaps most troubling is that the Iran Deal conflicts with—indeed, violates—the NPT, an international treaty to which the United States is a signatory....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, July 28, 2015
It’s bad enough that $500 million was wasted on this boondoggle, with Republican Congressional approval. It’s bad enough that this lavishly funded program could only attract fifty “moderates” willing to be trained to fight the Islamic State. But now those fifty have compounded the ludicrousness of this entire endeavor by vanishing in Syria. Did they turn over their “four wheel drive pickup trucks” to the Islamic State and join its ranks? Possibly. Did they get waylaid by Islamic State jihadis who killed them and seized their fancy U.S.-funded pickups? Another possibility. Did they disappear to some relatively peaceful place, hoping to enjoy their American largesse unmolested there? Yet another possibility.Whatever happened to them, one thing is certain: the U.S. will not end funding for this ridiculous program. If anything, Congress will pour even more taxpayer dollars into it....
Marcus Weisgerber
defenseone.com, July 29, 2015
...“We saw this coming,” said Thomas Karako, a missile defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is the consequence of leaving the Iranian missile program intact and in fact signaling sanctions will go down on it.”
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council allies have been upping their missile defenses in recent years. In April, Riyadh bought $2 billion worth of Patriots, and just last week, the Pentagon bought $1.5 billion worth of Patriots for Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, South Korea — and Saudi Arabia again.
“We’re going to see more of this,” Karako said. “So long as the Iranian missile threat exists, GCC and other countries in the region are going to have to invest in counters offensive and defensive.”...
jta.org, July 29, 2015
Dore Gold discussed the perils of the Iran nuclear deal at an event in New York hosted by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, July 29, 2015. (Conference of Presidents)
NEW YORK (JTA) – The director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Dore Gold, called the Middle East’s Sunni Arab nations “Israel’s allies.”
Gold used the term twice in a presentation Wednesday in New York focused on the shortcomings of the Iran nuclear deal.
“What we have is a regime on a roll that is trying to conquer the Middle East,” Gold said of Iran, “and it’s not Israel talking, that is our Sunni Arab neighbors — and you know what? I’ll use another expression – that is our Sunni Arab allies talking.”
Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and a longtime adviser to Israeli prime ministers from the right-wing Likud Party, is also the author of a 2003 book on Saudi Arabia called “Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism.” Saudi Arabia has been one of the most vocal Arab opponents of U.S.-Iran rapprochement and the Iran nuclear agreement....
israeldefense.co.il, July 26, 2015
The US State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Lebanon for TOW 2A Missiles and associated equipment, parts and logistical support for an estimated cost of $245 million.The Government of Lebanon has requested a possible sale of one thousand BGM-71E-4B-RF Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wireless-guided (TOW) 2A Anti-Armor Radio-Frequency missiles, five hundred BGM-71-H-1-RF TOW Bunker Buster Radio Frequency (RF) missiles, fifty M220A2 TOW launchers, containers, spare and repair parts, support equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor logistics and technical support services, and other related elements of program and logistics support.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) stated that this proposed sale will enhance the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.
The proposed sale of TOW missiles will improve Lebanon’s capability to meet current and future threats and provide greater security for its critical infrastructure. Lebanon will use the enhanced capability to strengthen its homeland defense. Lebanon will have no difficulty absorbing these missiles into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region. The principal contractor will be The Raytheon Company in Andover, Massachusetts. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.
Natan Sharansky
washingtonpost.com, July 24, 2015
Soviet Party leader Leonid Brezhnev and President Richard Nixon at talks in Ukraine in 1974.(Bettmann/Corbis)
These days, like many Israelis and American Jews, I find myself in a precarious and painful situation. Those of us who believe that the nuclear agreement just signed between world powers and Iran is dangerously misguided are now compelled to criticize Israel’s best friend and ally, the government of the United States. In standing up for what we think is right, for both our people and the world, we find ourselves at odds with the power best able to protect us and promote stability. And instead of joining the hopeful chorus of those who believe peace is on the horizon, we must risk giving the impression that we somehow prefer war.
As difficult as this situation is, however, it is not unprecedented. Jews have been here before, 40 years ago, at a historic juncture no less frightening or fateful than today’s.
In the early 1970s, Republican President Richard Nixon inaugurated his policy of detente with the Soviet Union with an extremely ambitious aim: to end the Cold War by normalizing relations between the two superpowers.
Among the obstacles Nixon faced was the USSR’s refusal to allow on-site inspections of its weapons facilities. Moscow did not want to give up its main advantage, a closed political system that prevented information and people from escaping and prevented prying eyes from looking in.
Yet the Soviet Union, with its very rigid and atrophied economy, badly needed cooperation with the free world, which Nixon was prepared to offer. The problem was that he was not prepared to demand nearly enough from Moscow in return. And so as Nixon moved to grant the Soviet Union most-favored-nation status, and with it the same trade benefits as U.S. allies, Democratic Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington proposed what became a historic amendment, conditioning the removal of sanctions on the Soviet Union’s allowing free emigration for its citizens.
By that time, tens of thousands of Soviet Jews had asked permission to leave for Israel. Jackson’s amendment sought not only to help these people but also and more fundamentally to change the character of detente, linking improved economic relations to behavioral change by the USSR. Without the free movement of people, the senator insisted, there should be no free movement of goods....
Robert Hand
Jul 31, 2015, 11:40:47 PM7/31/15
to
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:19:02 -0500
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 13:40:25 -0500
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 13:40:25 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday July 31, 2015
Why is Iran so happy about the nuclear deal? YouTube video - 01:02 (Jul 29, 2015)
Lawmakers leave for summer recess with long to-do list Fox News video - 03:59 (July 30, 2015)
When counterterrorism came of age
Terrorism experts consider the Ma'alot school massacre an "exemplar of counterterrorism's evolution. CNN video - 01:10 (July 28, 2015)
Tech investments in Israel hit new high
$1.12 billion poured into Israel’s high-tech ecosystem in second quarter of 2015 – and it’s coming from a better ‘class’ of investors, says top industry research fund. CLICK HERE for article
Why is Iran so happy about the nuclear deal? YouTube video - 01:02 (Jul 29, 2015)
Lawmakers leave for summer recess with long to-do list Fox News video - 03:59 (July 30, 2015)
When counterterrorism came of age
Terrorism experts consider the Ma'alot school massacre an "exemplar of counterterrorism's evolution. CNN video - 01:10 (July 28, 2015)
Tech investments in Israel hit new high
$1.12 billion poured into Israel’s high-tech ecosystem in second quarter of 2015 – and it’s coming from a better ‘class’ of investors, says top industry research fund. CLICK HERE for article
Contents: (summaries below)
- We Must Confront Iran's Sinister Ambitions in the Middle East, newsweek.com, Tzipi Livni
- Hamas's Child Abuse Camps, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- Israeli Strike Kills Ruthless, Child-Killing Hizballah/PFLP Terrorist, IPT News , Steven Emerson
- Israel's Choice: Conventional War Now, or Nuclear War Later, wsj.com, Norman Podhoretz
- Mosques and Massacres, crisismagazine.com, William Kilpatrick
- Senior Western official: Links between Turkey and the Islamic State are now 'undeniable', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Op-Ed: Heading Towards an EMP Catastrophe, israelnationalnews.com, Ambassador R. James Woolsey and Dr. Peter V. Pry
Tzipi Livni
newsweek.com, July 28, 2015
...I am confident that the P5+1, consisting of the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, China and Russia, did not pursue an agreement with the intention that it would embolden Iran’s regional aggression. But these countries must confront the common and dangerous perception in the Middle East that this is one of the agreement’s consequences. And—whether or not Congress endorses the deal—the commitment to confront Tehran regionally must be redoubled.
This would include:
- A clear, credible and unrestricted U.S. commitment, backed by Congress, to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons, and the readiness to use all means, including armed force, to achieve this objective.
- Creating mechanisms for strategic security cooperation with Israel and other regional allies to confront the Iranian threat across the region, including in particular enhanced arrangements for preventing the transfer by Iran of weapons, financing and know-how to terrorist organizations; exploring the creation of safe havens and demilitarized zones in sensitive strategic areas being exploited by Iran, and operations to deter and diminish the capabilities of Iran and its proxies.
- Denying legitimacy to Hezbollah and Hamas and other terror groups supported by Iran, and ensuring that under binding international and national law both the military and so-called “political” wings of these organizations are defined as illegal terrorist organizations, with extensive prohibitions on providing them with any financial, diplomatic, political or military support.
- And most specifically for Israel, America's commitment to Israel's security, proven over the years, must also be implemented with greater energy and urgency in view of the changes in the region, including the clear maintenance of Israel’s qualitative military edge and a renewed dedication by both countries to strategic, intimate and effective dialogue at the highest levels....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, July 30, 2015
The camps, which are being held under the banner "Vanguards of Liberation," are aimed at preparing children as young as 15 for fighting against Israel. More than 25,000 children have joined this year's Hamas camps, according to Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip.
What is most disturbing about this practice is that the families are not hesitant to send their children to be trained as future jihadis in the war against Israel. On the contrary, many of the families interviewed in the Palestinian media in the past few days said they were proud to see their children being taught how to use various types of weapons.
Rashed Anwar Abu Diqqa attends one of Gaza's Hamas-run military summer camps. The teenage boy, shown holding an assault rifle, says "I go to the summer camp because it teaches young people lots of useful things. (Image source: MEMRI)Only a few Palestinians have dared to speak out against Hamas's exploitation of children. Palestinian activist Eyad al-Atal criticized Hamas for "depriving an entire generation of Palestinians of their childhood." He said that apart from creating new supporters of the Islamic State, the military training of the children was in violation of human rights principles.
Addressing the Hamas leaders, the al-Atal said: "Teach your children how to play, how to smile, how to rejoice. Build for them an institution for education and entertainment that would raise them on the love of Palestine and not how to get themselves killed."
It is also disturbing to see how international and Palestinian human rights organizations, especially those claiming to defend children's rights, are turning a blind eye to this large-scale child abuse by Hamas. These organizations only care about children's rights when there is a way to throw all the blame on Israel....
Steven Emerson
IPT News , July 29, 2015
An Israeli airstrike Wednesday reportedly killed a senior Hizballah operative in the Golan Heights; a man considered one of the most reviled terrorists in Israeli history.
Samir Kuntar reportedly was among five men killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Syrian Druze village Hader. That community is considered strongly loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad
Kuntar was among five prisoners Israel released in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Kuntar was 16 years old in 1979, when he and three other members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) sneaked into Israel, killing a policeman and kidnapping a man and his 4-year-old daughter, Einat Haran. Kuntar killed the little girl by smashing her head with his rifle butt. Compounding the tragedy, Haran's other daughter, a 2-year-old, was accidentally suffocated by her mother as she tried to keep the girl from crying out as they hide from the terrorists in their apartment....
Norman Podhoretz
wsj.com, July 28, 2015
...Unfortunately, however, I am unable to escape the conclusion that Mr. Obama is right when he dismisses as a nonstarter the kind of “better deal” his critics propose. Nor, given that the six other parties to the negotiations are eager to do business with Iran, could these stringent conditions be imposed if the U.S. were to walk away without a deal. The upshot is that if the objective remains preventing Iran from getting the bomb, the only way to do so is to bomb Iran.
And there’s the rub. Once upon a time the U.S. and just about every other country on earth believed that achieving this objective was absolutely necessary to the safety of the world, and that it could be done through negotiations. Yet as the years wore on, it became increasingly clear to everyone not blinded by wishful delusions that diplomacy would never work.
Simultaneously it also became clear that the U.S. and the six other parties to the negotiations, despite their protestations that force remained “on the table,” would never resort to it (and that Mr. Obama was hellbent on stopping Israel from taking military action on its own). Hence they all set about persuading themselves that their fears of a nuclear Iran had been excessive, and that we could live with a nuclear Iran as we had lived with Russia and China during the Cold War.
Out the window went the previously compelling case against that possibility made by authoritative scholars like Bernard Lewis, and with it went the assumption that the purpose of the negotiations was to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.
For our negotiating partners, the new goal was to open the way to lucrative business contracts, but for Mr. Obama it was to remove the biggest obstacle to his long-standing dream of a U.S. détente with Iran. To realize this dream, he was ready to concede just about anything the Iranians wanted—without, of course, admitting that this was tantamount to acquiescence in an Iran armed with nuclear weapons and the rockets to deliver them....
William Kilpatrick
crisismagazine.com, July 28, 2015
On June 26, Saif Rezgui walked on to a beach in Tunisia and opened fire on German, British, and Irish sunbathers in front of the Imperial Marhaba resort hotel, killing 39 and wounding dozens more. If various world leaders are to be believed, the massacre had nothing to do with Islam. In response to the attack which left thirty British citizens dead, Prime Minister David Cameron said the terrorism “is not in the name of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.” A day later, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott assured the world that “what’s being done by Daesh [the Islamic State] has nothing to do with God, it has nothing to do with religion.”There was one notable exception to the usual nothing-to-do-with-Islam mantra. Immediately after the attack, Tunisia’s prime minister, Habib Essid, ordered the closing of 80 mosques.
Of course, the leader of a 98 percent Muslim country can’t be expected to understand Islam nearly as well as the leaders of Britain and Australia. Nevertheless, Essid’s action provides food for thought. Mosques, after all, do have something to do with Islam. “Some mosques continue to spread their propaganda and their venom to promote terrorism,” Essid reportedly said. “No mosque that does not conform to the law will be tolerated.”...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, July 29, 2015
An Islamic State fighter walks near a black flag belonging to the Islamic State as a Turkish army vehicle takes position near the Syrian town of Kobani, as pictured from the Turkish-Syrian border near Suruc.Turkish President Erdogan clearly hopes that the Islamic State will take care of his enemies — the Kurds and Assad — and then the Turks can march in and reap the benefits.
"Senior Western official: Links between Turkey and ISIS are now ‘undeniable,'"by Natasha Bertrand, Business Insider, July 28, 2015 (thanks to John):
"A US-led raid on the compound housing the Islamic State’s "chief financial officer" produced evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members, Martin Chulov of the Guardian reported recently.The officer killed in the raid, Islamic State official Abu Sayyaf, was responsible for directing the terror army’s oil and gas operations in Syria. The Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) earns up to $10 million a month selling oil on black markets....
Ambassador R. James Woolsey and Dr. Peter V. Pry
israelnationalnews.com, July 27, 2015
...Washington Dysfunction
The Congressional EMP Commission recommended a plan to protect the national electric grid from nuclear EMP attack, that would also mitigate all lesser threats--including natural EMP, RFWs [Radio-Frequency Weapons], cyber bugs and hacking, physical sabotage, and severe weather--for about $2 billion, which is what the U.S. gives away every year in foreign aid to Pakistan. About $10-20 billion would protect all the critical infrastructures from nuclear EMP attack and other threats.
There are other plans that cost much less, and much more, because there are different technologies and strategies for protecting against EMP, and to different levels of risk. Any or all of these plans are commendable. There is no such thing as being over-prepared for an existential threat.
Unfortunately, none of these plans has been implemented. The U.S. electric grid and other civilian critical infrastructures remain utterly vulnerable to EMP because of lobbying by the electric utilities in Congress, the federal bureaucracy, and the White House.
The White House has not helped matters by issuing a draft executive order for protecting the national grid from natural EMP--but that trusts NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) and the electric utilities to set the standards.....
Robert Hand
Aug 4, 2015, 1:12:02 AM8/4/15
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Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2015 23:56:29 -0500
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2015 14:46:54 -0500
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2015 14:46:54 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday August 03, 2015
Iran - The Greatest Threat to Western Civilization YouTube video - 06:14 (Aug 28, 2012)
Iran publishes book on how to outwit US and destroy Israel CLICK HERE for article
Global online 'Cold War?' YouTube video - 08:35 (July 31, 2015)
FABULOUS VIDEO - GOD BLESS ISRAEL
Inspired Israel - Aerial Cinematography by JP Worthington Media
Vimeo video - 02:20 (April 29, 2015)
Iran - The Greatest Threat to Western Civilization YouTube video - 06:14 (Aug 28, 2012)
Iran publishes book on how to outwit US and destroy Israel CLICK HERE for article
Global online 'Cold War?' YouTube video - 08:35 (July 31, 2015)
FABULOUS VIDEO - GOD BLESS ISRAEL
Inspired Israel - Aerial Cinematography by JP Worthington Media
Vimeo video - 02:20 (April 29, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- If this is not insanity, what is?, familysecuritymatters.org, Victor Sharpe
- Egyptian army says 88 terrorists killed in North Sinai in 12 days, Ahram Online ,
- Egypt: Iran's Next Sunni Rival, nationalinterest.org, Oren Kessler
- The flow of jihadists into Syria dries up as Turkey cracks down on the border, washingtonpost.com, Erin Cunningham
- Israel readies Iron Dome on Lebanon border as Hezbollah anticipates arms from Iran, FoxNews.com, Paul Alster
- Boko Haram Slits the Throats of Sixteen Christian Fishermen, breitbart.com, Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D
- Force 2025 and Beyond: How the Army Is Preparing for Its Future, defenseone.com, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno
Victor Sharpe
familysecuritymatters.org, August 02, 2015
It will be a herculean task to convince enough House and Senate Congressmen and women to vote in enough numbers to defeat Obama's noxious Iran deal and overcome his threatened veto.This catastrophic sell out, if it proceeds, will provide the Iranian mullahs with an eventual nuclear arsenal and an immediate $150 billion dollars which will not go to build Iranian hospitals or schools.
Instead it will enrich Iran's terror proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other Islamic terrorist movements, which in turn will condemn untold numbers of Jews, Christians, as well as Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and many others to death and destruction.
This vast sum given to the Iranian terror state will release the very imps of Hell upon the world.
Much of the so-called "agreement" that President Obama has signed with the Islamic Republic of Iran, is not even written in legally binding language. Iran is merely called upon to abide by the agreement which, from years of dreary past experience, they clearly will not...
Ahram Online , August 02, 2015
An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt. (File Photo: Reuters)
The Egyptian army has killed 88 militants in North Sinai between 20 and 31 July, the army's spokesman said in a statement Sunday.
In a Facebook statement, Egypt’s army spokesperson, Brigadier General Mohamed Samir, stated that the army had detained 58 suspects during the last 12 days, two of whom were already wanted by authorities.
The report also stated that nine terrorist headquarters were destroyed, in addition to two terrorist storage units that contained bomb-making material.
Army forces were also able to dismantle 47 bombs that were prepared to attack army personnel....
Oren Kessler
nationalinterest.org, August 03, 2015
After an initially cautious response to the Iran nuclear deal, Egypt upped the ante against Tehran last week, with both the Foreign Ministry and the Al-Azhar religious seminary condemning the Islamic Republic’s “interference” in Arab affairs. Cairo has been more circumspect than Israel and the Gulf states in condemning the agreement, but its quiet should not be mistaken for acquiescence—like them, it dreads the effect of a cash-flush and potentially nuclear-armed Iran on its interests and security.
Egypt is, with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, a pillar of the Sunni Arab bloc opposed to the spread of Iranian influence in the region. Since Cairo’s July 2013 coup against the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, it has received tens of billions of dollars in Gulf aid—chiefly from the Saudis and United Arab Emirates, both of which share maritime borders with Iran and are directly threatened by its destabilizing regional behavior. With Egypt’s traditionally close ties with Washington at a nadir, Cairo is keen to avoid alienating its foremost regional allies and benefactors.
Egypt’s anxiety over the deal, however, extends beyond the sensitivities of its allies. Since 1979—the year of Iran’s Islamic revolution and Cairo’s peace deal with Israel—bilateral relations have been in a deep freeze. The last Shah of Iran was a close friend of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his first wife was Egyptian and when the revolution ousted him from Tehran he spent the last months of his life in Cairo, where he remains buried to this day....
Erin Cunningham
washingtonpost.com, August 01, 2015
...The new agreement between the United States and Turkey would allow airstrikes on Islamic State targets from Turkey, which shares a 500-mile-long border with Syria, the jihadists’ home base. The deal also envisions the creation of a buffer zone just inside Syrian territory, with the expulsion of jihadists from their border strongholds. The “safe” area would host fighters from Syria’s more moderate opposition.
If implemented, the plan would enlist Turkey, which has the second-biggest military force in NATO, in the battle to weaken the jihadists’ caliphate. It was announced as Turkish security forces were also rounding up alleged sympathizers of the Islamic State in the country.
Turkey’s new role will “change the game in Syria, Iraq, and the region,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists in Istanbul on July 25, after his country’s air force hit Islamic State positions in Syria for the first time. Islamic State militants control wide swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.
“There is no place [for the Islamic State] on Turkey’s borders,” Davutoglu said. “This is not the Turkey of just one week ago.”...
Paul Alster
FoxNews.com, July 31, 2015
Iron Dome missile defense batteries are being redeployed to the north in Israel, according to Col. Yoni Saada Marom, commander of Israel’s Active Defense Air Wing. (FoxNews.com)HAIFA, Israel – One year after Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome defense system helped protect citizens from a rocket barrage launched from Gaza, the Jewish State has deployed the shield to the north, likely amid fears Lebanon-based Hezbollah could get an infusion of cash and weapons from Iran.
In an exclusive interview with FoxNews.com, Col. Yoni Saada Marom, commander of Israel’s Active Defense Air Wing, said that the military drills were not a direct reaction to recent events, but made clear that Hezbollah and other terror organizations close to Israel's borders presented a potentially heightened threat.
“We saw that during Operation Protective Edge [2014 Gaza War] the Iron Dome faced one kind of challenge in the south,” he said. “Now, we are dealing with the challenges and scenarios that we think the enemies from the north will bring. One of the scenarios could be that, like Hamas, they will try and challenge us with a variety of threats simultaneously -- which is a great challenge -- but we are developing our concepts of operation.”...
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D
breitbart.com, August 01, 2015
Patrick Fort/AFP/Getty Images
The massacre took place last Monday, but the news was released only yesterday because the area of Lake Chad is devoid of any type of telephone; survivors had to reach Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, to raise the alarm.
Earlier reports stated that ten men were killed, but the number has since been adjusted upward. According to Abubakar Gamandi, head of the fishermen’s union in Borno State, on Monday around 4 pm “Boko Haram attacked three villages on the shores of Lake Chad where they slaughtered 10 people, all of them fishermen.”
“Boko Haram decided not to use guns so as not to attract the attention of soldiers from Baga. This is why they used knives to slaughter their victims,” Gamandi said.
The victims are all citizens of Chad, where in recent months there have been numerous attacks by Islamist radicals.
Bishop Rosario Pio Ramolo, of the diocese of Goré in the south of Chad, said that in the last few months “attacks have multiplied in Chad, causing more than seventy deaths and two hundred wounded.” The violence has occurred mainly in the capital N’Djamena and in the areas bordering Nigeria....
Gen. Raymond T. Odierno
defenseone.com, July 30, 2015
Army Rangers of 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, prepare to enter an MH-47 helicopter to execute fast rope training at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. June 2, 2014. (US Army photo by SPC Coty Kuhn)
The velocity of instability continues to increase worldwide: ISIL and terrorism in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen; anarchy and extremism in North Africa; Russian annexation of Crimea and the use of unconventional land forces in Ukraine; provocation by North Korea; and various emergencies requiring complex humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts. Global instability, coupled with the reduction in military capabilities of many of our allies, has emboldened potential adversaries and magnified the risk to U.S. interests around the world. It is therefore imperative, now more than ever, to field a ready and modern Army that is innovative and adaptive and that remains the bedrock of the Joint Force.
The Army is meeting this challenge — to change itself and improve land power capabilities — through a strategy called Force 2025 and Beyond. It is our method to prepare the Army for the complexities of the global security environment, both now and in the future. Over the past year, the Army has refined this strategy and its underpinnings; here’s how they all fit together.
In May, the Army released its updated Army Vision, Strategic Advantage in a Complex World, to be the intellectual foundation for its efforts to prevent conflict, shape security environments, and win wars. That followed the October release of the new Army Operating Concept, Win in a Complex World, which discusses how warfighting capabilities combine to fulfill larger missions — that is, how future Army forces, as part of joint, interorganizational, and multinational efforts, will operate to accomplish campaign objectives and protect U.S. national interests. Force 2025 and Beyond, in turn, shapes the comprehensive effort necessary to achieve the capabilities envisioned in the Army Operating Concept....
Robert Hand
Aug 4, 2015, 11:32:50 PM8/4/15
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Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 21:54:21 -0500
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 15:01:53 -0500
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 15:01:53 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday August 04, 2015
The Iran Nuclear Deal
Is the nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran a good or bad deal? Would it be harder or easier for Iran to develop nuclear weapons? Would it make Iran and its terror proxies stronger or weaker? Should the U.S. Congress support or defeat the deal? Dennis Prager answers these questions and more. YouTube video - 05:37 (Aug 3, 2015)
US-led coalition against ISIS nears one year anniversary Fox News video - 02:40 (Aug 3, 2015)
Jewish Woman Severely Burned, 2 More Injured in Yet Another Arab Firebombing Attack
CLICK HERE for article
Revolutionary: Israeli Researcher Says He Can ‘Erase’ Memory Of Addiction
One Israeli researcher hopes he can combat the rate of relapse by overhauling the way we do drug rehabilitation. That’s where Yadid’s alternative method to traditional rehabilitation, called “the Incubation of Craving”, comes into play.
CLICK HERE for more information
The Iran Nuclear Deal
Is the nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran a good or bad deal? Would it be harder or easier for Iran to develop nuclear weapons? Would it make Iran and its terror proxies stronger or weaker? Should the U.S. Congress support or defeat the deal? Dennis Prager answers these questions and more. YouTube video - 05:37 (Aug 3, 2015)
US-led coalition against ISIS nears one year anniversary Fox News video - 02:40 (Aug 3, 2015)
Jewish Woman Severely Burned, 2 More Injured in Yet Another Arab Firebombing Attack
CLICK HERE for article
Revolutionary: Israeli Researcher Says He Can ‘Erase’ Memory Of Addiction One Israeli researcher hopes he can combat the rate of relapse by overhauling the way we do drug rehabilitation. That’s where Yadid’s alternative method to traditional rehabilitation, called “the Incubation of Craving”, comes into play.
CLICK HERE for more information
Contents: (summaries below)
- The Ayatollah's Plan for Israel and Palestine, gatestoneinstitute.org, Amir Taheri
- Poll: Americans oppose Iran deal by 2-1 margin, thehill.com, Jesse Byrnes
- Majority of House Backs Resolution to Kill Iran Deal, freebeacon.com, Adam Kredo
- Saudi Arabia, Egypt sign 'Cairo Declaration' boosting wide-ranging ties, aawsat.net, Sawsan Abu-Husain
- New Islamic State document reveals 'grand plan' to wage jihad in India, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Iran orders from China 150 J-10 fighter jets that incorporate Israeli technology, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
- Finalizing Peace Talks Not Prerequisite to Recognition of Palestinian State, says UK Official, english.wafa.ps,
Amir Taheri
gatestoneinstitute.org, July 31, 2015
- The book has received approval from Khamenei's office and is thus the most authoritative document regarding his position on the issue.
- Khamenei makes his position clear from the start: Israel has no right to exist as a state. He claims his strategy for the destruction of Israel is not based on anti-Semitism, which he describes as a European phenomenon. His position is based on "well-established Islamic principles."
- According to Khamenei, Israel, which he labels an "enemy" and "foe," is a special case for three reasons. The first is that it is a loyal "ally of the American Great Satan" and a key element in its "evil scheme" to dominate "the heartland of the Ummah."
- Khamenei describes Israel as "a cancerous tumor" whose elimination would mean that "the West's hegemony and threats will be discredited" in the Middle East. In its place, he boasts," the hegemony of Iran will be promoted."
- Khamenei's tears for "the sufferings of Palestinian Muslims" are also unconvincing. To start with, not all Palestinians are Muslims. And, if it were only Muslim sufferers who deserved sympathy, why doesn't he beat his chest about the Burmese Rohingya and the Chechens massacred and enchained by Vladimir Putin, not to mention Muslims daily killed by fellow-Muslims across the globe?
- In the early days of his mission, the Prophet Muhammad toyed with the idea of making Jerusalem the focal point of prayers for Islam. He soon abandoned the idea and adopted his hometown of Mecca. For that reason, some classical Muslim writers refer to Jerusalem as "the discarded one," like a first wife who is replaced by a new favorite. In the 11th century the Shiite Fatimid Caliph, Al-Hakim even ordered the destruction of Jerusalem.
- Dozens of maps circulate in the Muslim world, showing the extent of Muslim territories lost to the infidel that must be recovered. These include large parts of Russia and Europe, almost a third of China, the whole of India and parts of the Philippines and Thailand....
Jesse Byrnes
thehill.com, August 03, 2015
A majority of Americans opposes a recently reached international accord lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on its nuclear program, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.Nearly six in 10 Americans, or 57 percent, oppose the nuclear deal, while 28 percent voice support for it in the national poll released Monday, in a 2-to-1 margin against the deal.
Republicans strongly oppose the deal brokered by the Obama administration, 86 to 3 percent, while Democrats support the top second-term foreign policy agenda item for President Obama, 52 to 32 percent.
A majority of Americans disapprove the way Obama is handling the situation in Iran (56 percent), compared with 35 percent who approve. A majority (58 percent) also thinks the deal makes the world less safe....
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com, August 03, 2015
A majority of House lawmakers now support a resolution to reject the recently signed nuclear agreement with Iran, marking another blow to the White House’s aggressive push to convince Congress to back the deal, according to sources on Capitol Hill.
At least 218 Republican lawmakers have signed on to support a resolution expressing “firm disapproval” of the nuclear deal, which would provide Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief while enabling it to continue work on ballistic missiles and other nuclear research.
The measure, which is being led by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill) and was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, comes as Congress takes 60 days to review the deal before voting on it.
Many lawmakers, including a growing number of Democrats, have come out against the deal, citing concerns it does not do enough to limit Iran’s nuclear program....
Sawsan Abu-Husain
aawsat.net, July 31, 2015
A handout picture provided by the Office of the Egyptian Presidency on July 30, 2015 shows Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (R) speaking with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed Bin Salman during a military academy graduation ceremony in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.(AFP Photo/Ahmed Fuad/HO/ Egyptian Presidency)
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement which they have dubbed the “Cairo Declaration,” aiming to boost ties across several sectors, a statement from the Egyptian president’s office said on Thursday.
The agreement, signed during a visit by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed Bin Salman to Cairo, aims to increase military, economic, and cultural cooperation between the two countries.
As part of the declaration, Riyadh and Cairo have agreed to work together to create a joint Arab military force. They will also begin the process of formally defining maritime borders between both countries along the Red Sea, the statement said.
Both sides will also increase mutual investments in the energy, electricity, and transport sectors and have promised to strengthen economic integration....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, July 31, 2015
“It also warns that ‘preparations’ are on for an attack in India and predicts that an attack will provoke an ‘apocalyptic confrontation’ with America.” Islamic State jihadis are actively preparing for this, while our leaders in the West content themselves with assuring us that they’re not Islamic. As long as they refuse to confront this ideology, its influence will grow.“New ISIS document reveals ‘grand plan’ to wage war in India, trigger ‘Armageddon,'” ANI, July 29, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
A recruitment document retrieved from Pakistan’s lawless tribal lands has revealed the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) ‘grand ambition’ to ignite a war in India, build a new terror army in Pakistan and Afghanistan and provoke an Armageddon-like ‘end of the world’ situation.
The 32-page-document, titled ‘A Brief History of the Islamic State Caliphate (ISC),’ has been obtained by American Media Institute (AMI), and says that ‘The Caliphate, according to the Prophet’, seeks to unite various terror factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan into a single army, the USA Today reports....
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
DEBKAfile, July 30, 2015
...On Wednesday, July 29, an Indian Air Force Su-30MK1 took part for the first time in a British air maneuver, Rainbow, where it dueled with the European Typhoon fighter.
The sophisticated Flanker has been found to have a major shortcoming. To carry eight tons of ordnance, it must use both of its AL-31FP engines, and the transition from one to two – and the reverse - often causes engine failure.
The Indian Air Force has reported three such malfunctions in a month, as well another shortcoming: The time needed for making the aircraft serviceable is too long. As a result, only half of the Indian fleet can be airborne at one time.
In a confrontation, the Iranian Air Force may find that, because of these drawbacks, the Chinese Su-30MK1 is outmatched by its American and European counterparts in the service of the Israeli, Saudi and UAE air forces.
On July 22, debkafile revealed that Moscow and Tehran had concluded a giant transaction for the acquisition of a fleet of 100 IL78 MK1 (Midas) in-flight refueling planes for extending the range of its warplanes up to 7,300 km and able to refuel 6-8 planes at once.
debkafile: The scale of Iran’s multibillion acquisitions from China and Russia – 550 warplanes in all so far - indicates that Tehran’s top spending priority upon receipt of the funds released by the removal of sanctions, is to be a spanking new air force.
english.wafa.ps, August 03, 2015
RAMALLAH, July 30, 2015 (WAFA) - British Consul General to Jerusalem Alastair McPhail Thursday affirmed that the British government will recognize an independent state of Palestine at the right time and shall not wait until finalizing peace talks between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
In an exclusive interview with WAFA, McPhail said that not following the recommendation of the House of Commons to recognize the State of Palestine so far does not mean that the issue is not important to the British government.
He explained that the government is aware of the importance of recognizing a Palestinian state, and is certainly going to do so at the right time....
Robert Hand
Aug 7, 2015, 2:22:07 AM8/7/15
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Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 01:20:04 -0500
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2015 13:46:29 -0500
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2015 13:46:29 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday August 06, 2015
First arms deal between Iran and the world powers
First arms deal between Iran and the world powers
Obama tells US Jews: Rockets will fall on Tel Aviv if Congress kills Iran nuclear deal
Obama's Personal Attacks Aside, Netanyahu's Fears Are Very Real
Israel signs deal for $1.1 billion thermo-solar power plant CLICK HERE for more information Light Beams, Not Pacemakers, Could Be The Future of Heart Treatments
Researchers at the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology, have developed a new approach for the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms by using a targeted, light-based therapy.
CLICK HERE for full article
Contents: (summaries below)
- Wow: Senator Catches Obama Red-Handed Violating The Law He JUST Signed, westernjournalism.com, Randy DeSoto
- Boehner Statement on Resolution of Disapproval on President's Iran Deal, Press Release, John Boehner (R-OH)
- US senator: A military strike could send Iran 'back to day zero', timesofisrael.com, Raphael Ahren
- Ex-National Security Advisor: Iran nuclear deal likely will lead to use of force, jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- Gemunder Center Iran Task Force Co-Chair Amb. Edelman Testifies Before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, JINSA, Amb. Edelman
- Huffington Post launches Arabic Edition headed by Muslim Brotherhood partners, jihadwatch.org, Ralph Sidway
- Krauthammer: Among the ruins, a case of righteousness, southbendtribune.com, Charles Krauthammer
Randy DeSoto
westernjournalism.com, August 04, 2015
Image Credit: U.S. Department of StateFreshman Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., found that President Barack Obama is already in direct violation of a law he just signed in late May regarding the Iran nuclear deal.
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act specifically provides that Congress must receive “all nuclear agreement documents, including any related to agreements ‘entered into or made between Iran and any other parties.’ It expressly includes ‘side agreements.’ This requirement is not strictly limited to agreements to which the U.S. is a signatory,” Sen. Cotton and Rep. Mike Pompeo wrote in a joint op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last week.
Cotton and Pompeo recount that they traveled to Vienna a few weeks ago to meet with officials of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). There, they learned “that certain elements of this deal are—and will remain—secret.” They further discovered that those involved with the talks, including the Obama administration, specially allowed the IAEA and Iran to have two side deals.
The first has to do with the IAEA’s inspection of the controversial Parchin military complex. The site is a suspected location of Iran’s long range missile and nuclear development. The second side deal has to do with what the nation must reveal about its nuclear program to date....
John Boehner (R-OH)
Press Release, August 04, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) introduced a resolution of disapproval on the President’s Iran deal:
“As Congress continues to review the President’s nuclear deal with Iran, every member must decide if this agreement truly makes our country safer. Throughout the month ahead, members will have more time to closely study this proposal, listen to the American people, and determine whether it meets this essential standard. If members determine this deal does not make our country safer, they will have an opportunity to vote for this resolution when we return in September.”
Raphael Ahren
timesofisrael.com, August 05, 2015
Sen. Tom Cotton speaking to Israeli reporters in his Washington office, August 4, 2015 (Raphael Ahren)
WASHINGTON — It’s important to maintain the threat of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, a US Senator told Israeli reporters Tuesday, arguing that it is indeed possible to set back Tehran’s nuclear program.
“We can set them back to day zero. There is no doubt that the United States has the capability to do that,” said Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), a prominent opponent of the nuclear deal the US and five world powers signed with Iran last month.
Opponents of a military strike against Iran often argue that air strikes would only be able to set back the country’s military nuclear program for two to three years.
Speaking to the Israel Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Cotton — who retired from the US Army with the rank of captain — called for the US to make plain to the Iranians that it wouldn’t hesitate to use force if it felt the need to do so.
“It is critical that the credible threat of force back up our policy. Right now, I don’t think the Iranian leadership believes that the United States is willing to use force to protect our national security objectives,” he said, speaking in his Senate office....
Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, August 06, 2015
An aviation ordinanceman gets ready to load a couple of GBU-24 2000 pound "Bunker Buster" bombs onto aircraft on the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier in the northern Gulf. (photo credit: Reuters)
The Vienna agreement signed between world powers and Iran will "likely and necessarily lead to the use of force against Iran, at some stage or another, in order to halt its race toward a nuclear weapons program," the former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, has warned.
In a detailed paper published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, where Amidror is a senior research fellow, he wrote, "It is clear that the agreement was signed in order to delay the Iranian nuclear bomb program, not to end it. And thus, when the program rears its head again it will be a problem several times more serious and far harder to deal with."
He added, however, that "there is no cause for hysteria. The agreement will not bring about Israel’s downfall, and in the best case scenario may even buy Israel some time to better prepare for confronting the Iranian challenge. Nevertheless, the map of reality should be read correctly, and not through rose-tinted glasses... The reality facing Israel (and the world) following the signing of the agreement is significantly more threatening than before."...
Amb. Edelman
JINSA, August 04, 2015
...This agreement reverses almost 50 years of U.S. non-proliferation policy. As my colleague at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Michael Mandelbaum has noted, the agreement abandons the "policy of prohibiting the spread of enrichment technology even to friendly democratic governments ... as a result, it will henceforth be extremely difficult to prevent other countries, at first in the Middle East but ultimately elsewhere, particularly in East Asia, from equipping themselves with the capacity for enrichment.
It is likely, in my view, that the prospect of Iranian nuclear latency will, in turn, put the Middle East on the path to a catastrophic arms race. Five to ten or twelve years down the road, such an arms race is likely to result in a more proliferated region, with multiple adversaries, each armed with small and vulnerable nuclear arsenals struggling to co-exist in an inherently unstable strategic environment. The flight times between the competitors will be mere minutes, and hence the decision-making space will be quite constrained and short. This would present an unprecedented challenge for the region, the United States, and the world at large with every possibility that the ultimate weapons actually will be used by accident or miscalculation for the first time since 1945.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL TESTIMONY
Ralph Sidway
jihadwatch.org, August 04, 2015
...“Huffington Post Launches Arabic Edition Headed By Muslim Brotherhood Partners,” by gmbwatch (thanks to Creeping Sharia)
Arianna Huffington with former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal RaufA Lebanese news portal is reporting on the Muslim Brotherhood connections of Huffington Post’s new Arabic language edition. The NOW report begins:
July 29, 2015 ‘Don’t be shocked if you expect one thing and find something entirely different,’ writes Anas Fouda, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post’s brand new Arabic-language edition, HuffPost Arabi, in his inaugural editorial.
The warning is apt, for presumably few readers indeed will have expected the liberal American media juggernaut to launch a venture headed by two prominent figures of the Middle East’s religious right.
Fouda, previously an executive producer at Al Jazeera Arabic (AJA), is managing the website in partnership with his old boss, former AJA director general Wadah Khanfar. Their profiles may make for interesting perusal for existing Huffington Post readers unfamiliar with the Arabic-language media landscape.
An Egyptian national now living in Turkey, Fouda was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 on suspicion of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) – an affiliation which he freely admitted had existed since 1988, though he claimed to have held no formal party role since 1995. A browse of his Twitter timeline shows his politics to be fairly bread-and-butter MB; recommending, for instance, articles praising ‘His Eminence’ Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Holocaust-revisionist cleric who routinely denounces Shiite and Alawite Muslims, to say nothing of Jews. Indeed, Fouda has himself on occasion found less-than-obliging things to say about his Semitic cousins, e.g., tweeting last July that, ‘Only after the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza did I realize the number of Egyptian Jews has increased greatly since the coup.’
Khanfar, however, is the heavyweight of the pair; the man who made Al Jazeera the titan of Arabic media that it is today. He’s also, according to ex-colleagues, the man who made Al Jazeera the Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece that it is today. A former Baghdad correspondent complained that once Khanfar took over the reins, ‘the liberals, the secular types, the Arab nationalists [were] getting downsized, and the Islamic position [was] dominating the newsroom.’ Former AJA Washington bureau chief Hafez al-Mirazi similarly said that ‘From the first day of the Wadah Khanfar era, there was a dramatic change, especially because of him selecting assistants who are hard-line Islamists.’ Khanfar has defended his Brotherhoodisation of the editorial line as simply a reflection of a new ‘political reality’ in the Arab world – never mind any Arabs who may seek to challenge that reality.”...
Charles Krauthammer
southbendtribune.com, August 02, 2015
Christianity, whose presence in the Middle East predates Islam’s by 600 years, is about to be cleansed from the Middle East. Egyptian Copts may have found some respite under Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, but after their persecution under the previous Muslim Brotherhood government, they know how precarious their existence in 90 percent Muslim Egypt remains. Elsewhere, it’s much worse. Twenty-one Copts were beheaded by the Islamic State affiliate in Libya for the crime of being Christian. In those large swaths of Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State rules, the consequences for Christians are terrible — enslavement, exile, torture, massacre, crucifixion.
Over the decades, many Middle Eastern Christians, seeing the rise of political Islam and the intensification of savage sectarian wars, have simply left. Lebanon’s Christians, once more than half the population, are now estimated at about a third. The number of Christians under Palestinian Authority rule in the West Bank has dwindled — in Bethlehem, for example, dropping by half. (The exception, of course, is Israel, where Christians, Arab and non-Arab, enjoy not just protection but civil rights. Their numbers are increasing. But that’s another story.)
Most endangered are the Christians of Syria. Four years ago they numbered about 1.1 million. By now 700,000 have fled. Many of those remaining in the country are caught either under radical Islamist rule or in the crossfire between factions. As the larger Christian world looks on passively, their future, like the future of Middle Eastern Christianity writ large, will be determined by Iran, Hezbollah, the Assad dynasty, the Islamic State, the Nusra Front, various other local factions and by regional powers seeking advantage.
Meanwhile, on a more limited scale, there are things that can be done. Three weeks ago, for example, 150 Syrian Christians were airlifted to refuge and safety in Poland....
Robert Hand
Aug 7, 2015, 10:09:15 PM8/7/15
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Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 20:55:24 -0500
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 13:56:37 -0500
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 13:56:37 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday August 07, 2015
PA Minister: Israel has "evil plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and establish the alleged Temple” YouTube video - 00:58 (July 28, 2015)
WATCH: Thousands of Gazan children graduate Hamas military summer camp
CLICK HERE for video (05:31 Aug 6, 2015), article and photos
Winning the War of Words – Essays on Zionism and Israel by Einat Wilf
CLICK HERE for pdf presentation
Novel Eye-Tracking Device EyeControl Enables ALS Patients To Communicate
Nearly 6,000 Americans are diagnosed with the neuron motor disease every year, losing almost all of their communication skills as the disease progresses. Now, a new Israeli-made device called EyeControl is striving to give a voice to those who are unable to verbally communicate, using the movement of their eyes.
PA Minister: Israel has "evil plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and establish the alleged Temple” YouTube video - 00:58 (July 28, 2015)
WATCH: Thousands of Gazan children graduate Hamas military summer camp
CLICK HERE for video (05:31 Aug 6, 2015), article and photos
Winning the War of Words – Essays on Zionism and Israel by Einat Wilf
CLICK HERE for pdf presentation
Novel Eye-Tracking Device EyeControl Enables ALS Patients To Communicate
Nearly 6,000 Americans are diagnosed with the neuron motor disease every year, losing almost all of their communication skills as the disease progresses. Now, a new Israeli-made device called EyeControl is striving to give a voice to those who are unable to verbally communicate, using the movement of their eyes.
Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama's Heavy Handed and Misleading Iran Deal Advocacy Isn't Working, commentarymagazine.com, Jonathan S. Tobin
- The President Gets Personal about the Iran Deal, gatestoneinstitute.org, Alan M. Dershowitz
- Top U.S. House Foreign Affairs Democrat will vote against Iran nuclear deal, reuters.com,
- Iran to submit Syria peace plan to U.N., dailystar.com.lb,
- Defending Israel against Iranian Nuclear Aggression: War, Genocide, and International Law, newenglishreview.org, Louis René Beres
- Israel and Japan Are Finally Becoming Friends. Why?, mosaicmagazine.com, Arthur Herman
- Islamophobia or Ingratitude?, americanthinker.com, Lee Bender
Jonathan S. Tobin
commentarymagazine.com, August 05, 2015
...A good sign that the Jewish establishment isn’t being intimidated came today with the announcement that the liberal-leaning American Jewish Committee is joining the ranks of those opposed to the Iran deal. Coming as it does the day after the Obama meeting, the AJC’s move is a sign to wavering members of Congress that even organizations whose members are basically sympathetic to the president aren’t buying his arguments.
Since the signing of the deal last month, the president hasn’t hesitated about throwing some sharp elbows in the direction of the pro-Israel community. He has spoken openly about standing up to the power of lobbyists and big money in a way that was an unmistakable shot fired over the bow of AIPAC and an echo of anti-Semitic tropes. An earlier generation of American Jews responded to similar talk from President George H.W. Bush with revulsion but as a liberal Democrat, Obama gets cut slack from the organized Jewish world that no Republican would get.
In his meeting with the Jewish groups (those in attendance included some of the president’s sycophantic supporters from J Street and the National Jewish Democratic Council), Obama tempered some of this rhetoric but didn’t entirely walk back his charges that seemed to be dog whistles to Democrats about not letting moneyed Jews interfere with the measure that he considers to be integral to his foreign policy legacy....
Alan M. Dershowitz
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 05, 2015
...4. Does the deal reflect a reversal in policy from President Obama's pre-reelection promise that "My policy is not containment; my policy is to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon"?
5. If not, will President Obama now announce that it is still the policy of the United States that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon?
6. How exactly will the inspections regime work? Precisely how much time will the Iranians have between a request for inspection and the inspection itself? What precisely will they be permitted to do during this hiatus? And why do they need so much time if they don't plan to cheat?
7. What will President Obama do if Iran is caught cheating on this deal during his administration?
8. Precisely when will which sanctions be lifted under the agreement? Do provisions that prevent the P5+1 from imposing new sanctions apply even if Iran is found to be in violation of its commitments under the agreement? When exactly will sanctions prohibiting the sale of weapons, and particularly missile technology, be lifted?...
reuters.com, August 06, 2015
U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) speaks during a pro-Israel rally organised by local Jewish communities in front of New York City hall in New York July 14, 2014. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Thursday he has decided to vote to reject the nuclear deal with Iran.
In a statement obtained by Reuters, Engel said he had raised questions about his concerns about the deal during the negotiations and since the deal was announced on July 1.
"The answers I’ve received simply don’t convince me that this deal will keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands, and may in fact strengthen Iran’s position as a destabilizing and destructive influence across the Middle East," Engel said....
dailystar.com.lb, August 06, 2015
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, waits for Syrian delegation as he was meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, left, at the presidency office in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)TEHRAN, MOSCOW: Iran said Wednesday it will submit a new peace plan for war-ravaged Syria to the United Nations on the back of an international shift in favor of a political settlement.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the plan, drafted after “detailed consultations” between Damascus and Tehran, was an amended version of an Iranian initiative presented last year.
The new proposals to be submitted to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon amount to “one of the most effective and serious plans on the agenda of the United Nations and international players,” Amir-Abdollahian told the Beirut-based Al-Mayedeen television channel, which supports the Syrian regime.
Amir-Abdollahian, whose country is a key ally of Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad, did not provide details....
Louis René Beres
newenglishreview.org, August 01, 2015
Under authoritative international law, aggressive war and genocide need not be mutually exclusive. On the contrary, war can intentionally create the conditions that would make genocide possible; it can also be the more direct or immediate instrument of closely related crimes against humanity. It follows then, as Iran comes ever closer to achieving a viable nuclear weapons capability,[1] that Israel has an especially good reason to fear future conflicts with such an aggression-prone Islamic republic.
Ultimately, any war launched by Iran could become genocidal.
Language has meaning. On July 23, 2014, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, called openly for the annihilation of Israel.[2] For some time before that day, Iranian presidents, whether Hassan Rouhani or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had been proclaiming their desire to bring about Israel’s “disappearance.”[3]
What still needs to be examined, more seriously and systematically, is whether these Iranian leaders have been calling for literal genocide, and whether, in response, Israel still maintains any legal authority to strike first.[4]
Israel already has codified and customary rights to request a punitive General Assembly resolution, even one calling for Iran’s expulsion from the United Nations. While such a diplomatic rejoinder to Iran’s presumptively genocidal pleas could be entirely permissible and compliant with the law, it would also have little determinable effect upon Iran’s planned or considered military intentions. Of course, any such request could also be rejected by UN member states....
Arthur Herman
mosaicmagazine.com, August 06, 2015
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe places a note between stones of the Western Wall. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean).
Walk down a side street in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol and you may come across a group of students chatting loudly in Hebrew as they review their Bible lessons of the day. Hardly an extraordinary sight in Israel—except that these aren’t Israelis. They’re young Japanese on student visas who have assumed hybrid names like Asher Sieto Kimura and Suzana Keiren Mimosa. And they’re Makuyas: members of a Japanese religious group that’s been fervently supportive of Israel since 1948.
The movement’s founder—“Makuya” is Japanese for ohel moed, the biblical tent of meeting or tabernacle—was Ikuro Teshima, a Christian businessman who adopted the name Abraham in the belief that the birth of Israel marked the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. His dream, finally realized in the 1960s, was to send groups of young Japanese to Israel, there to study Hebrew and Jewish thought and to volunteer in hospitals, schools, and senior centers. Since then, over 1,000 Makuyas have attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Haifa, the Technion, and other institutions of higher learning. In Japan itself, the Makuya newsletter reaches more than 300,000 subscribers.
Makuya aside, it is true, love of Israel used to be an anomaly in Japan. But it is much less of one now. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the first Japanese premier in almost a decade to visit the Jewish state, represents a political establishment that has undergone a significant shift in perception, to the point where a country once kept at arm’s length by Tokyo is now increasingly seen to merit a friendly and indeed a deferential bow. And the feeling is warmly reciprocated....
Lee Bender
americanthinker.com, August 04, 2015
...Here are some commonsense immediate concerns, suggestions and courses of action that we must take:
- All Muslim men, especially those 18-44 years, who travel from the U.S. to Muslim countries such as Turkey, Syria, Sudan, Gulf states and Iraq for any period of time more than one week, should be detained immediately upon their return until such time as U.S. security authorities can be assured they are not radicalized and planning to engage in jihadist attacks.
- Stop the inane mindset of A.B.I.: “Anything But Islam” as the root cause for these attacks (i.e. Boston Bomber, Fort Hood, Chattanooga), and the many dozens of thwarted attacks and arrests.
- The jihadis are bringing the fight here — as they do wherever they settle on the planet. Consequently, we must take the fight to them.
- All U.S. military installations and personnel must be permitted to be armed to defend themselves. To date the policy insanely has been to “disarm” our military, to make them appear more welcoming and friendly. Instead, they are sitting ducks. If we can’t trust our own military to be armed, who can we trust?...
Robert Hand
Aug 11, 2015, 2:27:44 AM8/11/15
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Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 01:24:31 -0500
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2015 18:41:28 -0500
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2015 18:41:28 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday August 10, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Caroline Glick: The Iran Deal - Implications for International Security YouTube video - 01:24:45 (Aug 7, 2015) Opinion Journal: Who’s to Blame for Iran ‘Side Deals’? Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust Director Anne Bayefsky on Iran’s violation of the U.N.’s Non-Proliferation Treaty. WSJ video - 03:49 (Aug 6, 2015) Afghanistan: Taliban suicide bomb attack near Kabul airport CLICK HERE for video and article (Aug 10, 2015) |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
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Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama Vows: 'I Don't Intend to Lose' Against Netanyahu, Congress, breakingisraelnews.com, Lea Speyer
- Iranian Senior Officials Disclose Confidential Details From Nuclear Negotiations: Already In 2011 We Received Letter From U.S. Administration Recognizing Iran's Right To Enrich Uranium, Special Dispatch No. 6131,
- Speaker Boehner Statement on the Fight Against ISIL, Press Release, John Boehner (R-OH)
- Russia and US wooSaudis to help save Assad - albeit putting Israel and Jordan in danger from S. Syria, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Special Report
- Palestinian Authority seeks to strengthen ties with Iran, jpost.com, Khaled Abu Toameh
- UN chief condemns rocket-firing from Gaza towards Israel, xinhuanet.com,
- Sex Slaves, Beheadings and Twitter Terrorism, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
Lea Speyer
breakingisraelnews.com, August 10, 2015 ...“If you look at the merits of the deal, you will conclude that it will cut off a pathway from Iran to a nuclear weapon,” he explained.
Should Israel ever be attacked by Iran, “I have no doubt we would do everything we needed to do to ensure Israel is protected,” Obama pledged.
“I’ve acted on the basic notion that our commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct,” adding that the US remains a “deep and profound” ally of Israel.
With Israeli and American disapproval of the nuclear deal increasing each week, the president said that he “can understand why the Israeli public is suspicious and cautious about the deal.” However, Obama assured, the agreement is “very good” for Israel.
“If in fact my argument is right, that this is the best way for Iran not to get a nuclear weapon, then that’s not just good for the United States. That is very good for Israel.”
CLICK HERE for full interview
Special Dispatch No. 6131, August 10, 2015 ...Interviewer: "What was the American position in the first meetings that took place between Iran and the P5+1 during Rohani's presidency?"
Salehi: "After Rohani's government began working [in August 2013] – this was during Obama's second term in office – a new [round of] negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 was launched. By this time, Kerry was no longer a senator but had been appointed secretary of state. [But even] before this, when he was still senator, he had already been appointed by Obama to handle the nuclear dossier [vis-à-vis Iran] and later [in December 2012] he was appointed secretary of state. Before this, the Omani mediator, who was in close touch with Kerry, told us that Kerry would soon be appointed secretary of state. In the period of the secret negotiations with the Americans in Oman, there was a more convenient atmosphere for obtaining concessions from the Americans. After the advent of the Rohani government and the American administration [i.e., after the start of Obama's second term in office], and with Kerry as secretary of state, the Americans expressed a more forceful position. They no longer displayed the same eagerness to advance the negotiations. Their position became more rigid and the threshold of their demands higher. But the situation on the Iranian side changed too, since a very professional team was placed in charge of the negotiations with the P5+1..."[4]
'Nuclear Iran' Website: Three Rounds Of Talks With The U.S. Took Place Before Iran's 2013 Elections
The "Nuclear Iran" website, which is affiliated with Iran’s former nuclear negotiation team and which supports the ideological camp, reported on April 20, 2014 that "Two additional conditions, out of the four conditions [set out by Khamenei], were that foreign minister [Salehi] himself not take part in the talks, and that the negotiations yield tangible results at an early [stage]. The policy for these negotiations was set out by a committee of three figures, [all of them] senior government officials, though Ahmadinejad himself did not have much of a role in it. The main strategy in these negotiations was [handing] America an ultimatum and exposing its insincerity and untrustworthiness. Before the 2013 presidential elections, three rounds of talks took place in Oman, and at these talks the Americans officially recognized Iran's [right] to enrich [uranium]..."[5]...
John Boehner (R-OH)
Press Release, August 08, 2015 WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement today marking the one-year anniversary of the first airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq:
"One year after authorizing the first airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq, President Obama still doesn’t have the overarching strategy that’s needed to actually defeat these savage terrorists. Today ISIL forces control huge swaths of both Iraq and Syria. Scores of innocent men, women and children in these countries are murdered every week. And Iraq’s stability and sovereignty, a vital U.S. interest, remains at risk.
“Instead of punting this crisis to the next administration, it’s time for President Obama to change course, and put forth a strategy to win this fight. I’ve outlined on a number of occasions what – in my view – what an overarching strategy should look like. Ultimately, however, we only have one commander-in-chief. It’s his job to lead, and put forward a plan that will succeed.
“This spring I had a chance to visit with some of our men and women serving in Iraq, and personally express my gratitude and continued support for all that they do. Our airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines, diplomats and intelligence experts are making extraordinary sacrifices every day to carry out their mission to keep America safe. They deserve a plan that can get the job done and bring them home safely to their families.”
DEBKAfile Special Report
DEBKAfile, August 09, 2015
Lavrov, Kerry, Al-Jubeir at DohaBuilding on the nuclear accord signed in Vienna last month, the Obama administration has been in close communion with Moscow and Tehran on regional moves to save the Assad regime, as the key to their next regional policies, including a united front against the Islamic State. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners are being assiduously wooed to join the new alignment being set up for this purpose. The live wire getting them all together in Omani is Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah, the secret broker who brought Iran and the United States to the negotiating table for a nuclear accord. This was first reported in the last DEBKA Weekly.
Wednesday, Aug. 7, Obama threw out his first hint on this development: “The window has opened a crack for us to get a political resolution in Syria, partly because both Russia and Iran, I think, recognize that the trend lines are not good for Assad,” he said. “Neither of those patrons are particularly sentimental; they don’t seem concerned about the humanitarian disaster that’s been wrought by Assad and this conflict over the last several years, but they are concerned about the potential collapse of the Syrian state. And that means, I think, the prospect of more serious discussions than we’ve had in the past.”
The US president then affirmed more strongly in a CNN interview Sunday, Aug. 9: “Is there the possibility that having begun conversations around this narrow issue [the nuclear accord with Iran] that you start getting some broader discussions about Syria, for example, and the ability of all the parties involved to try to arrive at a political transition that keeps the country intact and does not further fuel the growth of ISIL and other terrorist organizations? I think that's possible,” Obama said. “But I don't think it happens immediately."...
Khaled Abu Toameh
jpost.com, August 09, 2015
PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (photo credit: Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority is looking forward to developing its relations and strengthening mutual trade with Iran, a senior PLO official, Ahmed Majdalani, said Sunday after meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif in Tehran.
Majdalani said he delivered a letter from PA President Mahmoud Abbas to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which was relayed through Zarif, that deals with the current situation in the Palestinian territories and “Israeli assaults against our people and their holy sites, as well as bilateral relations between the two sides.”
Majdalani said he also discussed with the Iranian foreign minister the ongoing dispute between the PA and Hamas, expressing hope Iran would use its influence to end the dispute....
xinhuanet.com, August 08, 2015 UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Friday condemned the numerous rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel over the last few days.
Reports said Gaza militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) fired three rockets from central Gaza Strip into Israel Thursday night.
In a statement released by Ban's spokesperson, Ban said he is very concerned over recent violence in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 08, 2015
- "If European countries accept a wave of migrants, there will be terrorists among them. ... By accepting the migrants, we strongly facilitate the Islamic State's expansion to Europe." — Czech President Miloš Zeman.
- "We are committed to being active participants in our society, but it has to be on Islam's terms, without compromising our own principles and values. Democracy is antithetical to Islam... The way forward for Muslims in Denmark is to resist the anti-Islamic integration policy and the aggressive foreign policy pursued by successive governments in this country." — Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
- "If you talk about immigration, you are a xenophobe. If you talk about security, you are a fascist. If you talk about Islam, you are an Islamophobe." — French MP Henri Guaino.
- "We cannot lose this war because it is fundamentally a war of civilization. It is our society, our civilization that we are defending." — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
Police were quick to rule out a religious motive and insisted that the attack was a random act of violence perpetrated by a deranged killer, but a subsequent investigation found that Rizvanović was a devout Muslim with many links to radical Islam....
Robert Hand
Aug 11, 2015, 11:36:54 PM8/11/15
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Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 22:30:43 -0500
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:14:03 -0500
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:14:03 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday August 11, 2015
Satellite Imagery Reveals Iran Lying, Covering Up Nuclear Activity at Parchin
World on Fire - The Obama National Security Legacy
YouTube video - 05:17 (Aug 7, 2015)
Terrorist honored with monument in his name and televised visit to his mother's home
YouTube video - 00:44 (Aug 11, 2015)
Activists say hundreds of Syrian Christian families flee town as Islamic State fighters near
Satellite Imagery Reveals Iran Lying, Covering Up Nuclear Activity at Parchin
World on Fire - The Obama National Security Legacy
YouTube video - 05:17 (Aug 7, 2015)
Terrorist honored with monument in his name and televised visit to his mother's home
YouTube video - 00:44 (Aug 11, 2015)
Activists say hundreds of Syrian Christian families flee town as Islamic State fighters near
The Glazov Gang - Steve Emerson on “Obama vs. US Victims of Palestinian Terror?”
YouTube video - 10:38 (Aug 7, 2015)
YouTube video - 10:38 (Aug 7, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama's Gift to the Ayatollah, weeklystandard.com, Emanuele Ottolenghi and Saeed Ghasseminejad
- How Iran Plans to Destroy Israel , the-american-interest.com, Ehud Yaari
- Iran regime sentences man to have eyes gouged out, ncr-iran.org,
- Sharia-ism Is Here: The Battle to Control Women and Everyone Else by Joy Brighton, Special to IPT News, Reviewed by Marion DS Dreyfus
- Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tehran, newsblaze.com, Nurit Greenger
- U.S. Intelligence Suspects ISIS Planning Mass-Casualty Attack, clarionproject.org,
- Russian Warships Dock In Iran for War Training, freebeacon.com, Adam Kredo
Emanuele Ottolenghi and Saeed Ghasseminejad
weeklystandard.com, August 04, 2015
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, signed this month by the six world powers with Iran lifts a UN arms embargo by 2020, sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile program by 2023, most nuclear restrictions by 2025, and a cap on low-enriched uranium stockpile by 2030. Most sanctions will be lifted immediately, with some residual measures left until 2023. The Obama administration often suggests that the deal may transform the Iranian regime from a revolutionary theocracy to a more moderate government that adheres to international norms. If that is the aim, why did the Obama administration agree to lift U.S. sanctions against the very hardliners the deal is supposed to marginalize?
A case in point is the Headquarters for the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order – also known as EIKO or Setad. In June 2013 the U.S. Treasury designated EIKO – which functions as the personal business empire of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei – and 37 of its subsidiaries, noting that its purpose is “to generate and control massive, off-the-books investments, shielded from the view of the Iranian people and international regulators.”
If, or when, the nuclear deal is implemented, all sanctions against EIKO will be lifted. It will be the supreme leader’s inner circle, and not the moderates, who will reap the dividends.
Khamenei, of course, has final say on all important decisions in Iran. A revolutionary Islamist, he openly declares his intention to meddle in regional countries’ affairs through Iran’s active support for terror organizations and Islamic revolutionary movements. He is the ideological gatekeeper of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, its enduring anti-Americanism and its burning hatred for Israel....
Ehud Yaari
the-american-interest.com, August 01, 2015
The mullahs seem dead serious about wanting to destroy Israel, but exactly how they plan to go about it remains studiously cryptic.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been committed for the past 36 years to a doctrine aimed at wiping Israel off the map. Statements to this effect still pour out of Tehran almost daily. President Hassan Rouhani has somewhat softened his predecessor’s language, but does not refrain from expressing his loyalty to this objective. All rival factions within the regime, and many outside too, agree that the destruction of the Jewish State constitutes an important tenet of their devotion to Islam, reflecting a deep ideological conviction in the indispensability of annihilating the “Zionist entity.”
Now, some pro-Iranian apologists in the West have claimed that the goal of annihilation does not mandate military means to achieve it, the intimation being that Israel will be destroyed through the deployment of truth, faith, and divine power—or through a highly improbable referendum (more on this below). In calling for Israel’s demise, Tehran has adopted the line that Israel is an artificial, weak, and split society that will easily implode under pressure—a “spider web” in the words of Hizballah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. At the same time, the Iranians present Israel to their audience as an aggressive, agile opponent that benefits from generous Western support. At the very least, the regime is signaling that a military effort would be essential to bring about a collapse in Israel.
Consequently, much rhetoric is devoted to mobilizing popular support toward achieving this goal. “Death to Israel” is chanted at rallies all across the country, and the mantra is inscribed on a variety of weapons systems in military parades. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s mouthpiece, the daily newspaper Kayhan, once summed up Iran’s stance as follows: “The belief that Israel must be eliminated is a condition of our adherence to Islam. . . . [E]ach and every one of our officials should reiterate our responsibility of the need to destroy this cancerous tumor of Israel.” Only some members of the suppressed Green Movement have voiced reservations regarding the regime’s prioritization of aiding Israel’s adversaries....
ncr-iran.org, August 05, 2015
NCRI - The mullahs' inhuman regime in Iran has sentenced a young man to be blinded.The cruel and medieval sentence was handed down on Saturday (August 1) to the 27-year-old man only identified by his first name Hamed.
Hamed had told the regime's court that in March 2011, when he was 23 years old, he unintentionally caused an eye injury to another young man in a street fight, according to the official state-run Iran newspaper.
“It was around midnight and I was sitting at home when my mother called me and said that my father had gotten into a car accident. I rushed to the scene to help my dad, but I really didn’t intend to injure anyone's eye,” Hamed told the regime’s court.
Following this sentence, Ms. Farideh Karimi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and a human rights activist, said:
“It is deeply regretful that European governments are not protesting such cases of barbarity in Iran. These savage acts which constitute torture are enshrined in the Iranian regime’s laws. At least four people were hanged in public in Iran last month. Such public hangings also constitute a form of public torture. When people are urged to go to the scene, everyone who is faced with that sight is also tortured by that barbaric act. One must ask: Why has the EU closed its eyes to these atrocities.”...
Reviewed by Marion DS Dreyfus
Special to IPT News, August 06, 2015
A short 15 years ago, the larger American public was completely ignorant of the vocabulary of jihad.Now some terms that once were italicized and considered foreign—because they WERE foreign—have become woven into our daily consciousness and news vocabulary.
But to still far too many, the terms introduced by the terror tsunami of the past decade and a half are still fuzzy. In Sharia-Ism Is Here: The Battle to Control Women and Everyone Else, author Joy Brighton brings clarity, citations, history and important supportive documentation to bear to clear up any uncertainty as to the differences between Sunni and Shi'a, laws and customs, and the whole directory of confusing terms.
Until now, most citizens of the land of the free and home of the brave didn't really have a handle on what those words scrawled on walls in the Middle East, on placards during carefully planned "protests" calling for Death to America, Death to Israel!, or shouted down to audiences from mosque pulpits around the Umma (Arab world) even denote. Taqiyyah? What's that?
When you know the words, you can describe the problem, address the situation, define a solution, and debate the disposition. But Brighton does far more than just provide a critically-needed clarification to the arcana of Arabic terms and misunderstandings swirling in the media cloud since the horror of 9/11 struck the innocence of the country like razor lightning.
Sharia-Ism Is Here digs deeper than a dissection and clarification of Islamic idioms and vocabulary. The author analyzes the underpinnings of Sharia-ism, a term she crafted to represent the despotic system of Islamic laws that routinely runs counter to the U.S. Constitution and western egalitarianism, while demoting women to second class citizens and non Muslims to even less. She asks, Is Sharia-ism a religious movement against the West or is it a political one?...
Nurit Greenger
newsblaze.com, August 06, 2015
Two nuclear bombs were dropped, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered, unconditionally, after Nagasaki experienced the mushroom cloud fallout.
Japan was defeated, totally defeated and a modern Japan rose from the nuclear ashes. This modern Japan is a testament to the benefits of total defeat, to stripping a culture prone to violence of its martial pretenses.
Modern Hiroshima city is a testament to human resilience in the face of catastrophe. It is also a testament to an America that understood moral certainty and any thirst for revenge were not obstacles to magnanimity. In some ways, they were the precondition for it.
Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on board USS Missouri as General Richard K. Sutherland watches, September 2, 1945 (Photo Wikipedia)For too long Hiroshima has been associated with a certain brand of Leftist politics, a kind of insipid pacifism salted with an implied anti-Americanism. That is a shame because today there are lessons in this city's history that could serve us when the U.S. military forbids the use of the word victory. The current U.S. president doesn't believe in the exercise of American power, and the U.S. public is consumed with guilt for sins they did not commit.
In 1981 the late Paul Fussell, cultural critic and war memoirist, wrote an essay which includes this:
"When we learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live." - Paul Fussell
In his column in the Wall Street Journal this week, Bret Stephens is on a train on his way to Hiroshima, and he is reading Fussell's essay. He says:
"In all the cant that will pour forth this week to mark the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the bombs-that the U.S. owes the victims of the bombings an apology; that nuclear weapons ought to be abolished; that Hiroshima is a monument to man's inhumanity to man; that Japan could have been defeated in a slightly nicer way-I doubt much will be made of Fussell's fundamental point: Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't just terrible war-ending events. They were also lifesaving. The bomb turned the empire of the sun into a nation of peace activists." - Bret Stephens in WSJ...
clarionproject.org, August 09, 2015
A bullet hole from the Islamic State attack in Tunisia. (Photo: © Reuters)Analysts in the intelligence community warned the Islamic State may be preparing to carry out a mass-casualty terrorist attack, rather than encouraging its international supporters to carry out ‘lone-wolf’ attacks.
Increased competition for recruits and prestige with different jihadist factions are being floated as causes for this possible shift in emphasis. Groups such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) typically are more focused on larger attacks, such as the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, or plots against airliners. The Islamic State may be attempting to portray itself as capable and powerful in that regard.
Lt-Gen. Mark Hertling told CNN “I think they're taking a lot of the new recruits that don't have time to train, who have not been brought up in their systems, and they're using them to create the type of mass casualty which produces the media attention, which is exactly what they want, that shows they're still powerful.”
Despite the U.S.-led bombing campaign and ISIS fighting wars on every front, losing thousands of fighters, the Islamic State is still estimated to have the same number of fighters as it did last year (20,000 to 30,000). Its sophisticated recruitment methods have enabled the organization to replenish its forces as fast as their enemies can kill them.
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com, August 10, 2015
Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin (AP)Two Russian warships have docked in northern Iran for a series of naval training exercises with the Islamic Republic, according to Persian-language reports translated by the CIA’s Open Source Center.
The two Russian ships docked in Iran’s Anzali port on Sunday and will hold “joint naval exercises during the three-day stay of the warships in Iran,” according to a Persian-language report in Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency.
“The [Russian] warships, Volgodonsk and Makhachkala docked in Anzali Port [near the Caspian Sea], in the fourth naval zone, on the afternoon of 9 August,” the report says.
The war exercises come just weeks after Iran and global powers inked a nuclear accord that will provide Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for slight restrictions on the country’s nuclear program....
Robert Hand
Aug 13, 2015, 5:14:52 PM8/13/15
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Subject: FW: Today's News Summaries
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 16:03:45 -0500
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 15:53:24 -0500
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 15:53:24 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday August 13, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| The Invasion of Greece EU leaders still unwilling to secure borders |
| The Glazov Gang - Victim of Muslim Grooming/Rape Gangs Speaks Out. YouTube video - 10:56 (Aug 10, 2015)  Proof of Earliest Agriculture Found In Israel, Dating Back 23,000 Years Ago CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Inside the secret US-Iran diplomacy that sealed nuke deal, al-monitor.com, Laura Rozen
- 'No snapback of sanctions if Iran breaks arms embargo', israelhayom.com, Yoni Hersch, Eli Leon, Yori Yalon, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters
- Iran Funding Hamas Preparations for War, commentarymagazine.com, Jonathan S. Tobin
- Gaza's summer training camps: 'No time left for playing', maannews.com,
- PA and Iran to work together against Israeli nukes, jpost.com, Khaled Abu Toameh
- Abbas's son highlighted in Palestinian corruption claims, timesofisrael.com, Times of Israel staff and AP
- Europeans Rush to Profit from Iran Deal, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
Laura Rozen
al-monitor.com, August 11, 2015
...While nuclear negotiations only made rapid progress after Rouhani came into office in August 2013 and tapped Mohammad Javad Zarif as his foreign minister and top nuclear negotiator, it is perhaps less well known that Iran’s hard-line Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei authorized secret talks with the United States on the nuclear issue two years earlier, in 2011, at the urging of Oman’s Sultan Qaboos as well as Salehi.
Khamenei himself publicly revealed how the talks began with the Americans in a major speech on June 23, which was held as the last round of final deal nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany — was getting underway in Vienna.
“I would like to present a short history of these negotiations,” Khamenei said in the speech to Iranian government workers June 23. “Our negotiations with the Americans are, in fact, different from our negotiations with the P5+1. The Americans themselves asked for these negotiations and their proposals date back to the time of the tenth [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] administration.”
“So the negotiations with the Americans began before the arrival of the current administration,” Khamenei continued. “They made a request and chose an intermediary. One of the honorable personalities in the region [Qaboos] came to Iran and met with me. He said that the American president had called him, asking him to help. The American president said to him that they want to resolve the nuclear matter with Iran and that they would lift the sanctions.”...
Yoni Hersch, Eli Leon, Yori Yalon, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters
israelhayom.com, August 12, 2015
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about the Iran deal, Tuesday (Photo credit: AFP)
Violations by Iran of the arms embargo on it or of the restrictions on its missile program would not force an automatic reinstatement or "snapback" of United Nations sanctions under the terms of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers last month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday. However, he said other options would be available.
"The arms embargo is not tied to snapback," Kerry said. "It is tied to a separate set of obligations. So they are not in material breach of the nuclear agreement for violating the arms piece of it."
Speaking at a Reuters Newsmaker event, Kerry also warned that if the U.S. walks away from the deal and demands that its allies comply with American sanctions on Iran, a loss of confidence in U.S. leadership could threaten the dollar's position as the world's reserve currency.
"If we turn around and nix the deal and then tell them, 'You're going to have to obey our rules and sanctions anyway,' that is a recipe, very quickly ... for the American dollar to cease to be the reserve currency of the world," Kerry said.
Meanwhile, in a column published in The Atlantic on Tuesday, American Jewish journalist Jeffrey Goldberg criticized the U.S. government's downplaying of the Iranian regime's desire to destroy Israel....
Jonathan S. Tobin
commentarymagazine.com, August 11, 2015
When asked repeatedly by Republicans about Iran’s repeated threats to destroy Israel during Congressional testimony about the Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State John Kerry sighed and looked at his questioners the way an exasperated teacher regards dumb students. Yes, he admitted, they say that but he explained patiently, he’s seen no evidence of them planning anything to put that into effect. Kerry repeated that answer, though no doubt without the look of disdain on his face, to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg saying “I haven’t seen anything that says to me” that their “ideological confrontation with Israel at this moment” [my emphasis] will “translate into active steps.” For all intents and purposes, President Obama says the same thing when he dismisses threats to Israel from Iran’s Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even if he just published a book outlining his plans. But, as Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency made public today, Iran is taking active steps toward war with Israel. The Israelis revealed that information obtained from a prisoner as well as from other sources showed that Iran is taking an active role in allowing Hamas to rebuild its military infrastructure as well as terror tunnels aimed at facilitating murder and kidnapping. Though the administration pretends that its negotiations with Iran are proof that the Islamist regime is moderating, evidence on the ground shows that its role as the world’s leading state sponsor of terror is unchanged. So, too, is its role in aiding the ongoing war on Israel’s existence....
maannews.com, August 11, 2015
(MaanImages)GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The young participants of Talae al-Awad summer camp are decked out in the signature red of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and have had their faces smeared in camouflage battle-paint.
They crawl on their elbows and drag themselves through dirt and rocks beneath rusted barbed wire.
Talae al-Awda, meaning Vanguards of the Return, is one of several summer camps across the beleaguered Gaza Strip that in recent weeks has started to offer military training to tens of thousands of Palestinians, some as young as 14.
The summer camps are each organized by a separate political faction, and Talae al-Awda is run by the military wing of the PFLP....
Khaled Abu Toameh
jpost.com, August 10, 2015
The nuclear installations at Dimona. (photo credit: Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority and Iran have agreed to work together to hold an international conference that would seek the nuclear disarmament of Israel, a senior PLO official who visited Tehran in the past few days said.
Ahmed Majdalani, member of the PLO Executive Committee, held talks in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif and delivered a letter from PA President Mahmoud Abbas to Iran’s leader Hassan Rouhani.
Majdalani said on Monday his visit to Iran resulted in an agreement to revive the idea of an international conference to rid the region of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and weapons of mass destruction....
Times of Israel staff and AP
timesofisrael.com, August 13, 2015
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, January 4, 2015. (photo credit: Flash90)
The son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been tied to a corruption scandal involving leaked documents that appear to show attempts by Palestinian officials to misuse public funds.
An invoice published by a protest group on the Internet apparently shows that Yasser Mahmoud Reda Abbas made a payment of $50,000 as part of his acquisition of apartments in a luxury complex in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government.
The “Abbas doesn’t represent me” group posted an image of the document on its Facebook page.
Earlier revelations from paperwork leaked online have triggered outrage, highlighting the corruption and mismanagement critics say remain rampant in the Palestinian government....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 13, 2015
- Middle East expert Ilan Berman points out that for Iran, trading with Europe is actually the perfect self-defense, a virtual guarantee that it will not face military attack if it cheats on its obligations under the nuclear deal.
- Sanctions will also be lifted on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's $95 billion business empire, as well as on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which operates a vast network of companies and industries. No wonder European media outlets are referring to Iran as the "new El Dorado," the "chance of a century," and the "last untapped market."
- "Conducting business with the Iranian regime means to finance the nuclear program, the annihilation threats against Israel, Holocaust denial, the export of Islamist terror and the oppression of the Iranian population." — Stop the Bomb, Austria.
- "Everyone is looking at Iran with greed." — Senior French official.
Robert Hand
Aug 15, 2015, 12:07:11 AM8/15/15
to
Subject: FW: Today's News Summaries
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2015 23:04:42 -0500
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:59:30 -0500
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:59:30 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday August 14, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Pentagon officials believe ISIS used chemical weapons against Kurds in Iraq (Aug 14, 2015) CLICK HERE for Fox News video (01:54) and article Jewish Businessman Rescuing Yazidi and Christian Women from ISIS CLICK HERE for article and video Is This the Solution to Hamas Terror Tunnels? Jerusalem students may have found way to beat subterranean terrorists, in tiny quadcopter with innovative steering and detection. CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Our World: The anti-peace administration, jpost.com, Caroline B. Glick
- Obama's Betrayals: Willfully Supporting Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, frontpagemag.com, Robert Spencer
- ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape, nytimes.com, Rukmini Callimachi
- Syria: Sunni jihadis fire 1,000 missiles at Shi’ite towns, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Islamic State Suspected of Using Chemical Weapon, U.S. Says, ny2point0.com,
- Judicial Watch: Defense, State Department Documents Reveal Obama Administration Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance , judicialwatch.org,
- 'Preferring Iran over Israel? Has the world gone mad?', israelhayom.com, Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
- PA to present UN Security Council with resolution to end Israeli 'occupation', jpost.com, Khaled Abu Toameh
Caroline B. Glick
jpost.com, August 11, 2015
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and White House aides receive an update from Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz via teleconference in Lausanne. (photo credit: White House)
The US has striven to achieve peaceable relations between the states of the Middle East for nearly 70 years. Yet today, US government is disparaging the burgeoning strategic ties between the Sunni Arab states and Israel.
In a briefing to a delegation of visiting Israeli diplomatic correspondents in Washington last week, a senior Obama administration official sneered that the only noticeable shift in Israel-Arab relations in recent years is that the current Egyptian government has been coordinating security issues “more closely” with Jerusalem than the previous one did.
“But we have yet to see that change materialize in the Gulf.”
If this is how the US views the state of Israel’s relations with the Arabs, then Israel should consider canceling its intelligence cooperation with the US. Because apparently, the Americans haven’t a clue what is happening in the Middle East....
Robert Spencer
frontpagemag.com, August 12, 2015
Editor's note: The following is the first article in the FrontPage series "Obama's Betrayals," which will explore the president's record of perfidy, malfeasance and crimes against the American people. As the Obama presidency enters its final stages, examples of this treachery are only becoming more numerous and brazen. "Obama's Betrayals" will shine the spotlight on these attacks on the American polity, the incredible damage they are inflicting on the nation, and the dangerous agenda the president intends to complete before leaving office. It doesn’t get any more explosive than this: a high-ranking former Obama administration official charging that the administration made a conscious decision to support al-Qaeda – so where is the mainstream media?
Brad Hoff reported in Foreign Policy Journal last Friday that “in Al Jazeera’s latest Head to Head episode, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn confirms to Mehdi Hasan that not only had he studied the DIA memo predicting the West’s backing of an Islamic State in Syria when it came across his desk in 2012, but even asserts that the White House’s sponsoring of radical jihadists (that would emerge as ISIL and Nusra) against the Syrian regime was ‘a willful decision.’”
When Hasan asked Flynn if “the administration turned a blind eye” to analyses explaining how the Syrian “rebels” against the Assad regime were actually Islamic jihadists who wanted to establish a hardline Sharia state in Syria, Flynn responded: “I don’t know that they turned a blind eye, I think it was a decision. I think it was a willful decision.”
“A willful decision to support an insurgency that had Salafists, Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood?,” asked Hasan.
Flynn responded: “It was a willful decision to do what they’re doing.” That is, arm those Salafist, al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood elements, and do all they could to enable them to succeed....
Rukmini Callimachi
nytimes.com, August 13, 2015
...One 34-year-old Yazidi woman, who was bought and repeatedly raped by a Saudi fighter in the Syrian city of Shadadi, described how she fared better than the second slave in the household - a 12-year-old girl who was raped for days on end despite heavy bleeding.
“He destroyed her body. She was badly infected. The fighter kept coming and asking me, ‘Why does she smell so bad?' And I said, she has an infection on the inside, you need to take care of her,” the woman said.
Unmoved, he ignored the girl’s agony, continuing the ritual of praying before and after raping the child.
“I said to him, ‘She’s just a little girl,’” the older woman recalled. “And he answered: ‘No. She’s not a little girl. She’s a slave. And she knows exactly how to have sex.’”
”And having sex with her pleases God,” he said.
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, August 10, 2015
“Al-Nusra and many of its hardline allies consider Shiite Muslims to be heretical” — and in Islamic law, a pious Muslim is to put a heretic to death.
How many missiles have “Islamophobes” fired at Muslims over the last few days? Why, none. Yet how much publicity does “Islamophobia” get in the West, compared to that given to the Sunni/Shi’ite jihad? Now, why is that?
“Syria rebels fire 1,000 missiles at Shiite towns: monitor,” AFP, August 10, 2015:
Beirut (AFP) – Syrian rebels fired around 1,000 rockets, mortar shells and homemade projectiles at two besieged Shiite towns in Idlib province, a monitor said Monday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were reports of dead and injured in the heavy fire on Fuaa and Kafraya that started on Sunday night, but it had no confirmed toll.
Fuaa and Kafraya are among the last regime-held outposts in the northwestern province of Idlib, most of which has been captured by an alliance that includes Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front....
ny2point0.com, August 13, 2015
WASHINGTON—The U.S. believes Islamic State militants likely used mustard agent in an attack earlier this week on Kurdish forces in Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Thursday, the first indication the militant group has obtained a banned chemical weapon.
Officials said Islamic State could have obtained the mustard agent in Syria, whose government admitted to having large quantities of the blistering agent in 2013, when it agreed to give up its chemical weapons arsenal. “That makes the most sense,” a senior U.S. official said of the possibility that Islamic State obtained the mustard in Syria.
Islamic State could also have obtained the mustard agent in Iraq, officials said. U.S. intelligence agencies are still investigating the case....
judicialwatch.org, May 18, 2015
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today [May 18, 2015] that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts. The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria. The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.
The documents were released in response to a court order in accordance with a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against both the DOD and State Department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders “on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi.”...
Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, August 09, 2015
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid (Photo credit: Contact)
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid leveled harsh criticism at Europe over the weekend, stating in opinion pieces in two major European newspapers that the EU's policy of preferring Iran over Israel was "scandalous."
In the articles, carried by Italian daily Corriere della Sera and German newspaper Die Welt, Lapid admonished the European community, saying, "You rush to sign contracts with the Iranians but you threaten to boycott Israel?!?"
Lapid lambasted world powers for reaching what he called "a terrible deal," saying the agreement "sends the Middle East the message that the West is weak; that everyone who is lying cunningly enough will be rewarded."...
Khaled Abu Toameh
jpost.com, August 11, 2015
Soldiers keep guard at checkpoint near Qalandia(photo credit: Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority is planning to present a new resolution to the UN Security Council calling for ending Israeli “occupation” and providing international protection for the Palestinians, PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki announced on Tuesday.
“The actions of the Israeli government show that it has no intention to end occupation,” said Malki
“Nor is it prepared to end settlement activities or put an end to the terror of settlers. On the contrary, the Israeli government is helping, inciting and protecting settlers who commit crimes.”
Malki said that the Palestinians, together with the Arab League, have begun consultations with Security Council about the new resolution....
Robert Hand
Aug 18, 2015, 1:23:26 AM8/18/15
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Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:12:46 -0500
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 17:16:44 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday August 17, 2015
| The Glazov Gang-Ingrid Carlqvist on "Refugee Children" Invading Sweden. YouTube video - 09:57 (Aug 12, 2015) JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
Sgt. Bartlett calls on Senators to reject the Iran deal YouTube video - 01:00 (Aug 10, 2015) RALLY AGAINST IRANIAN DEAL sponsored by Americans for Peace and Tolerance< br />WRKO Radio Talk Host Jeff Kuhner will lead a mass rally against the Iranian Nuclear Deal at the State House on August 30 at Noon. Important Massachusetts Congressional Representatives have not yet decided how they will vote on the Deal in early September. We need to show them that even in Massachusetts there is massive resistance to a deal that guarantees Iran a path to nuclear weapons and grants the terror state $150 Billion which they will use to kill innocents and “infidels” across the region. |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- US Energy Secretary Moniz Admits: Iran Nuclear Deal Will Increase Terror, unitedwithisrael.org, Terri Nir
- Whip count: Where the Senate stands on the Iran deal, washingtonpost.com, Amber Phillips
- Waking up to a nuclear Iran?, jpost.com, Danny Schiff
- Government Airstrikes on Market in Syria Kill More Than 80, nytimes.com, Ben Hubbard and Maher Samaan
- 'Hamas officials to visit Cairo for long-term truce talks', israelhayom.com, Israel Hayom Staff
- Islamic State beheads, crucifies twelve people in Libya, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- ISIS Organizing Small Armies Inside America, investors.com,
Terri Nir
unitedwithisrael.org, August 16, 2015
...“If I were American, I would oppose the agreement,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who was entrusted with the Iran portfolio, asserted the following day.
Iranian weapons en route to Hamas intercepted by Israeli navy in March 2014. (IDF)Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned of the dangers inherent in the deal.
“It is a deal that leaves Iran in possession of the capability to arm itself with nuclear weapons, that fills its coffers with a lot of money and that not only enables it to continue its terrorism and aggression in the Middle East and around the world, but does not even demand that it stop doing so,” he stated in April in an address to the Police Academy.
Immediately after the signing of the framework agree ment on March 31, Israel’s Channel 2 already reported an uptick in weapons shipments from Iran to Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as attempts to arm Hamas activists in Judea and Samaria.
Amber Phillips
washingtonpost.com, August 13, 2015
...Will Congress get the two-thirds it needs? At least in the Senate, we can glean something of an idea of where things stand.
So we've begun monitoring all the senators' comments on the issue and classifying them accordingly. Be sure to bookmark this page for the latest updates. We'll update this whip count regularly.
And if we miss anything or classify a senator wrongly, make sure to let us know via e-mail.
Current state of play
(Updated 9:39 p.m. on Aug. 16)
Yes or leaning yes (34 needed to uphold veto, keep the deal): 30
No or leaning no (67 needed to override veto, kill the deal): 57
Unknown/unclear: 13
CLICK HERE to see where each Senator stands
Danny Schiff
jpost.com, August 10, 2015
Negotiators wait for photographers during a meeting at the hotel where the Iran nuclear talks are being held in Vienna, Austria July 6, 2015.(photo credit: Reuters)
Imagine waking up to the news that an Islamic republic from which terrorists have operated has nuclear weapons.
No imagination is required. That reality is already here.
The Islamic republic of Pakistan is where Osama bin-Laden lived a largely untroubled life. The Mumbai terrorist attacks were launched there. US drones operate in Pakistan to counter “militants.” The government is vulnerable. And Pakistan has approximately 120 nuclear weapons capable of reaching most of the Middle East, including Israel. Today.
How do we sleep at night? Why are we not agitated about this unsettling situation? And why are we resolutely opposed to the idea of Iran attaining even one future bomb, while hardly even discussing Pakistan’s already existing arsenal? There are multiple answers. Some have to do with strategic interests, alliances and geography. But the most important answer is a moral one: the Iranian regime has genocidal intent, which it has restated on countless occasions in graphic, menacing tones....
Ben Hubbard and Maher Samaan
nytimes.com, August 16, 2015
Government airstrikes on Douma, a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, struck a crowded market area on Sunday. (Credit Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Government airstrikes on a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, killed more than 80 people and wounded about 200 on Sunday, according to local activists and monitoring organizations.
The attacks came one day after the area’s largest rebel group, the Islam Army, announced a new offensive against government forces in a neighboring suburb. While it was unclear if the two attacks were linked, the government of President Bashar al-Assad has often bombed communities where the insurgents hold sway, killing civilians in an attempt to undermine the rebel cause.
Residents said Sunday&rs quo;s attack struck a crowded market area in the city of Douma, northeast of the capital, leaving streets strewn with rubble, scattered merchandise and destroyed cars. Antigovernment activists in the area posted videos online of blood-covered victims being raced to local clinics and rows of dead bodies lined up for burial....
Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, August 17, 2015
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (Photo credit: Reuters)
A delegation of Hamas officials, led by Ismail Haniyeh, will travel to Cairo soon for talks with Egypt's intelligence chief about a long-term truce with Israel, Arab media outlets have reported.
Hamas officials told Arab media outlets that significant progress had been made in recent talks in Qatar between Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and former Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair about the possibility of a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Reports have also cited a Turkish official as saying progress has been made toward a truce deal between Israel and Hamas. According to the official, the deal would include the lifting of the blockade on Gaza....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, August 16, 2015
Not that this has anything to do with Islam, but all this is straight out of the Qur’an:“When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” — Qur’an 47:4
“Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.” — Qur’an 5:33
Odd sign in the photo: the Arabic letters appear reversed.
“ISIS ‘beheads’ 12 in battle for Libya’s Sirte,” AFP, August 15, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Tripoli – Islamic State group jihadists have beheaded 12 people and hung them on crosses during a battle for the coastal city of Sirte, the national news agency LANA reported on Saturday.
The fighting for control of Sirte, hometown of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been raging since Tuesday, with one top Libyan diplomat warning of a “massacre” in the city....
investors.com, August 12, 2015
...The 16-page complaint notes that agents and informants observed "changes in Saadeh's appearance and behavior" that coincided with his pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. From late 2014 through April of this year, it says he:
• "Frequently researched Islamic writings and often studied the Quran."
• "Grew out his beard and dyed it red," mimicking Muhammad.
• "Began to fast, and stopped drinking, smoking and eating foods that were not permissible under Islamic law."
• "Began praying five times a day."
• "Wore traditional Muslim attire in place of the Western clothing he had previously worn."
• Became "offended and agitated by any conversation or mention of any religion other than Islam."
• "Converted (others) to Islam."
These details provide valuable investigative clues for local authorities trying to ferret out other radicalized jihadists in the Muslim community.
Saadeh's increased piety fits a pattern among IS and other terrorist recruits. The Boston marathon bombers and the Chattanooga shooter underwent the same transformation. The more religious indoctrination they absorbed, the more radical they became.
The FBI complaint contradicts White House claims the terrorists aren't motivated by religion.
Robert Hand
Aug 19, 2015, 1:10:19 AM8/19/15
to
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2015 00:07:27 -0500
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 14:26:48 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday August 18, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE |
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| IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL Let your Congressmen know that you Oppose a Nuclear Iran. CLICK HERE to send our current Action Alert. Bangkok Bombing Seconds before an explosion struck the heart of Bangkok, security cameras documented a terrorist planting explosives in the area. CLICK HERE for video and article Officials confirm ISIS used mustard agent in Syria YouTube video - 02:19 (Aug 14, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Enriching Iran, thehill.com, Gabriel Scheinmann
- The Iran Nuclear Deal's Fallout on the United Nations, americanthinker.com, Salomon Benzimra
- Iran says the nuke deal will help it target Israel, nypost.com, Post Editorial Board
- Ten Ways Israel Is Treated Differently, aish.com, David A. Harris
- The Terror Strategist: Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State, spiegel.de/international, Christoph Reuter
- Israel denies reports of truce talks with Hamas, israelhayom.com, Daniel Siryoti, Mati Tuchfeld and Israel Hayom Staff
- Op-Ed: The Counterfeit Arabs, israelnationalnews.com, Victor Sharpe
- Arab Bank Reaches Settlement in Suit Accusing It of Financing Terrorism, nytimes.com, Stephanie Clifford
Gabriel Scheinmann
thehill.com, August 17, 2015
As fate would have it, Congress could vote on the Iranian nuclear deal two years to the day that it was supposed to vote to authorize military strikes against Assad’s Syria. A Russian-brokered dismantlement deal forestalled that vote, but, in the process, Assad’s chemical arsenal had achieved its original purpose: it secured his survival by transforming him into a partner in his own self-dispossession. The nuclear deal will do for Iran what the chemical weapons deal did for Syria. By making Iran indispensible to its own nuclear limitation, Iran has fulfilled its original nuclear objectives: the West’s acquiescence—and even facilitation—of its regional hegemonic ambitions. In return for temporary enrichment restraints, the deal fuels Iran’s conventional capabilities and greases Iran’s path to power.
What is the purpose of an Iranian nuclear weapon? Of course, Iran’s repeated threats to annihilate Israel and the m illenarian strain within the regime should not be discounted. More concretely, much like the Soviet bomb ensured Moscow’s control over half of Europe, an Iranian bomb would remodel the Persian Gulf and its littoral sheikhdoms into Iranian tributaries, facilitating energy and transit shakedowns. Furthermore, just like the Soviets used Communist parties to subvert Western governments from within, an Iranian bomb would turbo-charge the Persian subversion of Gulf States through their Shiite populations, perhaps adding Manama or Kuwait to its current loot of four Arab capitals—Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sana’a. Finally, an Iranian bomb would embolden its existing proxies. Adversaries would hesitate to escalate conflicts, thus encouraging Hezbollah to rain missiles on Israel and providing succor to Assad’s survival. To borrow a term from another era, an Iranian bomb would “Finlandize” the Gulf and put the entire Middle East on edge....
Salomon Benzimra
americanthinker.com, August 13, 2015
...2. The UN Charter: For the past fifteen years, top Iranian leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, the only nation...
- characterized by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as “a cancerous tumor which must be uprooted from the region” (2001) and as “a hideous entity in the Middle East which will be undoubtedly annihilated” (2010);
- threatened by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with “one nuclear bomb that will destroy everything” (2001);
- blasted by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his “World without Zionism” conference of 2005 where he vowed that Israel “will be wiped off the map” (or “will vanish from the page of time” depending on translation) and urged “all Zionists to move to Europe,” claiming that “Israel has no place in the region” (2013);
- convicted by Yahia Rahim Safavi, military commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, to “a death sentence, with God’s help” (2008), a verdict deemed “non-negotiable” by Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the Basij militia commander, in March 2015. The latter statement proves that the election of so-called “moderate” president Hassan Rouhani in 2013 did not moderate in any way Iran’s aggressive attitude toward Israel.
Moreover, the UN Charter envisages the possibility of “expelling” from the UN “a Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter...” (Art. 6). But nothing of the sort was even remotely hinted at by the five permanent members of the S ecurity Council while they were hatching the JCPOA agreement which granted Iran total impunity.
It is ironic that the State of Israel, which has the strongest backup in history and international law for its reconstitution in its ancestral land (the former Palestine Mandate), is the only state subjected to such a vociferous opposition to its existence. And it is worrisome that the major world powers, led by the U.S. administration, have concocted the lame JCPOA agreement which, beyond all its flaws, casts a serious doubt -- by commission and omission -- on whatever credibility the United Nations still has as an international institution designed to preserve world peace and fair relations between its member states.
Post Editorial Board
nypost.com, August 13, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Photo: EPA)
President Obama says his nuclear deal with Iran is good not just for America, but also for US ally Israel. Iran’s foreign minister disagrees.
Mohammad Javad Zarif was in Lebanon this week, meeting with the head Hezbollah terrorist, Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah’s TV station al-Manar reported, “Zarif said from Beirut that the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the world powers created a historic opportunity for regional cooperation to fight extremism and face threats posed by the Zionist entity.”
Translation: With a “signing bonus” to Iran of $100 billion or more, the nuke deal will empower the Islamic Republ ic to send more cash, rockets and other arms to Hezbollah and other anti-Israel terrorist groups....
David A. Harris
aish.com, June 14, 2015
It's appalling to see how Israel is treated by a totally different standard than other countries in the international system. Of course, Israel deserves scrutiny, as does every other nation. But it also merits equal treatment – nothing more, nothing less.
First, Israel is the only UN member state whose very right to exist is under constant challenge.
Notwithstanding the fact that Israel embodies an age-old connection with the Jewish people as repeatedly cited in the most widely read book in the world, the Bible, that it was created based on the 1947 recommendation of the UN, and that it has been a member of the world body since 1949, there's a relentless chorus of nations, institutions, and individuals denying Israel's very political legitimacy.
No one would dare question the right to exist of many other countries whose basis for legitimacy is infinitely more questionable than Israel's, including those that were cre ated by brute force, occupation, or distant mapmakers. Just look around at how many nations fit those categories, including, by the way, quite a few Arab countries. Why, then, is it open hunting season only on Israel? Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that it's the only Jewish-majority country in the world?...
Christoph Reuter
spiegel.de/international, April 18, 2015
...What Bakr put on paper, page by page, with carefully outlined boxes for individual responsibilities, was nothing less than a blueprint for a takeover. It was not a manifesto of faith, but a technically precise plan for an "Islamic Intelligence State" -- a caliphate run by an organization that resembled East Germany's notorious Stasi domestic intelligence agency.
Graphic: A digital rendering of Haji Bakr's Islamic State organigram. (Der Spiegel)
This blueprint was implemented with astonishing accuracy in the ensuing months. The plan would always begin with the same detail: The group recruited followers under the pretense of opening a Dawah office, an Islamic missionary center. Of those who came to listen to lectures and attend courses on Islamic life, one or two men were selected and instructed to spy on their village an d obtain a wide range of information. To that end, Haji Bakr compiled lists such as the following:
- List the powerful families.
- Name the powerful individuals in these families.
- Find out their sources of income.
- Name names and the sizes of (rebel) brigades in the village.
- Find out the names of their leaders, who controls the brigades and their political orientation.
- Find out their illegal activities (according to Sharia law), which could be used to blackmail them if necessary.
Daniel Siryoti, Mati Tuchfeld and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, August 18, 2015
A member of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades [Illustrative] (Photo credit: Reuters)Israel denied reports on Monday that it was involved in indirect talks with Hamas about a long-term truce deal that would include the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
A Prime Minister's Office official said, "There have been no meetings with Hamas -- no indirect meetings, no meetings in other countries and no meetings involving mediators."
The official made the statement after Arab media reported that a delegation of Hamas officials, led by Ismail Haniyeh, would travel to Cairo soon for talks with Egypt's intelligence chief about a long-term truce with Israel....
Victor Sharpe
israelnationalnews.com, August 10, 2015
They are the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians.
They are indistinguishable from those Arabs who live in the surrounding artificial states such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or the other entities throughout the Middle East created by the colonial powers, France and Britain. Both powers were victorious after the Ottoman Turkish Empire lay defeated at the end of World War I.
Both of these European powers carved artificial borders across the corpse of what had been Turkey's empire in the Middle East, and both France and Britain have left a resulting legacy of war and violence ever since. One such territory, previously occupied by Ottoman Turkey for 400 years, was the geographical entity known sometimes as Palestine.
But there is no such thing as a Palestinian people; no such thing as a Palestinian history; and no Palestinian language exists. There has never been any independent, sovereign Palestinian state in all of recorded hist ory -- let alone an Arab independent state of Palestine....
Stephanie Clifford
nytimes.com, August 14, 2015
Three days before a first-of-its-kind damages trial was supposed to start, a Middle Eastern bank has reached a settlement with hundreds of American plaintiffs, including victims of terrorist attacks around Israel, who had filed a lawsuit against the bank accusing it of supporting terrorism.
A spokesman for the bank, Arab Bank, and a spokeswoman for one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs confirmed on Friday that an agreement had been reached but declined to offer additional details, including the amount of the settlement.
Last year, a jury in Federal District Court in Brooklyn found Arab Bank liable for financing terrorism by processing transactions for members of the militant Islamic group Hamas.
The second phase of the trial, assessing the damages Arab Bank would have to pay to some victims of attacks by Hamas, was scheduled to start on Monday....
Robert Hand
Aug 21, 2015, 1:37:43 AM8/21/15
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Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2015 23:24:08 -0500
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:35:31 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday August 20, 2015
FATAH'S MILITARY WING in Gaza claims 3.5 km tunnel into Israel is ready for next war
YouTube video - 01:34 (Aug 18, 2015)
New Iranian video imagines a MUSLIM INVASION OF JERUSALEM
Video - 01:26 (Aug 19, 2015)
AWESOME IDF FOOTAGE
YouTube video - 00:48
FATAH'S MILITARY WING in Gaza claims 3.5 km tunnel into Israel is ready for next war
YouTube video - 01:34 (Aug 18, 2015)
New Iranian video imagines a MUSLIM INVASION OF JERUSALEM
Video - 01:26 (Aug 19, 2015)
AWESOME IDF FOOTAGE
YouTube video - 00:48
Contents: (summaries below)
- Bombshell! UN to Allow Iran to Inspect Own Military Sites, , clarionproject.org
- Islamic State Links Its Origins To Killing Of Bin Laden, news.investors.com, Thomas Mcardle
- Nigeria: Up to 150 drowned, shot dead fleeing the Islamic State, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- What Are Palestinians Doing With U.S. Money?, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- Iran sending nuke deal money to terror groups on border, Netanyahu warns, timesofisrael.com, Adiv Sterman
- Israel's Chief of Staff Announces New Strategy To Defeat Islamist Terror Groups, westernjournalism.com, Yochanan Visser
- What happens if Congress says no to the Iran deal?, washingtontimes.com, Kim R. Holmes
clarionproject.org
, August 20, 2015
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif laughs towards the end of the nuclear negotiations in Vienna. (Photo: © Reuters)Dropping a bombshell on the Iranian nuclear agreement negotiated by U.S. along with other world powers and Iran, the AP has disclosed that Iran will be allowed to use its own inspectors in sites suspected of military development of nuclear weapons.
The revelation comes from a document seen by the AP regarding two parts of the agreement that were kept secret. As per the agreement, two key passages were negotiated separately between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN agency, and Iran, were to remain secret.
The secret parts of the deal concern inspections of the Parchin military installation, which has been under suspicion for ye ars for conducting research on nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles. A second secret deal centers on separate negotiations to resolve the issue of possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program....
Thomas Mcardle
news.investors.com, August 17, 2015
Undated photo of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi(Source: video)
Killing Osama bin Laden may have won President Obama re-election in 2012, but the price was the rise of the Islamic State. At least according to IS itself.
The secret 32-page IS manifesto and strategy plan, written in Urdu and just uncovered from remote Pakistan by the American Media Institute, is titled "The Caliphate According to the Prophet."
Beyond its headline-grabbing reference to Obama as "Mule of the Jews," the IS dossier blames the president for the organization's rise to power in a whole new way.
Obviously, Obama's cut and run of U.S. troops from Iraq left the welcome mat out. But the manifesto boasts that IS ruler Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in avenging the killing of Osama bin Laden, engineered car bom b and IED attacks in cities across Iraq....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, August 18, 2015
Savagery: “They opened fire instantly, which forced residents to flee. They shot a number of people. Unfortunately many residents who tried to flee plunged into the river which is full from the rain. Many drowned.”Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State last February, and later changed its name to the Islamic State in West Africa. “Up to 150 drowned, shot dead fleeing Boko Haram in Nigeria,” by Aminu Abubakar, AFP, August 18, 2015:
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) – Up to 150 people drowned in a river or were shot dead fleeing Boko Haram gunmen who raided a remote village in Nigeria’s northeastern Yobe state, residents said on Tuesday.
Dozens of militants arrived on motorcycles and in a car on Thursday last week and sprayed automatic gunfire , scattering terrified inhabitants of Kukuwa-Gari....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 19, 2015
Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah did not tell the visiting U.S. Congressmen that the $4.5 billion the Americans invested in promoting Palestinian democracy went down the drain or ended up in secret Swiss bank accounts. Nor did he tell the Congressman that the Palestinians do not have a functioning parliament or a free media under the PA in the West Bank or under Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And, of course, Hamdallah never told the Congressman that for Palestinians, presidential and parliamentary elections remain a remote dream.
The refusal of the international community back then to hold Arafat accountable was the main reason a majority of Palestinians were driven into the open arms of Hamas. Palestinians saw no improvement in their living conditions, mainly as a result of the PA's corruption. That is why they turned to Hamas, which promised them change, reform and an end to financial corruption.
The Americans and Europeans are therefore responsible for Hamas's rise to power.
One does not have to be an expert on Palestinian affairs to see that the billions of dollars have neither created democracy for the Palestinians nor boosted the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The "investment" in Palestinian democracy and peace with Israel has been a complete failure because of the refusal of the U.S. Administration to hold the Palestinian Authority fully accountable.
Unless Western donors demand that the PA use their money to bring democracy to its people and prepare them for peace, the prospects of reviving any peace process will remain zero....
Adiv Sterman
timesofisrael.com, August 18, 2015
The Iranian regime is set to increase funding for terrorist organizations bent on Israel’s destruction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday from Israel’s northern border, days after the army said it had run drills in the area for a large-scale battle against Iran-backed groups.Speaking during a visit to the IDF’s Northern Command headquarters near the Lebanese border, Netanyahu said that Israel was watching its borders closely and would strike at any entity that threatened its security.
“What we have said all along has turned out to be accurate,” Netanyahu said referring to his opposition to the nuclear agreement between world powers and Tehran. “The money that will flow to Iran-sponsored terrorist organizations will be used for one st ated purpose — to destroy Israel.”
“I’m here to keep a close eye on the IDF’s preparedness for these threats. We are prepared for any scenario. Those who try to harm us, we will strike at them,” he said....
Yochanan Visser
westernjournalism.com, August 17, 2015
Image credit: David Silverman/Getty ImagesAfter introducing a new 5-year efficiency plan for the Israel Defense Forces at the end of July, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot took the highly unusual step of publishing the Israeli army’s new strategy. In Eisenkot’s view, the IDF must be able to deliver a military solution to the multiple threats that Israel is facing.
The new doctrine is already visible on the Golan Heights, where the IDF is preparing for a possible incursion into Syria in response to increasing efforts by Islamist terror groups such as Hezbollah, al-Nusra front and Islamic State to set up camp in the vicinity of the Israeli border.
The 5-year efficiency operative called the Gideon Plan that was released at the end of July deal t with all sorts of measures to adjust the IDF to the rapid changing reality in the Middle East. The plan includes the dismissal of 2,500 professional soldiers and the discharge of 100,000 reserve soldiers.
By 2020, the IDF will look totally different; units will be considerably smaller, and the average age of commanders will be significantly lower. Infantry and artillery brigades will be cut down in size, and the remaining reserve soldiers will be trained and equipped for war tasks. The commands will shrink 6% in size; and systems that are not at the core of the army, such as the education corps, army radio and the military rabbinate, will undergo adjustment or will be cut down in size as well.
In response to increasing cyber war threats, the IDF will establish a cyber wing and will purchase new submarines and stealth war planes (Lockheed F-35) as well as more drones. Together with other sophisticated anti-rocket systems, these purchases will provide m ulti-layer protection for Israel. The IDF has been reducing the number of tanks and warplanes since 1985....
Kim R. Holmes
washingtontimes.com, August 17, 2015
ANALYSIS/OPINION:You’ve heard the argument. If Congress turns down the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran will rush to get a nuclear bomb within two to three months. Our only alternative then is war.
But what about Congress voting “no” and re-adjusting the terms of the agreement?
Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, recently made such a proposal. He argues that congressional disapproval would provide time to correct some of the agreement’s flaws. Most experts believe it would take until spring 2016 at the earliest for Iran to comply with the terms of the agreement. Since none of the U.S. sanctions will be suspended by then, there would st ill be time for the U.S. to take remedial measures to strengthen the deal.
Among these could be reaching understandings with the European partners “on the appropriate penalties to be imposed for a broad spectrum of Iranian violations.” Other actions could include a clearer declaratory policy that military force will not be be taken off the table, and ramping up tougher sanctions against Tehran’s terrorist and other non-nuclear activities that destabilize the region.
Mr. Satloff’s alternative is a noble effort to save an obviously weak deal. It recognizes a major flaw in the agreement: That the terms of re-imposing “snap back” sanctions are so onerous that they will likely never be enforced. It also points to a negotiating principle that the Obama administration has tried to obscure: strong sanctions are what forced whatever concessions Iran made. Keeping or strengthening sanctions enhances America’s bargaining l everage. Even if Congress disapproves the deal, that leverage will remain....
Robert Hand
Aug 21, 2015, 9:48:59 PM8/21/15
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Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2015 20:35:23 -0500
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2015 12:52:47 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday August 21, 2015
 RALLY - MARCH TO SAVE AMERICAStop the Iran Nuclear Deal September 9, 2015 Washington DC Capitol http://www.marchtosaveamerica.org/ |
RALLY - SAY NO TO A NUCLEAR IRAN September 1 at 5:30 pm Rally in front of Sen. Gillibrand's Office in Manhattan 780 Third Ave. (48-49th Streets) Jamie Glazov Moment - Our STOCKHOLM SYNDROME With Islam YouTube video - 08:26 (Aug 13, 2015) Raymond Ibrahim discusses how the Western establishments conceal the persecution of Christians YouTube video - 15:57 (Aug 13, 2015) India seeks Israeli help to become next “START UP NATION” Saul Singer talks to Indian and Asian students on growing Israel-Asia cooperation in start up sector and beyond |
| CLICK HERE for article and video |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- An Open Letter to President Obama, Special to UCI, Esther Levens
- Speaker Boehner Statement on Iran Nuclear Agreement's Secret Side Deals, Press Release, Speaker Boehner
- Op-Ed: Islamic State is Heading for Lebanon Next, israelnationalnews.com, Dr. Mordechai Kedar
- ISIS Gains from Turkey's Cynical Policies and the West's Weakness, ynetnews.com, Giora Eiland
- Off-Target: The Folly of Removing Sanctions on Iran's Ballistic Missiles, nationalinterest.org, Behnam Ben Taleblu
Esther Levens
Special to UCI, August 21, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Aug 20, 2015
CONTACT: Unity Coalition for Israel
voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org
Esther Levens, CEO & Founder - 913-648-0022
BACKGROUND
How self-defeating can it get before our Commander- in- Chief recognizes that “leading from behind” is not working and will not preserve our democracy and our freedoms against an extreme fanatical force that wants to take over the world by establishing an Islamic caliphate? How can we win the war on terror if we don’t identify the enemy that is the source of our problems?
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Mr. President, please speak out clearly and repeatedly that the enemy is Radical Islam. The war they are fighting against us is being carried out by a deadly and uncompromising group called ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). It is an off-shoot of the 7th Century Ottoman Empire which was lead by Muhammad and radical Islamic beliefs.
In addition to military force, they also use other methods to target, demean, torture and kill their non-member “apostates.” These include Christians, Jews, Yadizis and others who dare to worship deities other than Allah. This also applies to some Muslims who deviate from the Sunni and Shiite interpretations of their “rule books”, the Koran and Hadith. Their enforced 7th Century religious practices such as chopping off heads, hands, feet, burning people alive, and stoning people to death for minor offenses have grown from this basic ancient religion. We cannot allow these barbaric savage adherents of Radical Islam to take over our western Judeo-Christian civilization. Signing the Iranian Agreement and permitting Iran to have a nuclear bomb while at the same time they continue to shout “Death to America” is further manifestation of our weakness.
We cannot remain silent! We cannot continue to appease Iran by looking the other way. We must directly confront the rise of radical Islamic terrorism and refuse to negotiate as long as Americans remain hostage. We cannot support Iran, its terrorist proxies and ISIS with meaningless peace agreements and hard earned tax dollars.
We call upon you, President Obama, to acknowledge and condemn the brutality of radical Islamic terrorism. After all, protecting American citizens is the primary responsibility of our president and the United States government. It is what you were elected to do. Please listen to the sound advice of your military advisors and act against these increasing terrorist threats. THE TIME IS NOW!
Speaker Boehner
Press Release, August 21, 2015
John Boehner (R-OH)
Press Release
Aug 19, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement in response to an AP report that the secret side deals in the Iran nuclear agreement will cede IAEA inspections authority to Tehran:
“The Obama administration has a lot of explaining to do. Why haven’t these secret side agreements been provided to Congress and the American people for review? Why should Iran be trusted to carry out its own nuclear inspections at a military site it tried to hide from the world? How does this not set a precedent for future inspections at suspicious military sites in Iran?
“President Obama boasts his deal includes ‘unprecedented verification.’ He claims it’s not built on trust. But the administration’s briefings on these side deals have been totally insufficient – and it still isn’t clear whether anyone at the White House has seen the final documents. The American people and their representatives in Congress have serious questions about whether this nuclear agreement will keep our country safe, and it’s time for this administration to provide honest answers.”
Dr. Mordechai Kedar
israelnationalnews.com, August 21, 2015
The Syrian regime's situation took a turn for the better when in May 2013, Hezbollah's infantry entered the conflict in full force in an attempt to conquer the city of Al-Qusayr, located between the Jussieh border crossing that separates northeast Lebanon from Syria and the Syrian city of Homs. Al-Qusayr was of great importance to Hezbollah, because it is on the road that leads from northern Lebanon deep into Syrian territory and was the site of much arms, weapons, ammunition, communications equipment and cash smuggling that came from the port of Tripoli and the Sunnis of northern Lebanon and reached the rebel forces.
The Syrian army did not succeed in conquering al-Qusayr, so the Iranian Revolutionary Guard command decided to bring in Hezbollah to free the town from anti-Assad rebels headed by the Free Syrian Army and Jabhat al-Nusra. Hezbollah managed to win the tough battle that included house-to-house fighting, but it paid a hefty price with over one hundred of its fighters dead and at least double that number wounded. The rebels lost over two thousand fighters, of whom 1000 were killed and another 1000 taken prisoner by the Syrian Army while at least 2000 were wounded. The high number of rebel casualties is a result of the Syrian Air Force's intensive use of barrel bombs.
Hezbollah continued to take part in freeing Homs from rebel control, helping Assad hold his ground by ensuring that the Allawite area and its seaports remained accessible from Damascus. At that time, those fighting Hezbollah were mainly the Free Syrian Army and Ja;bhat al-Nusra.
In 2014, however, Islamic State made its appearance, and in June 2014 it began fighting heavily in Syria, conquering large swaths of land in the eastern, thinly-populated part of the country. Islamic State's tactics were to use a large motorized force of 4X4 vehicles plus heavier tanks and troop carriers that it had taken as booty in Iraq to attack small towns, villages and army posts. Only rarely would Islamic State mass its forces in order to engage in static trench warfare, as it did in Kobane on the Syrian-Turkish border, because in that type of battle it had no advantage over those protecting the city.
As a result, Islamic State has developed a most useful tactic – it simply surrounds places that are difficult to conquer, such as eastern Syria's regional city, Dir-a-zur, laying siege to them and blocking overland supply routes. This minimizes casualties for Islamic State and allows it to achieve significant territorial and psychological successes at a relatively small price.
Another important detail of Islamic State's strategy is its efforts to gain control over border passes, thereby stopping overland traffic between Syria and its neighbors – Iraq, Turkey and Jordan – and resulting in a partial siege of Assad's regime. Up until this week, Lebanon was the only country whose border crossings were still in Assad's hands.
That ended when advance forces of Islamic State infiltrated westward to the area south of Homs this week, surrounded al-Qusayr and overran Hezbollah positions guarding the Jussiah crossing that joins Homs with northern Lebanon. Hezbollah lost tens of fighters in the short battle that took place in an area where it did not expect to be attacked.
...
Giora Eiland
ynetnews.com, August 21, 2015
Two worrisome news stories were recently published regarding the Islamic State. The first claimed that the organization is using chemical weapons against the Kurds in Syria. The second story reported that ISIS had taken hold of a city in east Libya. It seems that almost nothing can stop the spread of this murderous organization in Iraq, Syria, the northern Sinai region, and Libya.How could this happen? Why is the West unable to stop this enemy, who presents such frightening dangers? The answer contains two parts: Turkey, and weakness.
Regarding Turkey: ISIS deals in both imports and exports, both through Turkey. The exports are of oil, ISIS’s main source of income. The imports are of fighters and volunteers, coming in from all over the world, through Turkey. In a move that’s nothing less than amazing, Turkey, a member of NATO, is openly assisting the alliance's sworn enemy.
Turkey’s cynical policy is meant to allow ISIS to oppress the Kurds, but in fact it risks much wider interests. It’s true that after a recent ISIS bombing of Kurd targets inside the country, Ankara did allow American planes to use its military bases against ISIS. However, this small gesture doesn’t change its overall policies, which remain problematic.
The second part of the answer is no less amazing – the West’s operative weakness. Militarily, ISIS is an easy enemy: It’s not a terrorist organization of the al-Qaeda variety, whose members hide among civilian population. It is a real army, operating on a large scale. It has command centers, assets, and its fighters travel in broad daylight, driving easily identifiable trucks.
...
Behnam Ben Taleblu
nationalinterest.org, August 21, 2015
UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrines the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement, stipulates that restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missiles will expire eight years after the deal’s implementation. This expiration date is a strategic blunder. Permanent relief for ballistic missiles will allow Iran to not only reinforce its deterrent capacity, but to redouble the offensive threat it poses to the region.Iran’s ballistic missiles have long been at the top of the list of asymmetric threats posed by Iran. While initially envisioned under the late Shah, missiles ultimately grew to be a core part of Iran’s security doctrine after its bloody eight-year war with Iraq. During that conflict, it was none other than a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who proposed to “reverse-engineer” Scud missiles Tehran had procured from the Libya and Syria to give it an edge in projectile manufacturing.
Thus began the Guards’ decades-long affiliation with the Islamic Republic’s missile program. Since then, Iran has become home to “the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East,” including copies and variants of North Korean and Russian platforms, with both solid and liquid-fueled weaponry.
The past decade of developments in Iranian missile power mirrors its rising adventurism in the Middle East. The more confident Iran feels that its inventory will deter retaliatory strikes, the more likely it is to engage in conflict by proxy throughout the region. By enhancing the reach of a conventionally weak Iran, this arsenal affords Tehran deterrent benefits at the same time as it threatens U.S. regional allies.
Now, pursuant to the JCPOA, entities linked to the missile program—like Iran’s Ministry of Defense (MODAFL) and a host of its subsidiaries—are slated for EU sanctions relief in approximately eight years (or sooner if the IAEA reaches a “broader conclusion” that it has accounted for all of Iran’s past nuclear work).
...
Robert Hand
Aug 25, 2015, 1:22:41 AM8/25/15
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Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:09:28 -0500
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2015 13:15:58 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday August 24, 2015
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Watch: Vital video revealing how important Israel is to United States security. YouTube video - 6:07 (August 24, 2015) WATCH: In an unprecedented achievement for Israeli women’s athletics, an Israeli triple jumper on Monday won a silver medal at the 15th World Championships in China. Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko breaks personal and national records to bring home Israel’s second ever world record. YouTube video - 0:19 (August 24, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran Deal Will Trigger Major War in Middle East, gatestoneinstitute, Nima Gholam
- Obama to Address North American Jews on Iran Deal, ABCNews, Ben Arie
- Security Minister Wants to Outlaw Temple Mount Rioters, israelnationalnews.com, Ido Benporat
- Matisyahu Stands Up to BDS, Rocks Spanish Festival, Reuters, Cynthia Blank
- Iran, Israel, and Alexander Hamilton, Eidelberg.com, Prof. Paul Eidelberg
- Analysis: A warning to Tehran, JPOST, Yossi Melman
Nima Gholam
gatestoneinstitute, August 24, 2015
If someone had asked you a year ago what would be the most efficient way to cause a major war in the Middle East, you might well have said: Giving the mullahs in Iran the opportunity to get advanced conventional weapons, ICBMs, nuclear weapons and tens of billion of dollars to fund terrorist organizations and destabilize other countries in the region. You might have argued that a regime that does not hesitate to attack targets in Washington or Berlin might not be the most prudent one to shower with gigantic quantities of money and the deadliest weapons.
If one knows anything about the regime in Iran, it is difficult to understand how U.S. President Barack Obama's agreement with Iran could create anything other than chaos and war in the Middle East.The content of the Iran nuclear agreement creates the perfect conditions for a major war in the Middle East -- one that could spread and start a major regional conflict.
Despite what President Obama likes to say, it is not true that the agreement "permanently prohibits Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon" or "cuts off all of Iran's pathways to a bomb". The agreement means that the U.S. has accepted that after 15 years, or sooner, Iran may build as many bombs as it likes.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, since its founding in 1979, has had an ideology that seeks to "export the Islamic revolution." The phrase is not just a catchword for the mullahs. They have done it in practice, if necessary by force. After coming to power in 1979, the leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, called on the Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq to revolt and establish an Islamic republic. The mullahs' effort to export the Islamic revolution to Iraq was one of the causes of the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted eight years and resulted in possibly a million deaths. Despite intense resistance from Arab countries, Khomeini's Islamic revolution has been successfully exported to Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. ...
Ben Arie
ABCNews, August 24, 2015
President Obama to participate in a live webcast on Iran deal with Jews from the United States and Canada. As intense discussions regarding the Iran nuclear agreement continue, President Barack Obama will address the North American Jewish community next Friday, August 28, at 2:10 p.m. Eastern Time.Obama will participate in a live webcast to deliver remarks to and take questions from participants across the United States and Canada in an event co-sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and The Jewish Federations of North America, according to a statement released on Thursday.
Previously, the two groups have hosted webcasts and forums on the Iran nuclear agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Dore Gold and former IDF Head of Military Intelligence Amos Yadlin.
President Obama will deliver his remarks from the White House, with viewers able to tune in via computers and cell phones. Participation is free, and those interested in joining can register at www.jewishfederations.org/president. ...
Ido Benporat
israelnationalnews.com, August 24, 2015
Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan (Likud) sent Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) a letter Monday, asking him to urgently declare the Arab organizations that create mayhem on the Temple Mount as illegal.If the defense minister signs a declaration to this effect, security forces will have a freer hand against the rioters.
Erdan has been carrying out behind-the-scenes staff work in the past few weeks, together with police, the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet), the State Attorney's Office and even the Attorney General, who has agreed to help advance the declaration.
In the discussions of the problem, Erdan was shown evidence that the so-called murabitun and murabitat, as the male and female groups of Muslim mayhem-makers are named, are directed by the northern arm of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
The purpose of their activity is to destabilize the status quo on the Temple Mount, and they have succeeded in creating escalation on the Mount, and in making the security situation there untenable.
"Events on the Temple Mount have led youths to commit acts of terror in the past, and could do so again in the future,” said sources close to Erdan. They added that the murabitun and murabitat's activities on the Temple Mount have caused much friction and violence between the organizations' members and Jews visiting the Mount. ...
Cynthia Blank
Reuters, August 24, 2015
As pro-Palestinian protesters catcall and wave PLO flags, American Jewish reggae singer tells crowd to 'let music be your flag.'American Jewish singer Matisyahu performed at a Spanish music festival late on Saturday, days after organizers apologized for canceling his appearance due to pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
While he faced catcalls from some pro-Palestinian protesters, Reuters reported, the concert passed calmly despite its tense build-up.
Video from the event shows Matisyahu singing his famous song "Jerusalem," even as protesters wave the flags of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group in the crowd.
The Rototom SunSplash festival pulled Matisyahu, who fuses reggae and hip-hop with Jewish influences, from its line-up after a local BDS branch accused the 36-year-old of being a "Zionist" who supports the practice of "apartheid and ethnic cleansing."
When Matisyahu did not reply to festival organizers' demand that he publicly state that he is in favor of a Palestinian state, they cancelled his appearance. Ironically, a Jamaican singer whose songs feature lyrics calling to kill homosexuals was not banned. The decision was condemned by Jewish groups, the Spanish government and both the US and Israeli embassies in Spain, prompting a swift backtrack and apology from organizers, who invited him to perform on the last night of the week-long festival.
The local BDS branch that had Matisyahu's performance initially cancelled responded to his reinvitation with a confusing notice, in which the group claimed that its actions against him were not part of BDS. Matisyahu, who had initially denounced the cancellation as "appalling" on Facebook, accepted the new invitation, a statement from the organizers said on Friday. ...
Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Eidelberg.com, August 24, 2015
Israel’s former Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly said that “a plan to attack Iranian nuclear facilities when he was Defense Minister was sabotaged by the hesitancy of fellow cabinet members Yuval Steinitz and Moshe Yaalon, the man who would replace him [at Defense].” The plans, he said, “were drawn up and approved by him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sometime between 2009 and 2010.” (Jerusalem Post, August 23, 2015)If Barak is suggesting that his cabinet colleagues got cold feet, this is the pot calling the kettle black, whose hasty retreat from Lebanon did not add luster to Israel’s name. Be that as it may, Barak’s revelation bolsters the present writer’s long standing argument that Israel needs of a unitary executive (or presidential system) as opposed to its current plural executive. I have supported this position by quoting Alexander Hamilton, who Talleyrand deemed the greatest statesman of his era.
In the Federalist Papers (No. 70), Hamilton sets forth the most lucid and compelling argument for a unitary executive. He first points out that “Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.” By energy Hamilton does not mean power so much as intellectual energy, which springs from wisdom and self-confidence. As Henry Taylor says in The Statesman “The energy of the statesman should be as purely as possible intellectual; it should be of that rare species which can be combined with equanimity.” One can hardly possess equanimity in a cabinet having ministers representing rival party leaders, one or two lusting to replace the PM.
In any event, Hamilton emphasizes that unity is the first institutional prerequisite for the exercise of energy (the position of Jewish law, which opposes collective leadership (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin8a). Here is how Hamilton justifies unity in the Executive: ...
Yossi Melman
JPOST, August 24, 2015
The swift Israeli reaction to the launching of four rockets from Syria at the Galilee and Golan shows how deep is the Israeli intelligence penetration of Iran’s military.
It was not the first time that precise and updated intelligence data enabled Israel to prevent terrorist attacks from Syria sponsored by Iran, or to execute attacks against Bashar Assad’s regime, or whatever is left of it.
The rocket launchings – which caused no casualties or damage to property, except sparking fires in open fields – didn’t surprise IDF Intelligence. They were expecting some sort of an attack against Israel from the Syrian Golan and prepared themselves for the eventuality.
Israel’s response was gradual but fierce. First, Syrian Army positions were attacked with artillery and missiles. Later, a senior Israeli officer revealed sensitive intelligence information by naming a senior Iranian officer and holding him responsible for ordering the rocket attacks. He is Saad Ezadi, in charge of the Israeli desk in the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. ...
Robert Hand
Aug 25, 2015, 10:35:12 PM8/25/15
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Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:25:58 -0500
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 13:30:04 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday August 25, 2015
| Michael Douglas Genesis Prize Acceptance Speech YouTube video - 13:15 (June 30, 2015) JERUSALEM ONLINE -Your Link to Israel |
Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, USAF, Ret. Speaks out against Iran deal The problem with the Iran nuclear deal is that it would increase the high likelihood of the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, United Arab Emirates. Let's not forget that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The deal will increase the likelihood of terrorists getting hold of a nuclear weapon. That's why we need a better deal. YouTube video – 00:32 (Aug 20, 2015) Ra ymond Ibrahim on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East YouTube video – 05:58 (Aug 13, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Over the Rainbow - Here are 10 ways Obama's Iran nuclear daydream fails., usnews.com, Mortimer B. Zuckerman
- How to Get a Better Deal With Iran, foreignpolicy.com, Mark Dubowitz
- Our opinions matter: Do what you can to stop Iran deal, kcjc.com, Victor Bergman
- Could Parchin leak sway undecideds on Iran deal?, timesofisrael.com, Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
- Iran Inaugurates Production-Line of New Air-Based Cruise Missile, english.farsnews.com,
- Palestinians Flock to Islamic State, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- ISIS Document Reveals Vision of Armageddon, breakingisraelnews.com, Rivkah Lambert Adler
- Out today: Robert Spencer's new book, The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
Mortimer B. Zuckerman
usnews.com, April 27, 2015
...Well, we have sucked the lemons. The taste is sourer than we feared:
1. Enrichment. Before the talks began, the Obama administration and the U.N. Security Council insisted for years that Iran stop all uranium enrichment. Now it allows Iran to continue enriching uranium.
2. Stockpile. In February 2015, Iran had 10,000 kilograms of enriched uranium due to be reduced to 300 kilograms through export to Russia, which would return it as rods for use in peaceful energy. It was an achievement for which Obama had legitimate pride. It reduced the risk the fuel could be diverted to a weapons program. But the risk remains. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Nabas Araqchi has told the Iranian media there is no question of sending the uranium abroad. It is another demonstration of how dealing with Iran is even dicier than with Russia. Ronald Reagan’s motto was “trust but verify.” With Iran, Obama’s is just: don’t trust. Yet he has agreed the fuel may stay inside the country – and there is no mechanism for reducing the stockpile.
3. Centrifuges. We wanted to cut back the number of installed centrifuges by about two-thirds. Iran’s centrifuges have multiplied from the beginning of the negotiations to almost 20,000 today. The U.S. initially called for limiting the number of Iranian enriching centrifuges from 500 to 1,500. The agreement now allows Iran a stunning 6,104 centrifuges. According to Iran’s foreign minister, they are able to use their advanced IR-8 centrifuges as soon as the nuclear deal with the world powers goes into effect, contrary to what the U.S. asserted. This would dramatically accelerate Iran’s potential progress, for the IR-8 centrifuges enrich uranium 20 times faster than the current IR-1 centrifuges....
Mark Dubowitz
foreignpolicy.com, August 17, 2015
Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty ImagesThe Iran nuclear deal is a ticking time bomb. Its key provisions sunset too quickly, and it grants Iran too much leverage to engage in nuclear blackmail. To defuse it, Congress needs to do what it has done dozens of times in the past including during the Cold War in requiring changes to key U.S.-Soviet arms control agreements: Demand a better deal. And contrary to the President Barack Obama’s threats, this doesn’t have to lead to war.
First, let’s review why this deal is so dangerous. The sunset clauses — the fatal flaw of the agreement — permit critical nuclear, arms, and ballistic missile restrictions to disappear over a five- to 15-year period. Tehran must simply abide by the agreement to soon emerge as a t hreshold nuclear power with an industrial-size enrichment program. Similarly, it must only hang tight to reach near-zero breakout time; find a clandestine sneak-out pathway powered by easier-to-hide advanced centrifuges; build an arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles; gain access to heavy weaponry like more sophisticated combat aircraft, attack helicopters, and battle tanks after the lifting of the U.N. conventional arms embargo after five years; and develop an economy increasingly immunized against future sanctions pressure. Iran can achieve all this without even cheating by simply waiting for the sunset dates to be reached; but cheating will only get Tehran there faster, for example, if it refuses physical access by the International Atomic Energy Agency to suspicious sites and Washington can’t get European support to punish Iranian stonewalling.
And it gets worse. If world powers reimpose sanctions in response to Iranian noncompliance, Tehran can void the deal. The nuclear agreement explicitly contemplates in paragraphs 26 and 37 of the main text that Iran will walk away from the deal if sanctions are reimposed in response to an Iranian violation. It also contains an explicit requirement in paragraph 29 of the main text for the United States and the EU to do nothing to interfere with the “normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran.” Let’s call these Iran’s “nuclear snap backs,” wherein Tehran will threaten nuclear escalation if the world powers try to force it back into compliance with the agreement.
But even without this arrow in their quiver, the Iranians over time will be immunized from economic shocks. Once European companies are sufficiently invested in Iran’s lucrative markets, any Iranian violations of the deal are likely to provoke disagreements between Washington and its European allies. Indeed, why would Europe agree to new sanctions when th ey have big money on the line? Their arguments against new nuclear sanctions will include questions about the credibility of evidence, the seriousness of the nuclear infractions, the appropriate level of response, and likely Iranian retaliation....
Victor Bergman
kcjc.com, August 20, 2015
As I compare the prospects of congressional approval of the Iran nuclear accord versus disapproval of it, disapproval is the lesser evil, by far. I am guided by my belief that Iran will become a nuclear nation soon without the agreement, and in the next 10 years with the agreement. Either way we are going to be facing a nuclear Iran in the near future. Can Congress influence what Iran will look like? I believe so.
If the agreement is approved and adhered to, after 10 years we will be facing a powerhouse Iran — rich, well-armed and highly influential. During the 10 years of the agreement Iran will quickly obtain the released sanction-money, estimated to be between $100 and $150 billion. Iran gets to become even richer over the next 10 years by selling its oil and engaging in profitable commerce; and with all that wealth it can purchase heavy weapons and ICBMs, and engage much more extensively in its promotion of terror, all under the political cover of t he agreement. Iran has openly promised to continue its “Death to America” and “annihilation of Israel” campaigns of aggression and terror until the goals of its Islamic Revolution are accomplished. The argument that the agreement “buys time” for Iran to change its culture and join the family of peace-loving nations seems far-fetched to me and I put no weight on it. Would you encourage your child’s belief that the nogoodnick she plans to marry is going to change because of her positive influence?
I prefer the situation without congressional approval. To the extent the United States resolves to continue sanctions and not release the money, and to use its influence to reassemble an international sanctions regime, Iran will be a poorer and less influential regional power, even if we go it alone. Iran’s president argued to his own opposition that without the agreement Iran will continue to be in “the economic stone age.” Perhaps congressional disapproval of the agreement will cause Iran to come back to the negotiating table, or to not develop nuclear weapons. Without the political cover and economic blessings of the agreement, Iran might become a pariah nuclear power like North Korea, isolated in the world, economically disabled, with a lot less influence. In a military confrontation I would much rather face a partially disabled Iran than the powerhouse it is sure to become inside of the agreement.
If you are opposed to the Iran nuclear agreement it is imperative that you contact your senators and congressional representatives and express yourself emphatically. In Kansas the delegation is solidly against the agreement, but they still need to be thanked, encouraged, and urged to override a presidential veto. In Missouri and elsewhere, where opposition to the agreement is not assured, our congressional delegations must hear from those opposed. This is not an idle exerc ise. It will have an impact. Those members of Congress who are on the fence need to know they have our support. The vote in Congress to override the expected veto will be close and our actions matter. This is the issue of our time. We must do what we can to defeat this ill-advised agreement.
Victor Bergman is a partner in the law firm of Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman.
Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
timesofisrael.com, August 20, 2015
2004 satellite image of the military complex at Parchin, Iran. (AP/DigitalGlobe-Institute for Science and International Security)WASHINGTON – Opponents of the nuclear deal with Iran suggested Wednesday evening that revelations that Tehran would “self-inspect” a suspected nuclear-related site could sway undecided members of Congress away from supporting the agreement at next month’s vote.
Hours after the Associated Press exposed a leaked document that seems to allow Tehran to provide its own inspectors and equipment, as well as determine which areas are off-limits, for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s probe of the military facility at Parchin, critics renewed calls for the entire agreement between the IAEA and Iran to be disclosed to Congress — an agreement described by some in Washington as part of “secret side deals” with the UN watchdog.
“The Obama administration tried keeping this information secret, which would have prevented American lawmakers and the American people from finding out the full extent of our diplomats’ collapse to Iran. The Associated Press had to get the document from overseas and reveal it that way,” said Omri Ceren, Managing Director at The Israel Project, a pro-Israel advocacy group which is opposed to the terms of the current deal. “Now that the full information is public there’s going to be a public backlash, which is exactly what the administration was hoping to avoid. Even lawmakers who have expressed support for the deal may have to reconsider, given how insane it is to let the Iranians police their own nuclear violations.”...
english.farsnews.com, August 25, 2015
Iran Inaugurates Production-Line of New Air-Based Cruise MissileTEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian defense ministry on Tuesday inaugurated the production line of its powerful and high-precision air-based cruise missile, ‘Nasr'.
The mass-production of Nasr missile started in a ceremony on the occasion of the Government's Week in the presence of Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan.
In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 21, 2015
- The terror group Islamic State has become extremely popular among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Four recent public opinion polls show that at least one million Palestinians support the Islamic State.
- The Palestinians' two governments, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), have good reason to be worried about the Islamic State. In recent weeks, Islamic State spokesmen have issued threats against both the PA and Hamas, accusing them of "collaboration" with the "Zionist entity."
- Christian activist Sam Butrous noted that the widespread support for Islamic State among Palestinians is a sign of increased extremism and a denial of Christians' rights in the Holy Land....
Rivkah Lambert Adler
breakingisraelnews.com, August 25, 2015
...Phase 1 “Awakening” 2000-2003: Islamic State calls for “a major operation against the U.S….to provoke a crusade against Islam.” [September 11, 2001]
Phase 2 “Shock and Awe” 2004 – 2006: Islamic State will lure US into multiple theatres of war, including cyber-attacks and establish charities across the Muslim and Arab world to support terrorism.
Phase 3 “Self-reliance” 2007-2010: Islamic State will create “interference” with Iraq’s neighboring states with particular focus on Syria.
Phase 4 “Reaping/extortion/receiving” 2010-2013: Islamic State will attack “U.S. and Western interests” to destroy their economy and replace the dollar with silver and gold and expose Muslim governments’ relations with Israel and the US.
Phase 5 Declaring t he Caliphate 2013-2016: Not much details offered here. The document just says, “The Caliphate According to The Prophet.”
Phase 6 Open Warfare 2017-2020: Islamic State predicts faith will clash with non-believers and “Allah will grant victory to the believers after which peace will reign on earth.”...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, August 24, 2015
...Here are the details, from the back jacket:
ISIS Wants Your Head
It’s the world’s most spectacularly successful terrorist group—and the most mysterious. ISIS rocketed onto the world stage seemingly out of nowhere, beheading American hostages, bulldozing international borders, routing the American-trained Iraqi Army, carving out a new state that rules eight million people and a territory larger than the United Kingdom, perpetrating genocide, reviving slavery, pulverizing ancient monuments, and persuading its followers to carry out terror attacks in New York and Texas. But who are they? Where did ISIS come from, and how did they rise to power in so little time? What is driving them—and how can they be stopped?
Now New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer reveals the blood-drenched history and inner workings of the Islamic State—its military conquests, how it is financing its expansion, the significa nce of the newly declared caliphate and its long roots in Muslim history, and the ideology that is driving its success. As Spencer reveals, the Islamic State has taken the first steps on the path to becoming a world power—steps that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda dreamed of but were afraid to take. The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS is your one-stop easy reference for all you need to know about ISIS—and how to stop its reign of terror....
Robert Hand
Aug 28, 2015, 1:11:41 AM8/28/15
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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2015 23:35:23 -0500
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2015 12:53:51 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday August 27, 2015
| Israel Tyme (Yalla!) Julian Edelman, wide receiver and punt returner for the New England Patriots, visits Israel. YouTube video - 02:58 (Aug 24, 2015) |
JERUSALEM ONLINE -Your Link to Israel |
| The Truth About The Iran Deal YouTube video - 00:36 (Aug 27, 2015) Opinion Journal: Iran Nuclear Deal Deceptions Anne Bayefsky explains the White House’s dealings with the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, and its side deal with Tehran. WSJ video - 03:02 (Aug 21, 2015) BOSTON RALLY! STOP U.S. FUNDING OF IRANIAN TERRORISM! Sunday August 30 At Noon in front of the State House-Beacon Hill WATCH: IDF forces find weapon magazines hidden in teddy bear CLICK HERE for video and article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Islamic Terrorist Network in America, American Jihad, Steven Emerson
- Interview: Iran poses a threat to the Jewish Diaspora, israelbehindthenews.com, Rachel Avraham
- Voters in Three Key Swing States Reject Nuclear Deal by 2-1 Margin, algemeiner.com, Eliezer Sherman
- Republicans Plan New Iran Sanctions After Vote on Nuclear Deal, bloombergview.com, Josh Rogin
- ISIS Is 'Beheading, Raping, Selling' Christians While Obama Does Nothing, Justice Group Asserts, breitbart.com, Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.
- The 5 Worst Treaties the United States Ever Signed, foreignpolicy.com, Benjamin Soloway
- Sandboxing' Islam: How to Protect America from Jihad Terrorism, jihadwatch.org, Ralph Sidway
Rachel Avraham
israelbehindthenews.com, August 25, 2015
With the flow of cash to the Islamic Republic following the Iranian nuclear agreement, Iranian sleeper cells can be activated to wage terror attacks against the Jewish Diaspora like Iran did in the early 1990’s in Argentina and to the greater internationally community like they attempted to do against New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport more recently. According to the late Alberto Nisman, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has infiltrated large regions of Latin America.”“Everyone is talking about what is right and wrong about the nuclear issue and its affect upon Israel,” David Bedein, the director of the Center for Near East Policy, told JerusalemOnline in an exclusive interview. “No one is talking about how this deal on the table is a threat to all Jews acc ording to what the Argentinian Government’s prosecutor Alberto Nisman found out from his objective research.”
Alberto Nisman had investigated two terror attacks in Argentine that targeted Jews and Israelis. The AMIA bombing in 1994 resulted in the massacre of 85 people and the wounding of hundreds more. It was the deadliest terror attack in Argentina’s history. Two years prior to that, the Israeli Embassy in Argentina was attacked by a suicide bomber, resulting in the slaughter of 29 people and the wounding of 242 others. Iran is behind both of these terror attacks.
Furthermore, Nisman found that Iran has active terror cells across Latin America and that one of these cells was involved in an attempted terror attack targeting New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. He noted that Iran utilizes the local Muslim community as a cover and finds recruits among them in order to achieve their terrorist objectives. The locals are sent to Iran to be educated to support radical Islamist thought so that they can be utilized by Iran to wage terror attacks in the future....
Eliezer Sherman
algemeiner.com, August 24, 2015
Voters in the three key swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio opposed the Obama administration’s landmark nuclear accord with Iran by a 2-1 margin, a Quinnipiac University poll revealed on Monday.A similar percentage of voters also agreed that the nuclear deal would make the world a less safe place, though the goal of negotiators from the U.S. and five other world powers was to implement a plan to curtail Iran’s ability to pursue nuclear weapons.
Florida voters opposed the pact by 61-25, Pennsylvania voters opposed it by 61-26 and Ohio voters by 58-24. As for whether the Obama administration’s key foreign policy initiative would make the world a safer place, Florida voters said “no” by 61-27, Pennsylvania voters by 60-27 and Ohio voters by 56-26 — suggesting that most voters do not believe President Barack Obama’s assertion that the only two options are the nuclear deal as it is now or war with Iran....
Josh Rogin
bloombergview.com, August 27, 2015
Ready with a Plan B. (Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Opponents of the Iran deal aren’t expecting the Congressional vote next month to go their way, but they are already planning for the day after their loss. Republicans in Congress are preparing several bills to sanction Iran. Even if those never reach a vote, the proposals could be problematic for Democrats well into 2016.
The White House has compared the Iran deal to Obamacare in terms of its historical impact. Republicans agree.
“The analogy to the Affordable Care act is ringing in my ears,” said Representative Mike Pompeo, one of several Iran deal critics developing new sanctions proposals. “The American people get who the Iranian regime is. The American people will reward elected officials who do the right thin g.”
All the proposals seek to capitalize on the administration’s promise to keep up pressure on Iran for its non-nuclear mischief, including over its support for regional terrorism and its human rights record. And Pompeo says new sanctions have a chance of passing, even if Congress can't block Obama's deal....
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.
breitbart.com, August 21, 2015
The American Center for Law and Justice is urging President Barack Obama to defend Christians who are suffering intense persecution from Islamic State terrorists, especially by naming an ambassador to fill the vacant mission of Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.The ACLJ has drafted a petition appealing to the Obama Administration to act swiftly to stop the genocide of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. The petition has already garnered more than 93,000 signatures.
The organization reminds the administration that ISIS is “beheading, raping, and selling Christians” and that hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee or die. But while ISIS tracks down Christians for sale and slaught er, the Obama Administration and other Western leaders stand by idly....
Benjamin Soloway
foreignpolicy.com, August 25, 2015
...In its relatively short history, the United States has done its share of terrible diplomatic deal making, too. To cut through the hyperbole surrounding the Iran deal, Foreign Policy reached out to eight experts on treaties and international agreements to help us identify some of the worst treaties the United States has ever signed. (Although, please note, that the nuclear deal with Iran is a “political agreement,” not a “legally binding plan” or a treaty, as Orde Kittrie, a professor of law at Arizona State University and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, was quick to point out.) Kristol, Krauthammer, and their colleagues would do well to look at this list next time they prepare to reach for the superlatives.
Treaty of Versailles, 1919
The peace treaty at the end of World War I wasn’t all bad news. “It set up the League of Nations, precursor to the U.N., along with early human rights provisions,” Duncan Hollis, associate dean of Beasley School of Law at Temple University and former attorney-advisor for treaty affairs at the U.S. State Department, told Foreign Policy. But historians have long criticized the excessively punitive reparations the treaty levied on Germany, destroying the country’s economy and helping create fertile ground for the rise of Nazism.
Versailles was unsuccessful “not because the U.S. failed to get what it needed, but because [the signatories] tried to divide up too much of Europe, were excessively punitive to Germany, and what looked like a victory at first blush ended up hurting everyone,” said Edward Swaine, a professor and treaty expert at George Washington University Law School. President Woodrow Wilson added his name to the document, “acting in his own name and by his own proper authority,” but the U.S. Senate ultimately failed to ratify the treaty — not for its punitive clauses, but over isolationist fears that the League of Nations would jeopardize U.S. sovereignty....
Ralph Sidway
jihadwatch.org, August 21, 2015
...If we think of America as being, ideally, a safe and free place for its citizens, within which we should be able to live, work, play, and, as the ubiquitous bumper sticker says, “Coexist,” then when it comes to Islam and Muslims, we need a solution analogous to the IT security process of “sandboxing.” We need to isolate malicious jihadi forces, “in such a way that whatever they do, they will not spread havoc elsewhere.”
What would “sandboxing” look like when it comes to Muslims in America? In practice, it could include the following policies:
- A moratorium — a complete freeze — on Muslim immigration. Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul expressed a similar policy concept following the Chattanooga jihad murders of five US servicemen, proposing a halt to immigration from Muslim countries with known jihad activity. Going one step further, Franklin Graham wrote at the same time that “We should stop all immigration of Muslims to the U.S. until this threat with Islam has been settled.”
- All mosques must be classified and treated as “agents of foreign power,” in accordance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a U.S. law (22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq.) passed in 1938.
Islam certainly thinks and behaves like a foreign power, is guided in America by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudis and other foreign Islamic groups, and has a definite political dimension.
- Any and all mosques associated with Muslim terrorists must be investigated, and if found to be advancing jihad doctrine, sharia law, and Islamic supremacism over the United States, they should be prosecuted and closed, in accordance with the FARA act referenced above.
- Stop all foreign funding of mosques, whether by FARA, new legislation, or executive power. We already know that Saudi Arabia is providing extensive funding to advance its extremist Wahhabi strain of Islam worldwide, including of mosques in America, as is Turkey. There already exist covert lobbying groups for Muslim nations, including Iran.
- These are just some starting points to aid in getting this conversation going. The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) has an 18-point platform with similar policy proposals which may be considered as well....
Robert Hand
Aug 28, 2015, 10:58:48 PM8/28/15
to
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2015 21:49:28 -0500
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2015 12:30:19 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday August 28, 2015
GOOD NEWS FROM ISRAEL
Yoram Ettinger - The Two Way Street: Mutually Beneficial US-Israel Ties
YouTube video - 06:06 (Feb 5, 2015)
Israeli back pain treatment
Israeli company's hyper-stimulation pulse device brought relief to the lower back.
Israeli back pain treatment device developer Nervomatrix has reported success in a randomized controlled study conducted at Belgium's Free University of Brussels using its low back pain system. The study evaluated targeted hyper-s timulation therapy. CLICK HERE for article
Rescue Backpack SkySaver
One innovative evacuation solution is now provided by Israeli startup SkySaver, whose brand new emergency backpack is designed to help residents escape from high-rises. CLICK HERE for article and video
GOOD NEWS FROM ISRAEL
Yoram Ettinger - The Two Way Street: Mutually Beneficial US-Israel Ties
YouTube video - 06:06 (Feb 5, 2015)
Israeli back pain treatment
Israeli company's hyper-stimulation pulse device brought relief to the lower back.
Israeli back pain treatment device developer Nervomatrix has reported success in a randomized controlled study conducted at Belgium's Free University of Brussels using its low back pain system. The study evaluated targeted hyper-s timulation therapy. CLICK HERE for article
Rescue Backpack SkySaver
One innovative evacuation solution is now provided by Israeli startup SkySaver, whose brand new emergency backpack is designed to help residents escape from high-rises. CLICK HERE for article and video
Contents: (summaries below)
- Over 1000 U.S. Rabbis Sign Letter Urging Congress to Reject Iran Nuclear Deal, Zionist Organization of America ,
- Nearly 200 Retired Generals and Admirals Urge Congress to Reject Iran Deal, breakingisraelnews.com, JNS
- The better alternative to the Iran deal, thehill.com, Former Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and USMC Gen. Charles C. Krulak
- Meet the Americans Flocking to Iraq and Syria to Fight the Islamic State, foreignpolicy.com, Adam Rawnsley
- Israeli professor explains why the Islamic State is 'the anti-Islam', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- America's Dangerous Bargain With Turkey, nytimes.com, Eric S. Edelman
- The invasion of Europe and America, wnd.com, Pamela Geller
Zionist Organization of America , August 27, 2015
...We call upon our Senators and Representatives to consider the dangers that this agreement poses to the United States and our allies, and to vote in opposition to this deal.
Furthermore, we strongly support and heed the call to action of many Jewish organizations to express our collective opposition to this dangerous agreement.
At this historic moment, with so much at stake, we have a critical responsibility to shape the world we pass on to our children. With no less than the safety of future generations hanging in the balance, we must insist on a better deal.
We hope and pray that God will assist us in ushering in for the entire world a time promised by Isaiah (2:4) when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they engage in war anymore," when peace will prevail. Until then, we simply cannot afford to empower and enrich a regime that continues to lift its sword without mercy towards so many who stand for good, fr eedom and peace.
If you are an ordained U.S. Rabbi and would like to sign the petition please click here.
JNS
breakingisraelnews.com, August 27, 2015
(Photo: Breaking Israel News)A group of nearly 200 retired generals and admirals sent an open letter to Congress urging U.S. lawmakers to reject the Iran nuclear deal.
“The agreement will enable Iran to become far more dangerous, render the Mideast still more unstable and introduce new threats to American interests as well as our allies,” states the letter, which was first reported by the Washington Post.
The letter, addressed to Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, is a response to one sent last week that was signed by 36 retired senior military officers who supported the nuclear deal.
The group of former high-ranking military officials include William G. “Jerry” Boykin, undersecretary of defense for intelligence under president George W. Bush; John Poindexter, national security advisor under president Ronald Reagan; and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, who was vice commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
“What I don’t like about this is, the number one leading radical Islamic group in the world is the Iranians,” McInerney told the Washington Post. “They are purveyors of radical Islam throughout the region and throughout the world. And we are going to enable them to get nuclear weapons. Why would we do that?”
Former Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and USMC Gen. Charles C. Krulak
thehill.com, August 27, 2015
...Since the agreement allows Iran to continue developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, that is just too close for comfort—especially when Iran’s constitutionally designated “Supreme Leader” was not only chanting “Death to America” after the agreement was announced, but went on to call those words a “major orientation of the Iranian nation.”
In addition to the urgent need for renegotiation, the time available to do it, and the incentive to make it happen, there is also ample precedent.
Congress has insisted on improvements to over 200 agreements negotiated by the executive branch—which it then, despite dire predictions of doom, nonetheless renegotiated to achieve better deals.
For example, in the 1970s, the Senate failed to approve two major arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, instead, demanding more from the Soviets. Despite that administration’s protests that doing so was impossible, the executive branch resumed negotiations and won a better deal.
America needs a better deal with Iran, and we have the tools and the time to get one.
Landrieu served in the Senate from 1997 to 2015. Krulak served as Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999.
Adam Rawnsley
foreignpolicy.com, August 26, 2015
Photo illustration by FPWhen a U.S. citizen going by the name “Abu Abdullah al-Amriki” blew himself up in a suicide attack in Baiji, Iraq, this month, he was the most recent example of a troubling trend: the roughly 200 Americans who have traveled or attempted to travel to Iraq and Syria to fight for the Islamic State.
Not all of the foreigners have left for the region looking to fight for the Islamic State, however. Instead, growing numbers of Americans are heading there to fight against the extremists. The American fighters — mostly military veterans, with a strangely disproportionate share of Texans — are linking up with Kurdish groups and Christian militias in the region to battle the Islamic State militants who currently control broad swaths of I raq and Afghanistan. A new report by the investigative website Bellingcat, released Wednesday, takes the first systematic look at these “other foreign fighters.”
The report finds that at least 108 Americans — including one woman — have made the journey to Iraq and Syria to take on the Islamic State, highlighting the global nature of the conflict and the relative ease of recruitment and travel to the battlefield. It’s a dangerous undertaking, and one American has already been killed in the fighting. Massachusetts resident Keith Broomfield, 36, died while fighting with a Kurdish militia in Syria earlier this year. Broomfield, who had no military experience, traveled to the war zone after a Christian religious awakening.
Nathan Patin, the author of the Bellingcat report, combed through social media posts and news accounts to compile the database. Although Patin was able to find information on the fighters using open sources, t he report withholds the identities of those fighters who haven’t gone public in prior news accounts and does not include personally identifying information or information that could lead to their location on the battlefield, out of concern for their safety and that of their families....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, August 27, 2015
Ze’ev Maghen is professor of Arabic Literature and Islamic History and Chairman of the Department of Middle East Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Here he joins an apparently endless stream of Muslim and non-Muslim authorities who assure us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam, in terms that will reassure non-Muslims, but will do nothing to make even one Islamic State jihadist lay down his arms and become a “moderate.”The problem with Maghen’s piece in general is that he relies on several ahadith that appear to establish that the Islamic State is violating the clear words of Muhammad. That would seem to be an open-and-shut case, were it not for the fact that the Hadith are extremely voluminous, and many were fabricated by competing factions in the Muslim community to appear t o give Muhammad’s support to a particular side of a contested issue. The other faction would counter with its own fabricated hadith depicting Muhammad supporting the opposing position. Consequently, Muhammad can be found to be speaking on both sides of numerous issues throughout the hadith literature.
The Islamic State has support in the Hadith (and the Qur’an) for what it does. There is also support, in many cases, for the opposing point of view. But for Maghen to invoke only one side without informing his readers of the other is misleading. The Islamic State jihadis, were they to hear his critique of their activities, would simply invoke the ahadith he ignores....
Eric S. Edelman
nytimes.com, August 27, 2015
WASHINGTON — AFTER a year of intense diplomatic negotiations, the Turkish government is now permitting the United States to use Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, which will allow American aircraft to fly missions in Syria and Iraq with greater operational effectiveness and economic efficiency.
The price of this agreement, however, may well be too high in the long run, both for the success of America’s anti-Islamic State campaign and for the stability of Turkey.
That’s because the Turkish government’s recent change of heart and its sudden willingness to allow American access to the Incirlik base was driven by domestic political considerations, rather than a fundamental rethinking of its Syria strategy.
Shortly after granting access to the base, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched a wave of airstrikes on Kurdish targets, reigniting a conflict that had been on the road to resolution. To make matt ers worse, Turkey has struck hard at Syrian Kurds who have, until now, been America’s most reliable ally in fighting the Islamic State, often called ISIS, in northern Syria....
Pamela Geller
wnd.com, August 23, 2015
Europe is on the verge of descending into utter chaos. Reuters reported that “thousands of migrants stormed across Macedonia’s border on Saturday, overwhelming security forces who threw stun grenades and lashed out with batons before apparently abandoning a bid to stem their flow through the Balkans to western Europe.”
These thousands of Muslim “refugees,” most of them from the jihad hotspots of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, have been pouring into Greece and the Balkans in huge numbers for some time now. But they do not, of course, want to stay in Greece, Macedonia and Serbia. They want to reach the European Union: primarily Germany, France and Britain.
More of these “refugees” arrive every day. Media reports of this Muslim invasion focus on the crying women and children, who seem to have been deliberately brought to the front of the crowd. Clearly the vast majority of these “migrants” are men, a nd in any case, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t you take the women, and especially the children, to the side so that they wouldn’t get hurt in clashes with police? Instead, they are used as human shields.
How very like Hamas. Just as the “Palestinian” terrorists launch attacks from civilian areas to try to provoke civilian casualties they can use to manipulate world opinion, so now the international media obscures the reality of this flood of “refugees” into Europe in an attempt to blunt legitimate concern over it....
Robert Hand
Sep 1, 2015, 1:01:32 AM9/1/15
to
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2015 23:48:02 -0500
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:40:17 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday August 31, 2015
| ZOA: Join College Campus Campaign Against Iran Deal - IMRA |
|
| Eric Shawn Reports: The Iran deal danger Amb. John Bolton on Tehran's terror funding Fox News Video -05:53 (Aug. 30, 2015) Weekly Republican Address: Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) The president’s nuclear agreement with Iran and its consequences for our national security is the focus of this week’s Republican address, delivered by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA). YouTube video - 06:19 (Aug 29, 2015) Christian persecution growing worldwide? Insight from Vernon Brewer, president and CEO of World Help Fox News Video - 04:02 (Aug. 30, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran's fingerprints are everywhere, israelhayom.com, Dan Margalit
- Syrian Rebels Say Cease-Fire With Hezbollah Collapses, Associated Press,
- Islamic State has Damascus in its crosshairs, timesofisrael.com, Avi Issacharoff
- Europe's NGO Jihad Against Israel, gatestoneinstitute.org, Susan Warner
- As tragedies shock Europe, a bigger refugee crisis looms in the Middle East, washingtonpost.com, Liz Sly
- Report finds BDS, pro-Israel activity increasing on U.S. campuses, jta.org,
- MAKS: Is Russia developing an F-35-hunting UAV?, Flightglobal.com, James Drew
Dan Margalit
israelhayom.com, August 21, 2015
August may be the hottest month of the year, but hovering above Israel's violent borders and streets one can see the thick, dark clouds that are associated with winter.
Israel's enemies, however sophisticated, lack a comprehensive mechanism to coordinate their attacks against us. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has warned Israel it will fire from the Gaza Strip, and this has led the Israel Defense Forces to deploy Iron Dome batteries in the south. Was this threat related to the failing health of detainee Mohammad Allan on his hunger strike? Was Thursday's salvo on northern Israel by Islamic Jihad elements in Syria a consequence of that threat? I believe there is no direct link.
That said, Iran's fingerprints are everywhere, including in the north. The rockets fired on Thursday were launched from an area ostensibly held by Syrian President Bashar Assad, not the anti-regime insurgents. But Iran has been operating freely in that area.
Thursday's rocket attack was deliberate. Iran may have seized on Allan's health to time this attack, but it was motivated by other reasons. It wanted to retaliate for the recent killing of a Druze squad that had attempted to establish a terrorist foothold in the Golan Heights and to the repeated airstrikes on Hezbollah-bound shipments of advanced weaponry (widely attributed to Israel); the attack was also designed to bolster the Iranian regime's aggressive posture in the face of increased criticism at home by those who believe the nuclear agreement was a mistake. Iran may have also tried to deal a blow to Israel's tourism industry just before the summer's peak season draws to a close....
Associated Press, August 29, 2015
A cease-fire between a coalition of Syrian rebels and Hezbollah fighters in a Syrian border town and two northern Shiite villages collapsed Saturday for the second time this month amid rare Iranian-mediated talks.
The Islamic Army, or Jaysh Fatah group, said on its social media accounts that its fighters have resumed targeting locations of Hezbollah fighters near Foua, a Shiite village in the mostly-rebel control Idlib province, posting a video of the shelling.
Hezbollah al-Manar TV also reported that the cease-fire declared Thursday had collapsed, reporting shelling in both Foua and Kfarya.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, both groups with an extensive network of activists on the ground, said fighting also resumed in the town of Zaabadani near the Lebanese border. The Observatory said government warplanes bombed areas with barrel bombs....
Avi Issacharoff
timesofisrael.com, August 22, 2015
The Economist Intelligence Unit listed Damascus, the capital of Syria, in last place among the 140 cities surveyed in its Global Liveability Ranking for 2015, which was released this week. First place went to Melbourne, Australia.
The study surveyed, among other things, the security of the cities’ inhabitants and how it affected their lives. One can hardly argue with the finding about Syria’s capital: About 110 inhabitants of Douma, a Damascus suburb about 15 kilometers from the city center, were killed just this week.
At 2 p.m. on Sunday, the Syrian Air Force bombed the city’s central marketplace, killing and wounding hundreds. Eyewitnesses said piles of corpses were strewn among the fruit and vegetables.
The next morning, after an explicit United Nations condemnation of the Syrian attack, President Bashar Assad proved how much he believed in the famously dismissive Israeli expression about the UN, “Oom, shmoom” (“Oom” being the acronym in Hebrew for the UN), by dispatching his aircraft back to Douma for another bombing sortie....
Susan Warner
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 27, 2015
- Beneath a vexing tangle of funding operations -- most hiding under a pretense of "good works," "humanitarian aid," and "public interest" -- there is at work a sophisticated, multi-faceted, well-oiled propaganda machine against Israel.
- A chief concern in the Knesset is how to curb the influx of millions of foreign dollars used to fund anti-Israel hate-groups operating as NGOs. These organizations are accused of using their "human rights" designation to mask a deceptive advocacy agenda to undermine, and even to destroy, Israel.
- When Israel works to build "bridges for peace," such as SodaStream, where Arabs and Jews worked peacefully together, these organizations then knock them down.
- Apparently, no one at World Vision asks the obvious question: Why are there even refugee camps in territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, such as Gaza, Jenin and Ramallah? Not only have those areas been under exclusive PA or Hamas civilian administration since 1994, but Israel totally evacuated the Gaza Strip in 2005....
Liz Sly
washingtonpost.com, August 29, 2015
Children play amid garbage at an informal Syrian refugee settlement near Zahle, Lebanon. (Sam Tarling/For The Washington Post)
AL-MINYA, Lebanon — While the world’s attention is fixed on the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees swarming into Europe, a potentially far more profound crisis is unfolding in the countries of the Middle East that have borne the brunt of the world’s failure to resolve the Syrian war.
Those reaching Europe represent a small percentage of the 4 million Syrians who have fled into Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, making Syria the biggest single source of refugees in the world and the worst humanitarian emergency in more than four decades.
As the fighting grinds into a fifth year, the realization is dawning on aid agencies, the countries hosting the refugees and the Syrians themselves that most won’t be going home anytime soon, presenting the international community with a long-term crisis that it is ill-equipped to address and that could prove deeply destabilizing, for the region and the wider world....
jta.org, August 25, 2015
NEW YORK (JTA) — Pro- and anti-Israel activity at U.S. universities increased in the 2014-15 academic year, with groups that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel springing up on more campuses and employing new strategies.
Nonetheless, there were more than twice as many pro-Israel events as anti-Israel ones on campus, according to the Israel on Campus Coalition’s “Campus Trends Report” released last week.
The report found that the number of U.S. campuses with anti-Israel activity jumped by 31.2 percent from the previous academic year, with two groups that promote BDS — Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, and Jewish Voice for Peace, or JVP — both increasing their presence. SJP is now on 150 campuses and JVP on 14 campuses, according to the Washington, D.C.-based group....
James Drew
Flightglobal.com, August 26, 2015
...Mikheev says the UAV has been designed to detect stealth aircraft in the same vein as China’s ambitious “Divine Eagle” project, which he claims is based on technology “borrowed” from Russia and the USA.
Such aircraft aim to detect low-observable US combat aircraft using X-band and UHF radars, specifically the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35 and Northrop Grumman B-2. But airborne surveillance is just one of the UAV’s capabilities.
BillyPixMikheev says KRET is providing a deeply-integrated electronic warfare system that not only provides a protective electromagnetic sphere around the aircraft to counter air-to-air missiles, but also cloaks it from radars.
The unmanned aircraft closely resembles Northrop’s carrier-based X-47B demonstrator, but adds two lift fans on each wing and vertical stabilisers.
Mikheev says the UAV’s avionics, radar and electronic warfare systems are derived from those being produced for the Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter and the Kamov Ka-50 attack helicopter. KRET is also deeply involved in the Sukhoi T-50/PAK FA fighter project....
Robert Hand
Sep 1, 2015, 1:34:15 PM9/1/15
to
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 12:32:08 -0500
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 11:26:39 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday September 01, 2015
NO NUKES FOR IRAN
Congress is back from Summer recess. Let your opinion be heard before the September 17 vote on the Iranian Deal. CLICK HERE to participate in our Action Alert
Evidence mounts that soon-to-be flush Iran already spurring new attacks on Israel
NO NUKES FOR IRAN
Congress is back from Summer recess. Let your opinion be heard before the September 17 vote on the Iranian Deal. CLICK HERE to participate in our Action Alert
Evidence mounts that soon-to-be flush Iran already spurring new attacks on Israel
O’Reilly Connects WDBJ Shooting to U.
S. ‘Turning Away from Spiritualism’ and Religion
‘Largest Mediterranean gas field’ found off Egypt coast
Italian energy corporation says ‘supergiant’ discovery can fill Egyptian natural gas demand ‘for decades’
Contents: (summaries below)
- Building an Islamic State in America, One Church at a Time, frontpagemag.com, Daniel Greenfield
- Pentagon not targeting Islamic State training camps, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Egypt sends Assad secret arms aid, including missiles, with Russian funding, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
- Egypt destroys Gaza smuggling tunnels in crackdown on militants, Associated Press ,
- Iran is going on a massive military shopping spree in Russia, businessinsider.com, Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute
- UNRWA posts anti-Semitic cartoons inciting murder of Jews, israelbehindthenews.com, Israel Resource Review
- Germany's Muslim Demographic Revolution, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
Daniel Greenfield
frontpagemag.com, August 27, 2015
Across Europe, thousands of churches have closed and many of them have become mosques. The St. Mark’s Cathedral in London survived Nazi bombers in WW2, but fell to a new invasion and became the New Peckham Mosque. In France, where there are now more Muslims than practicing Catholics, the Islamic colonists demanded that thousands of empty churches be turned into mosques. The Capernaum Church in Germany has become the Al-Nour Islamic Center. In Amsterdam, the St. Ignatius Church was transformed into the Fatih Camii Mosque. Its name means ‘The Conqueror’s Mosque’.The original Fatih Camii Mosque had been built by the Turkish invaders in Constantinople on the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. Like their ISIS descendants, the Turks drove out th e Greek Christians, destroyed the church and replaced it with a mosque named after the monster Mehmed II, who inaugurated Islamic rule over the fallen city with slavery, rape and beheadings in the ISIS style.
Today ‘Conqueror’s Mosques’ have sprung up not only in Istanbul and Amsterdam, but in Paris, Toronto, Melbourne and Brooklyn, where within sight of the Statue of Liberty extending her torch of freedom to the oppressed of the world, stands the grim squalid outpost of the oppressor of the world....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, August 29, 2015
"If we know the location of these camps, and the president wants to destroy ISIS, why are the camps still functioning?" Excellent question. And no answer was forthcoming. Why not? Is it because there could be no possible explanation for this that makes sense in terms of American national security and that of the free world?“Pentagon Not Targeting Islamic State Training Camps,” by Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon, August 28, 2015:
The Pentagon has not conducted airstrikes against an estimated 60 Islamic State (IS) training camps that are supplying thousands of fighters each month to the terror group, according to defense and intelligence officials....
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
DEBKAfile, August 30, 2015
Egyptian-made missile in ZabadaniEgyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi has begun supplying Bashar Assad with arms, including missiles, after concluding a secret deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his consent to pick up the tab, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources reveal. The first batch of short-range Egyptian-made surface missiles has reached the Syrian forces fiercely battling rebels for weeks for the recovery of the strategic town of Zabadani without breaking through
It is not clear if the Egyptian missiles have also been passed to the Hizballah forces fighting with the Syrian army, considering that El-Sisi and Hizballah are at daggers drawn....
Associated Press , August 31, 2015
Palestinians watch bulldozers on the Egyptian side of the border with the Gaza Strip. Egypt is seeking to pressure Gaza’s Hamas rulers and stamp out militant activity along the border. (Photo: Khalil Hamra, Associated Press)
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Egyptian military bulldozers are digging through the sand along Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, pressing ahead with what appears to be a renewed campaign to pressure Gaza’s Hamas rulers and stamp out militant activity along the border.
The project, billed as an Egyptian military-operated fish farm, effectively would fill the border area with water and is designed to put an end to the last remaining cross-border underground smuggling tunnels, Egyptian military officials said. Hamas accuses Egypt of further isolating the beleaguered Palesti nian territory....
Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute
businessinsider.com, August 31, 2015
...Indeed, while Obama and Kerry tell senators that the Bush administration’s refusal to deal with Iran led Tehran to increase its centrifuge program exponentially, the truth is that the money Iran had as a result of Western naïveté best explains the growth in Iran’s covert programs. In effect, the United States is now making the same mistake twice.
Case in point, Iranian authorities are now engaged in a massive shopping spree in Russia to purchase hardware or enter into partnerships to produce new platforms. Consider the latest headlines – just from Monday – from the Iranian and Russian press:
- Fars News: “Tehran in Talks with Moscow to Purchase Sukhoi Superjet 100.” While the Sukhoi Superjet is a passenger jet, almost every civilian plane has a military corollary. As much as Iranian officials and their lobbyists have talked about civilian airliner safety, the fact is that every time Iran received spare parts for its civilian fleet, it cannibalized them for its military.
- Fars News: “Iran, Russia Reach Initial Agreement on Joint Helicopter Manufacturing.”
- Fars News: “Tehran, Moscow to Manufacture Airplanes.”
- Interfax/AVN Online: “Russia to sell to Iran modernized S-300 missile systems Antey-2500 – source.”
- Interfax/AVN Online: “Russia to coach Iranian specialists to operate new Antey-2500 air defense missile systems”...
Israel Resource Review
israelbehindthenews.com, August 25, 2015
...We call your attention to two of the ten first items appearing on the UNRWA Facebook page of the Rameh school, based in the Jaramaneh camp outside Damascus, which are cartoons celebrating Palestinian car attacks against Israeli Jewish civilians.
One of the cartoons posted by UNRWA resorts to classic anti-Semitic imagery, depicting a hook-nosed ultra-Orthodox Jew dressed in black, with a Star of David marked on his black hat:
Another of UNRWA’s images shows cars attacking people, with the caption that translates to “Cars intifada Daes,” using the Arabic term “Daes” (Run-over), a play on the Arabic word for “Daesh” (ISIS):
In these postings, UNRWA joins the terror-inciting social media campaign that praise the Palestinian car attacks such as the one in Jerusalem on 22 October 2014, which killed 3-month-old baby Chaya Zissel Braun, and 22-year-old Karen Jemima Mosquera of Ecuador, and wounded eight others....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, August 31, 2015
...De Maizière said that although many of the migrants are from the Middle East and North Africa, a large number (40%) are from countries in the Balkans, including Albania and Kosovo. This implies that nearly half of those arriving in Germany are economic migrants, not refugees fleeing war zones.
According to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the Berlin refugee center pictured here receives up to 2000 applications for asylum per day. (Image source: Deutsche Welle video screenshot)
Of the 800,000 migrants and refugees arriving in Germany in 2015, at least 80% (or 640,000) are Muslim, according to a recent estimate by the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland, ZMD), a Muslim umbrella group based in Cologne. This estimate is not in dispute.
In additi on to the newcomers, the natural rate of population increase of the Muslim community already living in Germany is approximately 1.6% per year (or 77,000), according to data extrapolated from a recent Pew Research Center study on the growth of the Muslim population in Europe....
Robert Hand
Sep 3, 2015, 9:06:04 PM9/3/15
to
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 19:37:59 -0500
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 13:48:22 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday September 03, 2015
THE TIME IS NOW - STOP IRAN FROM OBTAINING A NUCLEAR BOMB!!!
CALL TO ACTION!!!
SAY NO TO $150 BILLION PAYMENT AND INCREASED IRANIAN TERRORISM!
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
The New York Times reported that four more House Democrats have given their endorsement to the dangerous Iran nuclear deal. Congress is expected to vote on the deal as soon as next week, but as this news makes clear, Senators and Representatives are deci ding whether to endorse or reject the Iran nuclear deal right now. This is our final opportunity to urge Congress to reject a bad nuclear deal with Iran.
If you haven't already participated, please contact your Congressional leaders through our current Action Alert. CLICK HERE NOW to participate! Thanks!
If you have already sent an Action Alert, follow up with a phone call to your Senators - United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
CALL TO RALLY!!!
SAY NO TO A NUCLEAR IRAN!
All of the Republican Presidential candidates must converge on our nation's Capital on September 9, 2015 and join with front runner Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz to stop Obama's veto. All Tea Party members, American Patriots and pro-Zionists must gather there in numbers unlike anything witnessed since Martin Luther King's historic march on Washington, DC!
THE TIME IS NOW - STOP IRAN FROM OBTAINING A NUCLEAR BOMB!!!CALL TO ACTION!!!
SAY NO TO $150 BILLION PAYMENT AND INCREASED IRANIAN TERRORISM!
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
The New York Times reported that four more House Democrats have given their endorsement to the dangerous Iran nuclear deal. Congress is expected to vote on the deal as soon as next week, but as this news makes clear, Senators and Representatives are deci ding whether to endorse or reject the Iran nuclear deal right now. This is our final opportunity to urge Congress to reject a bad nuclear deal with Iran.
If you haven't already participated, please contact your Congressional leaders through our current Action Alert. CLICK HERE NOW to participate! Thanks!
If you have already sent an Action Alert, follow up with a phone call to your Senators - United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
CALL TO RALLY!!!
SAY NO TO A NUCLEAR IRAN!
All of the Republican Presidential candidates must converge on our nation's Capital on September 9, 2015 and join with front runner Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz to stop Obama's veto. All Tea Party members, American Patriots and pro-Zionists must gather there in numbers unlike anything witnessed since Martin Luther King's historic march on Washington, DC!
Contents: (summaries below)
- Maryland's Sen. Mikulski Gives Obama Magic Number for Iran Deal, jewishpress.com, Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
- Obama Gets Votes Needed in Senate For Iran Deal, newsmax.com ,
- Iranian Ground Force Arms Drones with More Weapons, english.farsnews.com,
- Russia Puts Boots on the Ground in Syria, thedailybeast.com, Michael Weiss
- The Disintegration of Syria and Its Impact on Israel, JCPA, Vol. 15, No. 28, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
- Palestinians: Turning Refugee Camps into Weapons Warehouses, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- How Restraint Leads to War, commentarymagazine.com, Henry R. Nau
Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
jewishpress.com, September 02, 2015
Sen. Barbara MikulskiMaryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski announced Wednesday afternoon she will support the nuclear deal with Iran, giving President Barack Obama enough support to stop Congress from overriding a presidential veto of a Congressional rejection of the agreement.
The Maryland Democrat caved in even though she is retiring at the end of her current term.
She stated:
No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime. I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb.”
Sen. Mikulski is retiring at the end of her current term and therefore would not pay a heavy political price if she had joined the majority on Congress who oppose the a greement.
She is the 34th Democrat to side with President Obama, who still faces the embarrassment of having to veto a Congressional rejection of the nuclear deal....
newsmax.com , September 02, 2015
...With Republicans virtually united in opposition, Democrats have spent the summer rallying support for an agreement seen as a potential legacy foreign policy achievement for the president.
Republicans hold majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate, and are likely to pass a Republican-sponsored disapproval resolution. However, Obama promised to veto any such measure, and opponents would have needed two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override the veto.
Support by 34 senators means a veto would be sustained.
A resolution would also fail if deal supporters can muster 41 votes in the Senate to block it using a procedural motion. Senate leadership aides on both sides of the issue said it was still too early to say whether that would happen.
Mikulski's support leaves 10 undecided Senate Democrats.
Two top Democratic senators -- Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez -- are also opposed, as are a handful of Democrats in the House, including Steve Israel, the chamber's highest-ranking Jewish member.
english.farsnews.com, August 31, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan announced that some updates have been carried out on home-made drones to increase their capability for loading more weapons."We have done a special task on the drones which has improved the precision striking, range and flight duration of the Ground Force's drones; therefore, our drones can now conduct the needed missions according to the Ground Force's daily needs," Pourdastan said on Monday.
"With the help of the Ground Force's experts, the necessary ground has been prepared in the drone systems to enable them to carry heavier loads of weapons and we aim to use these drones in rapid reaction drills to be staged in the current year," he added....
Michael Weiss
thedailybeast.com, September 01, 2015
The numbers are small, but Moscow may be looking at its own version of mission creep in the treacherous Middle East.The end of summer. It means back-to-school shopping, tearfully ended beach-borne romances, Labor Day barbecues—and, it would seem, the increased likelihood of new Russian adventurism. As if Moscow weren’t satisfied with the game in Ukraine, the last month has seen a flurry of reports about its ever-expanding military involvement in Syria.
One report has even alleged that Russian pilots are gearing up to fly missions alongside the Syrian air force, dropping bombs not just on ISIS but on anti-Assad rebels who may or may not be aligned with the United States or its regional allies.
Several sources consulted for this story said the Pentagon is being unusually cagey about Russia’s reinvigorated role in Syria. A former U.S. military officer told The Daily Beast, “I’m being told things like, ‘We really can’t talk about this.’ That indicates to me that there’s some truth to these allegations.”...
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
JCPA, Vol. 15, No. 28, August 31, 2015
- Syria’s fragmentation into separate, battling enclaves is intensifying. The two main enclaves are “central Syria,” controlled by the Assad regime, and the Islamic State.
- The Assad regime and Hizbullah, like the opposition, have been taking heavy casualties. In an unusual speech on July 26, 2015, President Bashar Assad explained that in light of a manpower shortage, the regime’s army is unable to reconquer all the territories that the opposition has seized.
- The nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers has boosted Iran’s capacity to support the Assad regime. The anticipated lifting of the sanctions on Iran is set to enable it to funnel additional resources to this purpose, to which Iran assigns very high priority.
- Iran and Hizbullah’s attempts to create a base for terror activity against Israel from the northern Golan Heights apparently continue, relying on released terrorist Samir Kuntar and Druze elements.
- Against the backdrop of the nuclear deal, there are increasing chances of cooperation between the United States, Iran, and Assad, and possibly also Turkey and Saudi Arabia, in the campaign against the Islamic State....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 01, 2015
- Most of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria have long served as large weapons warehouses controlled by various militias belonging to different groups. This has been happening while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is formally in charge of the refugee camps, continues to look the other way.
- The 120,000 Palestinians living in Ain al-Hilweh are "unfortunate" because they are not being targeted by Israel. Otherwise, there would have been an international outcry and the UN Security Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for an immediate cessation of hostilities. Instead, Ain al-Hilweh may soon fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists.
- The Syrian Army has also been dropping barrel bombs on the camp almost on a weekly basis. But because Israel cannot be blamed, Palestinians killing Palestinians is not something that the international media and community are interested in.
- Instead of admitting their responsibility for turning the camps into military bases, Palestinian leaders often prefer to blame others, preferably Israel, for the plight of their people....
Henry R. Nau
commentarymagazine.com, July 01, 2015
...It is time for a fourth approach. What can be done about this cycle? There is no quick fix. But over the longer run, there is another approach that might improve the American debate and from time to time anchor America’s role in the world, moderating the tendency toward cycling. This approach would combine liberal internationalism’s commitment to spread democracy and make the world a better place with the instruments of realism to back up diplomacy with military force. But it would limit this combination of freedom and force by making the spread of freedom a priority only on the borders of existing free countries, primarily in Europe and Asia, not in “every nation and culture” worldwide. And it would tie military actions to diplomatic compromises that favor freedom—not to military victory followed by occupation and interminable nation-building. In the end, such restrained ambition—what we might call conservative internationalism&md ash;aims for a world in which nation-states remain separate, sovereign, and armed, and do not entrust vital national-security interests to international institutions—and yet, as democracy spreads, live side by side in peaceful competition under the democratic peace.
This approach was favored by Presidents Truman and Reagan, the presidents who initiated and won the Cold War. They did not shrink from the support of freedom abroad, and they armed their diplomacy to negotiate with authoritarian powers. But they also disciplined their approach. They prioritized the advance of freedom along the borders of existing free countries in Europe and Asia—not in every country in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. And they accumulated and used military leverage not to defeat their adversaries, but to achieve timely compromises that pushed authoritarian states incrementally toward freedom.
Here is how this conservative internationalist approach mig ht work to confront contemporary challenges.
First, the United States would remain the champion of freedom in the world. A world with more democratic states is without question a safer world for America. To grasp this fact, compare Europe and Japan in 2014 with Europe and Japan in 1914. If no effort had been made to democratize Germany and Japan, the world today would look much more like it did in 1914 or 1940; America would be surrounded by ideologically hostile states.
Since 2006, the number of free countries has ebbed, and the world is again drifting toward despotism. In 2014 nearly twice as many countries regressed from the standards of freedom as countries that advanced. Turkey, Egypt, Russia, and China all took steps backward. As Freedom in the World 2015 reports, “acceptance of democracy as the world’s dominant form of government—and of an international system built on democratic ideals—is under greater threat than at any point in the last 25 years.”[2]...
Robert Hand
Sep 4, 2015, 11:29:54 PM9/4/15
to
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 22:16:35 -0500
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 13:46:08 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday September 04, 2015
SEND ACTION ALERT!
SEND ACTION ALERT!STOP IRAN FROM OBTAINING A NUCLEAR BOMB!!!
SAY NO TO $150 BILLION PAYMENT AND INCREASED IRANIAN TERRORISM!
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
Congress is expected to vote on the deal as soon as next week and Senators and Representatives are deciding whether to endorse or reject the Iran nuclear deal right now. This is our final opportunity to urge Congress to reject a bad nuclear deal with Iran.
If you haven't already participated, please contact your Congressional leaders through our current Action Alert.
CLICK HERE NOW to participate! Thanks!
If you have already sent an Action Alert, follow up with a phone call to your Congressional leaders - United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
SEPTEMBER 9TH RALLY
SAVE AMERICA - SAY NO TO IRAN NUCLEAR BOMB!!!
Join us Wed. Sept. 9th at 1:00 pm on the West lawn of the Capitol (facing the Washington Monument)
The Unity Coalition for Israel is joining with members of other Christian and Jewish organizations in sponsoring this important rally that features speeches by security experts, policy experts and members of Congress.
AMERICAN VOICES OPPOSING THIS “DEAL” MUST BE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR!
If you have already sent an Action Alert, follow up with a phone call to your Congressional leaders - United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
SEPTEMBER 9TH RALLY
SAVE AMERICA - SAY NO TO IRAN NUCLEAR BOMB!!!
Join us Wed. Sept. 9th at 1:00 pm on the West lawn of the Capitol (facing the Washington Monument)
The Unity Coalition for Israel is joining with members of other Christian and Jewish organizations in sponsoring this important rally that features speeches by security experts, policy experts and members of Congress.
AMERICAN VOICES OPPOSING THIS “DEAL” MUST BE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR!
Contents: (summaries below)
- Countdown to a Very Bad Deal, familysecuritymatters.org, Amb. Henry F. Cooper
- Rouhani Says Iran Will Not Abide by Security Council Resolution, commentarymagazine.com, Michael Rubin
- The US foreign policy glitch: Obama is coercing Congress, israelhayom.com, Boaz Bismuth
- Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif Urges 'United Front' Against Israeli 'Enemy', algemeiner.com, David Daoud
- Armed terror drones to be part of future wars, defense analyst tells 'Post', jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- Meet the Iran Lobby, tabletmag.com, Lee Smith
- Petraeus: Use al-Qaeda jihadis to defeat the Islamic State, jihadwatch.org , Robert Spencer
Amb. Henry F. Cooper
familysecuritymatters.org, September 01, 2015
...The President's and the Democrat leaders' commitment to going all out to get his Deal over the objections of the clear majority of Senators, Representatives and the American people is unmistakable. But the principles behind his insistence are difficult to understand, given that the Deal is obviously such a bad deal for America and its closest ally in the Middle East, Israel.
Consider just a few of the faults of the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action (JCPOA):
- Perhaps of greatest immediate importance is that the Deal removes the sanctions-expectations of this relief, which will immediately make available to the Iranian Mullahs tens of billions of dollars, are already leading to deals with Russia that will provide Iran with advanced defenses and offenses, which will make dealing with Iran's future threats more difficult. For example, Michael Maloof reports in World Net Daily that Russia is to sell to Iran its S-300 advanced air defense system and Sukhoi-30 jet fighters, reported to be more capable than the F-18s the United States sold to Israel. These systems will further stress the relations between Iran and Israel-and Iran's Arab enemies. How will this move reduce tensions in the Middle East? Furthermore, as Iran inevitably moves toward a nuclear capability, will a nuclear arms race between Shia and Sunni nations in the Middle East not follow?
- President Obama's claim that the Deal will "block every pathway Iran might take to a nuclear weapon" is patently false. Indeed, its ambiguous provisions undercut any prospect of effective verification of compliance under the loose terms of the JCPOA-some terms are laughable, if they don't make you want to cry. For example, Iran will retain its existing uranium enhancement infrastructure (and thousands of centrifuges) developed in violation to its commitments as a member of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime. Indeed, the terms of the JCPOA are even less restrictive than the NPT terms and will replace the NPT regime. We'd be better off to reject the JCPOA and to seek better enforcement of the existing NPT. Even so, those NPT terms and related verification measures of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are not very effective, as evidenced by North Korea's development of nuclear weapons in spite of IAEA efforts
to block them.
- Even the less restrictive terms of the JCPOA are unverifiable-in spite of the administration's claims otherwise. Under other "laughable, while we cry" terms-which our so-called "negotiators" were not involved in negotiating, Iran will be inspecting itself in some facilities. Click here for more detail on the ridiculous side deal between the IAEA and Iran re. Parchin, the place where Iran has conducted much of the military research connected with its nuclear project including work on triggers for bombs. Such absurd conditions turn Ronald Reagan mandate to "Trust but Verify" on its head. Just trust . . . and falsely claim to the American people-as President Obama has claimed-that the agreement "does not rely on trust; it relies on verification." As a crowning blow, note that instead of the promised "anytime, anyplace" inspection regime, activities covered by the JCPOA that can be challenged for in spection are embedded in arcane processes that assure bureaucratic stagnation for weeks-if not months. One should bear in mind that Iran has violated its agreements for years-and the IAEA has often been surprised.
Michael Rubin
commentarymagazine.com, August 31, 2015
...In reality, however, there could have been a much stronger agreement. Obama and Kerry forfeited leverage, as Iran’s economy began to plunge into the abyss. It was the diplomatic equivalent of entering into a poker game with a royal flush and losing to a pair of twos. There are many reasons to be skeptical of the agreement and critical of its final parameters:
- The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is weaker than previous non-proliferation agreements with South Africa and Libya.
- The inspection and verification mechanisms are also weaker than previous agreements and fall short of the Agreed Framework ratified by 124 other countries.
- The JCPOA frontloads Iranian rewards, allowing it to cheat or walk away from the deal without consequence.
- Acquiescing to Iran conducting its own sampling at Parchin, where Iran is alleged to have conducted nuclear weapons work, sets a dangerous precedent for future disputes.
Boaz Bismuth
israelhayom.com, September 03, 2015
U.S. President Barack speaks to the media before boarding a boat for a tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park, Tuesday (Photo credit: AFP)
After the news broke on Wednesday that U.S. President Barack Obama had received enough backing in the Senate to ensure approval of the nuclear deal with Iran, a chorus of "I told you so" and "Netanyahu failed" erupted here in Israel. These people appear to think that opposition to the Iran deal is just a personal matter for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rather than an existential issue for our nation as a whole.
"Obama was right, and Netanyahu was wrong," they told us. Soon they will probably add, "Khamenei is righteous, and Rouhani is great." At this rate, even I will slowly end up beating this drum.
Earlier this week, a new poll revealed that 55% of Americans oppose the Iran deal, while only 25% support it. So Netanyahu is clearly not alone in his opposition to the deal. However, it appears his campaign against the deal worked better with the American public than it did with Obama....
David Daoud
algemeiner.com, September 03, 2015
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed Tehran’s readiness to cooperate with other regional actors to establish a “united front” against Israel, the regime-aligned Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday.
“We are ready to cooperate with all friends that believe in the necessity of forming a united front against the Zionist enemy and against divisive attempts,” Zarif said.
According to the report, his comments were made during a meeting in Tunis with Rashid Al-Ghannushi, the leader of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda Party.
In related comments on Wednesday, Brigadier General Mohsen Kazzemeini, the Iranian Revolutionary Gu ards Corps’ senior commander in the province of Tehran, said that Iran would continue to expand its military capabilities until it brought about the collapse of Israel [Israel first, then America]....
Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, September 04, 2015
Lebanon's Hezbollah members carry Hezbollah flags during the funeral of Adnan Siblini, who was killed while fighting in Syria. (photo credit:REUTERS)
The prospect of Israel having to deal with armed, hostile, attack drones capable of firing rockets or small missiles at Israeli targets while flying over Lebanon or even Gaza is growing.
Despite the rising prominence of terrorist drones, Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in Herzliya, told The Jerusalem Post this week that the threat remains manageable.
Many reports that focus on the firepower capabilities of Hezbollah or Hamas list rocket and missile stockpiles and briefly mention the well-known fact that both of these highly armed semi-state terrorist or ganizations have their own drone fleets....
Lee Smith
tabletmag.com, September 01, 2015
Trita Parsi, the Iranian-born émigré who moved to the United States in 2001 from Sweden, where his parents found refuge before the Islamic Revolution, should be the toast of Washington these days. As I argued in Tablet magazine several years ago, Parsi is an immigrant who in classic American fashion wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to reconcile his new home and his birthplace. And now he’s done it: The founder and president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), the tip of the spear of the Iran Lobby, has won a defining battle over the direction of American foreign policy. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action not only lifts sanctions on Iran, a goal Parsi has fought for since 1997, but also paves the way for a broader reconciliation between Washington and Tehran across the Middle East.In Washington, to have the policies you advocate implemented with the full backing of the president counts as a huge victory. Winning big like this means power as well as access to more money, which flows naturally to power and augments it—enhancing reputations and offering the ability to reward friends and punish enemies. And yet, Parsi (who declined comment for this story) has got to be frustrated that very few in the halls of American power—either in government or in the media—are celebrating the Iran lobby for its big win. It seems the only thing people can talk about is the big loser in this fight over Middle East policy—the pro-Israel lobby, led by AIPAC. It’s as if Parsi and NIAC had nothing to do with the Obama Administration’s decision to move closer to Iran while further distancing itself from Israel....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org , September 01, 2015
This is a tacit admission that the U.S. can’t find enough “moderates” to do the job against the Islamic State, even after spending $500 million to create a “moderate” fighting force. This is an effective admission that not only the Administration’s entire strategy of dealing with the Islamic State, but its entire diagnosis of the jihad threat, is wrongheaded. Even to suggest this, moreover, demonstrates that Petraeus is entirely clueless about what al-Qaeda is all about, what the global jihad is all about, and how to deal with both.
“Petraeus: Use Al Qaeda Fighters to Beat ISIS,” by Shane Harris and Nancy A. Youssef, Daily Beast, August 31, 2015:
To take down the so-called Islamic State in Syria, the influential former head of the CIA wants to co-opt jihadis ts from America’s arch foe.
Members of al Qaeda’s branch in Syria have a surprising advocate in the corridors of American power: retired Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus.
The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaeda’s Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast....
Robert Hand
Sep 9, 2015, 1:09:01 AM9/9/15
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Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2015 23:20:53 -0500
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2015 11:49:40 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday September 08, 2015
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Contents: (summaries below)
- How The Iran Lobby's Money Is Rallying Support for Obama's Iran Deal, mrctv.org, Jeff Dunetz
- Congress plunges into debate on Iran nuclear deal, israelhayom.com, Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff
- Republicans Weigh New Ways to Upend Iran Nuclear Deal, nytimes.com, Jennifer Steinhauer
- Iran's 'staggering' execution spree: nearly 700 put to death in just over six months, amnesty.org,
- Core Synergies in Israel's Strategic Planning: When the Adversarial Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts, harvardnsj.org, Louis René Beres
- Improved radar system for mortars increases warning time by 7-8 seconds, IDF says, jpost.com, Yasser Okbi and Maariv Hashavua
- McCaul Releases September 'Terror Threat Snapshot' , hstoday.us, Homeland Security Today Staff
Jeff Dunetz
mrctv.org, August 28, 2015
One of the many unanswered questions about P5+1 agreement with Iran is why so many Congressional Democrats are rallying behind the President on this issue when recent polls show the majority of Americans want Congress to reject the deal.Part of the reason is obvious: they are supporting a president from their own party, but a not-so-obvious reason may be that Iranian lobbyists are making big campaign donations to Democrats and are funding pro-deal propaganda.
Writing in Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield pointed out that many of the Democratic legislators who announced their support for the deal are getting money from the Iran lobby, specifically the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) :
IPAC maxed out its contributions to Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), and Al F ranken received the same $5,000 during the 2014 election cycle.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Iran Lobby’s third Dem senator, didn’t bother playing coy like her colleagues. She came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who represents the state with the largest Jewish population in America surprised many with her support of the deal. Per Greenfield, she didn't just get money from IAPAC when she first ran for Congress:
Gillibrand had also picked up money from the Iran Lobby’s Hassan Nemazee. Nemazee was Hillary’s national campaign finance director who had raised a fortune for both her and Kerry before pleading guilty to a fraud scheme encompassing hundreds of millions of dollars. Nemazee had been an IAPAC trustee and had helped set up the organization....
Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, September 08, 2015
U.S. lawmakers returning from summer recess will now debate the Iran nuclear deal (Photo credit: AP)Lawmakers returning to Washington from their summer recess are plunging immediately into bitter, partisan debate over the Iran nuclear accord.
The deal struck by Iran, the U.S. and five world powers in July is aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars in relief from economic sanctions.
Republicans who control the House and Senate strongly oppose the pact, saying it makes dangerous concessions to Iran. They hope to push through a resolution of disapproval this week.
If they succeed, President Barack Obama would veto the resolution, and Democrats have already lined up enough votes to uphold his veto....
Jennifer Steinhauer
nytimes.com, September 02, 2015
Senator Mitch McConnell in June. Republicans are considering reimposing sanctions on Iran. (Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times)
WASHINGTON — With President Obama securing the votes Wednesday needed to assure the Iran nuclear accord will survive congressional challenge, Republicans are considering legislative options to counter the deal, including the possible reimposition of sanctions the agreement is supposed to lift.
“While the president may be able to sustain a veto with the tepid, restricted and partisan support of one-third of one house of Congress over Americans’ bipartisan opposition,” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, “it will require a bipartisan Congress to strengthen our defenses in the Persian Gulf and to stand up to the inevitable Iranian violations of the agreement that will need to be addressed after he has left office.”
Republicans have been thinking through alternatives for months, knowing that Mr. Obama would probably be able to fend off efforts to override his veto of a resolution scuttling the accord. The agreement’s implementation seemed assured Wednesday when Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, came out in support, the 34th Democrat to do so, providing Mr. Obama with enough votes to prevent an override of a resolution of disapproval of the deal.
A short overview of important highlights from the Iran nuclear deal.
CLICK HERE for The Iran Deal in 200 Words...
amnesty.org, July 25, 2015
The Iranian authorities are believed to have executed an astonishing 694 people between 1 January and 15 July 2015, said Amnesty International today, in an unprecedented spike in executions in the country.
This is equivalent to executing more than three people per day. At this shocking pace, Iran is set to surpass the total number of executions in the country recorded by Amnesty International for the whole of last year.
“Iran’s staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“If Iran’s authorities maintain this horrifying execution rate we are likely to see more than 1,000 state-sanctioned deaths by the year’s end.”...
Louis René Beres
harvardnsj.org, June 02, 2015
To best serve Israel, the country’s strategic studies community should favor more conceptual or “molecular” assessments of expected security perils. Going forward therefore, it will not suffice for this community to operate in ways that are roughly comparable to the purely reportorial activities of journalists and pundits, that is, of ordinary observers who focus exclusively on current personalities and events. With this timely warning in mind, the following brief essay explains and argues for a specifically enhanced Israeli consideration of enemy “synergies.”
For the most part, the concept of synergy is already familiar to capable scientists and scholars. It signifies, above all, that the usually binding axioms of geometry can sometimes be overridden by various intersecting phenomena. Applied to Israel, this concept suggests that certain identifiable threats to the Jewish State should no longer be considered as wholly separate o r discrete, but instead, as more-or-less interpenetrating and mutually-reinforcing.
The most obvious and portentous example of pertinent synergy for Jerusalem is represented by Iranian nuclear weapons and Palestinian statehood.[1]
At first, any such talk of “synergy” may sound needlessly pretentious, or at least more contrived, concocted, or complicated than is really the case. In medicine, after all, it would already seem plain that the dangers of smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol together must exceed either one behavior without the other. This is because the synergistic effect is presumptively much greater than those consequences ascertained by merely adding these two injurious activities together.
For Israeli planners, the still-widely-unrecognized synergy between Iranian nuclearization and “Palestine” should finally be treated with a more emphatic intellectual regard.[2] Notwithstanding the declared assumptio ns of virtually all acknowledged national strategists, Iran and Palestine,[3] as “negative force multipliers,”[4] do not represent thoroughly separate or unrelated hazards to Israel. To continue to assess each one independently of the other would be a serious conceptual error. It would be to consciously obscure what is potentially most revealing and most ominous....
Yasser Okbi and Maariv Hashavua
jpost.com, September 06, 2015
A mortar shell created this crater in the middle of an alternative medicine center in the Eshkol regional council.(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
A new radar system to detect mortars was successfully tested recently, and will improve the alert warning time for incoming projectiles by 7-8 seconds, the IDF announced on Sunday.
IDF Southern Command and security firms have already stationed the systems, which will probably start operating by the middle of next month.
Residents of communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip previously only had five seconds to find safe shelter when the mortar alert siren sounded. The new system gives people 12-13 seconds to run to a protected area....
Homeland Security Today Staff
hstoday.us, September 04, 2015
The jihadist threat in the US “is high and has escalated dramatically this year,” according to the latest “Terror Threat Snapshot” for September released by House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul.
The monthly assessment is the committee’s continuing effort to highlight the growing threat America, the West and the world face from ISIS and other Islamist jihadi groups.
“The Islamist terror threat in the US homeland has escalated dramatically this year and remains high,” McCaul said in a statement. “Last month, ISIS supporters published a ‘hit-list’ targeting American government personnel, including our brave men and women in uniform. Authorities also arrested another ISIS-aligned radical in Arizona who helped a fighter travel to Syria for military training – stark reminders of the threats we face. We need vigilance and good intelligence here at home and a strategy to root out the enemy abroad to combat and ultimately defeat Islamist extremists.”...
Robert Hand
Sep 11, 2015, 1:09:57 AM9/11/15
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Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:46:40 -0500
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 13:24:15 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday September 10, 2015
| Intel’s ‘game changing’ tech another Haifa milestone, says firm One of the tech giant’s biggest announcements ever has its roots in work done by its Israeli teams CLICK HERE for article JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
SEPT 9 RALLY AGAINST IRAN DEAL CRUZ at Anti-Iran Deal Rally: 'People Will Die If Deal Goes Through' Fox News video - 06:01 (Sept 9, 2015) Donald TRUMP against Iran deal in Washington 9/9/2015 YouTube video - 06:07 (Sept 9, 2015) Stop the Iran Deal Rally, Capitol Hill, Anne Bayefsky YouTube video - 03:44 (Sep 9, 2015) IT'S NOT TOO LATE-LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! AMERICA'S SECURITY is a major responsibility of government PAID FOR BY IT'S CITIZENS. |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Wilders tells Dutch parliament refugee crisis is 'islamic invasion', Reuters, Anthony Deutsch with editing by Robin Pomeroy
- Britain Has a Duty to Rescue Syria's Christians, The Telegraph, George Carey
- Shame mounts on Gulf Arabs as surging refugee crisis highlights glaring inaction, jpost.com, Reuters
- PM: Israel Too Small to Absorb Syrian, African Refugees, israelnationalnews.com, Cynthia Blank
- Perpetuating Palestinian Refugees: The Guardian's 'Best Bit of the UN', honestreporting.com, Simon Plosker
- International Courtship of Hamas Shows that Terror Pays, jcpa.org , Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
- Coalition destroys IS hub in massive blast, yahoo.com, AFP
Anthony Deutsch with editing by Robin Pomeroy
Reuters, September 10, 2015
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders called the wave of refugees pushing into Europe an "Islamic invasion", during a parliamentary debate on Thursday that exposed deep divisions over how the Netherlands should respond to the crisis.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday appealed to EU members to share out refugees arriving on the bloc's fringes. Several EU countries oppose the idea of mandatory quotas, as supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the conservative Dutch government says it is only willing to take in more if all EU states agree.
At the start of the debate, Wilders called the wave of refugees passing through Hungary and other countries "an Islamic invasion of Europe, of the Netherlands."
"Masses of young men in their twenties with beards singing Allahu Akbar across Europe. It's an invasion that threatens our prosperity, our security, our culture and identity," he said....
George Carey
The Telegraph, September 06, 2015
...Besides, it would be a mistake to give way to bullying calls to immediately open our doors to tens of thousands of refugees. We are a small island and recent immigration figures are highly disturbing. Last year, a net figure of 330,000 people settled among us -- more than the population of Sunderland. Imagine this continuing, year after year.
Alas, the signal that Germany is opening its doors to this influx will make Europe into an even more attractive magnet for those who are genuine refugees -- but also to floods of economic migrants, most of whom are young men travelling alone. We don't even know how many of these have been combatants in the civil war.
If some of what I say sounds harsh or, heaven forbid, a touch unchristian, let me make it clear that I welcome David Cameron's announcement to allow thousands more to enter Britain through refugee camps in Syria's neighbouring countries. In the long term, this strategy will cut out the traffickers and reduce the risk of the sea and land journeys.
But the frustration for those of us who have been calling for compassion for Syrian victims for many months is that the Christian community is yet again left at the bottom of the heap....
Reuters
jpost.com, September 06, 2015
DATE IMPORTED: September 6, 2015 Refugees and migrants sleep on the railway tracks close to the borders of Greece with Macedonia, near the village of Idomeni, September 6, 2015. (photo credit: Reuters)
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, fellow Gulf states raced to shelter thousands of displaced Kuwaitis. Fast forward 25 years, and the homeless from Syria's nearby war have found scant refuge in the Arab world's richest states.
For critics of the Gulf's affluent monarchies the contrast is profoundly unflattering, especially as several are backers of the combatants in Syria's conflict, so must, they argue, shoulder a special responsibility for its consequences.
The wrenching image of a Syrian Kurdish refugee boy drowned on a Turkish beach has stoked debate in Euro pe. The official silence of Gulf Arab dynasties makes many Gulf citizens uneasy.
Paintings and cartoons of the young boy's death crowded Arab social media, one depicting little Aylan Kurdi's corpse laid out before an open grave with inert figures in traditional Gulf Arab cloaks and robes holding shovels.
Another showed the three-year old's head slumped toward a tombstone marked "the Arab conscience"....
Cynthia Blank
israelnationalnews.com, September 06, 2015
Binyamin Netanyahu (Amit Shabi/POOL/Flash 90)
While Israel is not "indifferent' to the tragedy of refugees from Syria and Africa, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asserted on Sunday, it does not have the resources to absorb them into the small Jewish state.
"Israel is a small country, a very small country, that lacks demographic and geographic depth; therefore, we must control our borders, against both illegal migrants and terrorism," Netanyahu told ministers at his weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
Despite taking measures to prevent infiltrators from entering, the Prime Minister noted that Israel has "already devotedly cared for approximately 1,000 wounded people from the fighting in Syria and we have helped them to rehabilitate their lives."...
Simon Plosker
honestreporting.com, September 09, 2015
...UNRWA has by its own definition perpetuated the Palestinian refugee problem. How can this be a “best bit of the UN?”
And what about the recent exposure of anti-Semitic cartoons and texts posted on Facebook by UNRWA employees, mainly teachers? Is this one of the “best bits of the UN?”
One of many antisemitic posts found on the Facebook pages of UNRWA employees. This one calls for Jews to be killed.
(Photo: Facebook)
This is also the same UNRWA whose teachers in Jordan declared their opposition to teaching Holocaust studies to Palestinian pupils:
Teaching UNRWA students about the so-called ‘Holocaust’ as part of human rights harms the Palestinian cause . . . and changes the students’ views regarding their main enemy, namely the Israeli occupation.
UNRWA, the organization that has for years found no problem with having Hamas members on its payroll....
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
jcpa.org , September 03, 2015
Hamas has the same ideological outlook as the Islamic State; it, too, aims for the creation of a global Islamic caliphate. Hamas, however, espouses a phased approach that leaves room for diplomatic activity.
The fear of Hamas’ military option, its leader Khaled Mashal believes, spurs international actors to court Hamas and try to bring it into a dialogue process that will restrain it.
The Hamas leadership is pleased with the talks with international emissaries, most recently former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Hamas, assured that the path of terror and violence pays off diplomatically, is raising the bar of its demands in return for a truce in Gaza while continuing to fight Israel in the West Bank....
AFP
yahoo.com, September 09, 2015
An image grab from a video uploaded onto Youtube on May 18, 2015 by Aamaq News Agency allegedly shows an Islamic State fighter in Ramadi, Iraq (AFP Photo/)Baghdad (AFP) - The international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group bombed a key jihadist command and supply hub in the area of Ramadi, capital of Iraq's Anbar province, it said Wednesday.
A video of the strike on the football stadium showed a massive secondary explosion at the site.
"The stadium was a key (IS) command and supply hub in the Ramadi region and was being used to store large amounts of homemade explosives, weapons and ammunition," the coalition said in a statement....
Robert Hand
Sep 11, 2015, 11:34:37 PM9/11/15
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Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2015 22:19:06 -0500
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2015 13:11:04 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday September 11, 2015
| Former Islamic state group SEX SLAVE Jinan narrates her dreadful story on FRANCE24 YouTube video - 03:19 (Sep 9, 2015) The Glazov Gang - The Disturbing Truth about Historical Voluntary Islamic Conversion YouTube video - 10:01 (Sept 7, 2015) JERUSALEM ONLINE |
| Your Link to Israel |
 BOEHNER Pledges to Continue Fighting President’s Iran Deal The debate on the president’s disastrous nuclear agreement with Iran “is far from over,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said today, pledging to “use every tool at our disposal to stop, slow, and delay this agreement.” YouTube video - 00:39 (Sep 10, 2015) Video: ROBERT SPENCER on CBN on the rise of the Islamic State CLICK HERE for video - 11:28 (Sept 2, 2015) As the Jewish year (Rosh Hashanah) approaches on Sept. 13th, we want to wish all of our Jewish read ers a Healthy and Happy new year 5776. |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- BREAKING: Despite Terrorism Concerns, U.S. To Accept 10,000 Syrian Refugees, townhall.com, Katie Pavlich
- Russia's Syrian Air Base Has U.S. Scrambling for a Plan, bloombergview.com, Josh Rogin
- Iranian troops join Russians in Syria fighting, ynetnews.com, Yoav Zitun
- It's Time for Congress to Come Together on Iran, politico.com, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky
- Sanctions Debate Emerges From Shadow of Iran Nuclear Accord, nytimes.com, Michael R. Gordon
- Most Think Iran Unlikely to Honor Nuclear Weapons Deal, rasmussenreports.com,
- Israel Facing Iran on its Own, israelnationalnews.com, Prof. Louis René Beres
Katie Pavlich
townhall.com, September 10, 2015
In an announcement made Thursday afternoon, the White House confirmed plans to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States. There is no word yet on what the vetting process will be for refugees or how the White House plans to assure Americans the process will prevent ISIS terrorists from making their way into the United States.
"The United States has played a leading role in addressing the dire humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and North Africa," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday during the daily briefing. "One thing that the United States can do is to begin to let more Syrian refugees into the United States. This year, this fiscal year that will end this month, the United States is on track to take in about 1500 Syrian refugees. The president has directed his team to scale up that number next year and he's informed his team he would like them to accept, at least make preparations, for 10,000 refugees."...
Josh Rogin
bloombergview.com, September 10, 2015
The Barack Obama administration and the U.S. intelligence community have concluded that Russia is set to start flying combat missions from a new air base inside Syria, but there’s disagreement inside the U.S. government on what to do about it.
Thursday at the White House, top officials were scheduled to meet at the National Security Council Deputies Committee level to discuss how to respond to the growing buildup of Russian military equipment and personnel in Latakia, a city on the Syrian coast controlled by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Obama has called on his national security officials to come up with a plan as early as next week, as intelligence reports pour in about the Russian plans to set up an air base there. The options are to try to confront Russia inside Syria or, as some in the White House are advocating, cooperate with Russia there on the fight against the Islamic State.
The State Department had already begun pushing back against t he Russian moves, for example by asking Bulgaria and Greece to deny overflight permissions to Syria-bound Russian transport planes. But the president didn't know about these moves in advance, two officials said, and when he found out, he was upset with the department for not having a more complete and vetted process to respond to the crisis. A senior administration official said Thursday evening that the White House, the State Department and other departments had coordinated to oppose actions that would add to Assad's leverage....
Yoav Zitun
ynetnews.com, September 10, 2015
...The Israeli source said that Iran's increased military involvement in Syria was "due to Assad's crisis and under Russian-Iranian cooperation as a result of a meeting between Soleimani with Russian President Vladimir Putin," said the Israeli source.
Soleimani (left) and Putin (right) have both put boots on the ground in Syria. (Photo: AP, Fars, EPA)
The only Iranian force that has operated in Syria so far has been the Basij militia, a paramilitary organization with a relatively small number of fighters.
The security official said that Israel has little to worry about Russia's military activity in Syria saying that it is "not directed at Israel.
"We have dialogue with Russia and we aren't in the middle of the Cold War," continued the source. "We have open c hannels with the Russians."...
Dennis Ross and David Makovsky
politico.com, September 10, 2015
As Thursday’s Senate vote demonstrates, there is no longer any suspense about the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran. What remains relevant, however, are concerns about some of the key vulnerabilities of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Even many of its supporters have worries about what happens when Iran is no longer limited in the size or the quality of its centrifuges or nuclear infrastructure, particularly after year fifteen. Similarly, both supporters and opponents of the deal are understandably concerned about Iran using sanctions relief to provide significantly more material support to Hezbollah and other trouble-makers in the region.
Thus, shouldn’t it be possible to gain bipartisan agreement on bolstering deterrence and raising the cost to the Iranians of de-stabilizing behavior in the region? Indeed, shouldn’t Republicans and Democrats be able to agree on legislation that would not be inconsistent with the JCPOA but could address the need to create a firewall between Iran’s threshold nuclear status and its becoming a weapons state? President Obama stated in his letter to Congressman Jerrold Nadler that “my administration will take whatever means are necessary to achieve that goal [preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon], including military means.” It follows that, putting in legislation language that would support the use of force in response to an Iranian dash toward a nuclear bomb should be something the president could support. In any case this is critically needed if the Iranians and the world are to understand that force and not sanctions will be the response to Iran’s violating its commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon at any point but especially after the fifteen year period when limits on the size of the Iranian nuclear program are lifted. Similarly, since there is no civilian justification for producing highly enriched uranium (HEU), there s hould be no reason why the White House cannot accept legislative language that would treat the production of HEU as a trigger for the possible use of force....
Michael R. Gordon
nytimes.com, September 11, 2015
President Obama at a meeting at the White House on Thursday to discuss the Iran nuclear accord. (Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)WASHINGTON — President Obama, in advance of his victory in Congress on Thursday on the Iran nuclear deal, focused on centrifuge numbers, uranium stockpiles and the breakout time to build a bomb. But now, as the agreement is carried out, he will face a new battle over how stringently to impose economic sanctions on Iran.
To reward Iran for imposing constraints on its nuclear program, the United States agreed to lift many of the crippling sanctions that have blocked the country’s integration into the world economy. But to win over wary Democrats, Mr. Obama promised that he would maintain — and perhaps even increase — sanctions to punish Iran for terrorism, human rights abuses and other “destabilizing activities in the region.”
Many lawmakers have indicated they would like to go further, and they are considering legislative proposals that include renewing the current sanctions against foreign companies that invest in Iran’s energy industry. Mr. Obama would waive them as long as Iran complied with the nuclear accord, but it would be a signal that Iran is not to be trusted and that sanctions could be restored rapidly....
rasmussenreports.com, September 10, 2015
Despite the opposition of most members of Congress, the Obama administration appears to have maneuvered its nuclear weapons deal with Iran into reality. But most voters still don’t trust Iran to play ball.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters think Iran is unlikely to uphold its end of the deal that ends some economic sanctions on that country in exchange for cutbacks in the Iranian nuclear weapons program. This includes 39% who say it’s Not At All Likely. Thirty-five percent (35%) believe Iran is likely to honor the deal, but only eight percent (8%) consider it Very Likely. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
This is even more skepticism than voters expressed in April as details of the plan began to emerge....
Prof. Louis René Beres
israelnationalnews.com, September 06, 2015
The urgent primacy of Israel's defining a nuclear doctrine is clear. The cumulative harms ensuing from the significant diplomatic failure to stop the Iran deal will ultimately depend upon Israel's own selected responses.
From Prof. Louis René Beres
For by Wise Counsel, Thou Shalt Make Thy War (Proverbs 24,6)
In core matters of war and peace, timing is everything. For Israel, now cheerlessly confirmed in its long-held view that U.S.-led diplomacy with Iran was misconceived, future strategic options should be determined with great care. In essence, this means that the beleaguered mini-state's nuclear policies, going forward, should be extrapolated from carefully fashioned doctrine, and not assembled, ad hoc, or "on the fly," in assorted and more-or-less discrete reactions to periodic crises.
More precisely, should Israel decide to decline any residual preemption options, and prepare instead for aptly re liable and protracted dissuasion of its nearly-nuclear Iranian adversary, several corresponding decisions would be necessary. These closely-intersecting judgments would concern a still-expanding role for multilayered ballistic missile defense,[1] and also, a well-reasoned and incremental discontinuance of deliberate nuclear ambiguity.[2]
In this connection, among other things, Jerusalem will need to convince Tehran that Israel’s nuclear forces are (1) substantially secure from all enemy first-strike attacks,[3] and (2) entirely capable of penetrating all enemy active defenses.[4]...
Robert Hand
Sep 16, 2015, 1:21:52 AM9/16/15
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Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:09:10 -0500
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:14:51 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday September 15, 2015
| The Glazov Gang Stephen Coughlin (Co-Founder, UnconstrainedAnalytics.org) on “At War With Narratives Rather Than Terrorists.” YouTube video - 12:43 (Sep 11, 2015) Eni's Egyptian gas field discovery offers opportunities for Israel CLICK HERE for article JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
 ISIS WARNING: Horrifying map of target countries it wants to dominate in Europe by 2020 |
| SAY NO TO A NUCLEAR IRAN!!! The Senate is voting tomorrow - CLICK HERE to send an Action Alert to oppose the Iran deal! Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) voices the party's concern over the Iran Deal. YouTube video - 04:27 (Sept 12, 2015) Glenn Beck Speaks At DC Rally To Stop Iran Nuclear Deal YouTube video – 18:57 (Sept 9, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- House Passes Bill Blocking Obama from Lifting Iran Sanctions, jewishpress.com, Lori Lowenthal Marcus
- Islamic State claims that Pakistan Taliban leader Adnan Rashid has pledged allegiance to its caliphate, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- 'Islamic State' militants say attacked Pakistan-Afghan border post, reuters.com, Saud Mehsud
- New ISIS threat prompts U.S. to send 75 more troops to Egypt's Sinai, militarytimes.com, Andrew Tilghman
- The Real Purpose of the Nuclear Deal: Support Iran and Stick It to Israel, americanthinker.com, Ira Brodsky
- Why There Are Still Only Two Choices in Syria - Bad and Worse, forward.com, J.J. Goldberg
- The Unlearned Lessons of 9/11, frontpagemag.com, Bruce Thornton
Lori Lowenthal Marcus
jewishpress.com, September 13, 2015
Rep. Lee Zeldin , R-NY-1 (Photo Credit: Facebook)At the very last minute the House of Representatives is acting as if the house is on fire.
Finally.
First, the House voted on Friday – the day after the Senate seemed to hand the President a victory – against the approval of the Nuclear Iran Deal. The vote was 269 to 162.
The House also acted on a bill which was introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
That bill, HR 3460, blocks U.S. President Barack Obama from in any way lifting sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, or from releasing individuals from specially designated terrorist lists which would otherwise be released under the proposed terms of the Nuclear Iran Deal....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, September 14, 2015
Breaking News: Adnan Rashid commander of #Taliban Pakistan pledge allegiance to Islamic State. #Pakistan #TTP #KPK pic.twitter.com/wO1R8cKgUa
— ابو طالوت الخراساني (@abutalut7) September 14, 2015
So claims Abu Talut Khorasani, who claims himself to be an ex-Taliban commander who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The Islamic State is making a concerted effort to win over the Taliban and gain a foothold in Pakistan and Afghanistan. If they succeed, they could present an even more formidable force against free people than they are now.
Saud Mehsud
reuters.com, September 13, 2015
Pakistan militants who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State said on Sunday they had attacked a paramilitary checkpoint along the Afghan border, in the first such assault claimed by a former faction of the Taliban in several months.
A militant affiliated with the faction told Reuters the group attacked Damadola district of the Bajaur tribal area in Pakistan's northwest, where the military has been battling a militant insurgency since 2007, late on Saturday.
"Our men destroyed the post, set it on fire and left it after our operation was complete," he said by telephone.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed a checkpoint had been attacked, but there were no casualties....
Andrew Tilghman
militarytimes.com, September 10, 2015
The Pentagon announced Thursday that it will send 75 more troops to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula amid a rising threat from insurgents linked to the so-called Islamic State.The additional troops will boost force protection for the roughly 650 service members deployed there now as part of the Multinational Force of Observers, a little-known peacekeeping force that helps maintain a 1979 treaty between Egypt and Israel.
The new deployments come after four U.S. troops in the Sinai were injured by an improvised explosive device Sept. 3.
The additional troops will include a light infantry platoon and forward surgical teams to "increase the safety and security of U.S. forces," Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook told reporters Thursday.
"We're going to continue staying in contact with the MFO and adjust force protection capabilities as conditions warrant," Cook said.
The new troops will bring the total U.S. force level in the Sinai up to about 725.
The U.S. troops stationed across the remote desert peninsula are caught in the middle of an insurgency that has intensified since the lead militant group there declared allegiance last year to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL....
Ira Brodsky
americanthinker.com, September 13, 2015
The purpose of the Iran nuclear deal isn't to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons technology – it's to assist Iran and prevent an Israeli military attack. The deal promises to help Iran modernize and protect its nuclear program while making it harder for Israel to disrupt the program through military means or sabotage.
This isn't a "bad deal," as many keep saying -- it's a dramatic shift in U.S. policy in favor of totalitarian Iran at the expense of democratic Israel. Leftists love authoritarian regimes that are virulently anti-American.
Far from restraining Iran, the deal cooked up by Barack Obama, John Kerry, and the U.S. negotiating team may be everything the ayatollah could have wished for. By the White House's own admission, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action merely extends Iran's "breakout time" to a bomb from the current 2-3 months to at least 12 months. However, that's assumin g that Iran does not cheat....
J.J. Goldberg
forward.com, September 11, 2015
The mysterious visit to Moscow in late July by Iran’s international troublemaker-in-chief, the shadowy head of the feared Quds Force, may just have found an explanation. It’s either terrifying or vaguely reassuring, depending on how you read the Middle East. Specifically, how you feel about the Moscow visit will depend on whom you’d rather see winning the Syrian civil war, Bashar al-Assad or the Islamic State group.
You might prefer a third option. But there isn’t one. There never was. Alas, the choices are the mass-murdering, Iran-allied tyrant or the terrorist super-group that’s dragging the Middle East back to the eighth century. Some of us wish America would go in and settle things. Unfortunately, we tried that in Iraq and Afghanistan. It backfired.
Then again, you might be the sort who wouldn’t mind seeing Syrians keep on fighting, figuring that as long as they’re killing each other they’re not a ttacking Israel. But with the explosion of the refugee crisis, that idea has become not just unconscionable, but also pointless. The exodus is both a humanitarian disaster and a regional security nightmare. And it can’t be stemmed until the fighting stops.
The immediate problem is that there are three main camps fighting for control of Syria, and none shows signs of quitting. One is the Assad regime, reinforced by Iran and its Lebanese militia, Hezbollah. The second is the Islamic State group. The third is the so-called mainstream opposition, a gaggle of feckless, squabbling grouplets that recalls nothing so much as the anti-Roman underground in “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.”
Washington, Europe and the Saudis have been trying since the war started in 2011 to get the mainstream opposition groups to cooperate and put up a fight, but nothing seems to work. Any groups that show some spunk usually turn out to be wings of Al Qaeda or of the Muslim Brotherhood.
There is also a fourth camp, the Kurdish militias. They’re among the best anti-regime, anti-Islamic State fighters, but they have no ambitions beyond being left alone in their villages.
Enter the Moscow visitor, Gen. Qasem Soleimani. His Quds Force is the elite foreign-operations arm of the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for terrorism and covert operations outside Iran’s borders. He’s barred from international travel under United Nations sanctions. Any country that receives him is violating international law.
His reported July 24 visit to Moscow drew a sharp protest from Washington, a lame semi-denial from Russia, then confirmation from Iran. Reuters reported that Soleimani was discussing “regional and bilateral issues” and weapons shipments with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, though it’s unclear why Iran would send a paramilitary operative to discuss diplomacy....
Bruce Thornton
frontpagemag.com, September 11, 2015
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 should have been a rude awakening from the dogmatic slumbers of the previous decade. Instead, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the West went on a vacation from history. The seeming triumph of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism convinced many that all we had left to do was to oversee the inevitable triumph of the Western paradigm throughout the world. Unfortunately, the “world,” especially the Islamic ummah, had other plans, ones that our own bad ideas and cultural dogmas have advanced.
Most broadly, the centuries-long belief that all peoples everywhere are embryonic Westerners should have been shattered by the slaughter in Manhattan and at the Pentagon. The attacks were a horrifically graphic reminder that our core ideals––human rights, sex equality, tolerance of difference, peaceful coexistence, personal and political freedom, material prosperity, the separation of church and state, free speech, and consensual government founded on law––were historical anomalies rather than the destiny of all humanity.
The 19 murderers were acting on a radically different set of ideals and principles––the doctrines of Islam that had destroyed the mighty Byzantine and Persian Empires, and that had invaded, plundered, and occupied southern Europe for 1000 years. We should have learned that nearly a quarter of the world’s people still take seriously what we have reduced to a life-style choice––faith in a transcendent power for whose commands the believer will kill and die, and whose spiritual imperatives trump freedom, human rights, and all the other goods we desir e....
Robert Hand
Sep 18, 2015, 1:36:20 AM9/18/15
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Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:16:46 -0500
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2015 13:53:48 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday September 17, 2015
| CONTAINER WITH AID for "refugees" arrived in Greece full of weapons and ammunition. YouTube video - 05:42 (Sep 9, 2015) |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| REFUGEE CRISIS There are key questions regarding the myriad of refugee statistics. How many refugees are taken by the Gulf Arab states and how does that compare to European countries? Also, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has the responsibility of settling refugees worldwide. Where is the UN in this time of crisis? UN monies should be used to permanently settle these refugees. See the videos and articles #1 - #3 for more information on the refugee crisis. EUROPE slams migrant door: Hungary, Austria and Holland shut borders as Germany imposes controls - saying it can't cope. CLICK HERE for photos and video OFFICIALS WARN 20,000 ISIS jihadis 'have infiltrated Syrian refugee camps' CLICK HERE for video and article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- 'Miles to go before I sleep' - On the front lines of the migration crises in Europe, jpost.com, Seth J. Frantzman
- Federal Data: U.S. Annually Admits Quarter Of A Million Muslim Migrants, breitbart.com, Julia Hahn
- Muslim Immigration and How to Handle It, gatestoneinstitute.org, Uzay Bulut
- The Pro-Islamic Policies Of The Obama Doctrine, westernjournalism.com, Nick Short
- Israeli Strategic Challenges and Opportunities in the New Year, besacenter.org, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror
- Jordan's Shameful Record , mythsandfacts.org, Eli E. Hertz
- Analysis: Fear of ISIS takeover of Jordan drives Israel to build eastern border fence, jpost.com, Udi Segal
Seth J. Frantzman
jpost.com, September 16, 2015
THE WRITER poses next to the fence along the Hungarian border. (photo credit: Courtesy)By the third day I’d given away all my clean socks. It wasn’t the plan, but sitting with five young men from Afghanistan in the stately long-unused train station of Backi Vinogradi, watching them dry out their crumbled wet socks after sleeping outside in the pouring rain, it was the least one could do.
Doing something, rather than just documenting suffering, helped diminish the fact that there is a parasitical feeling to being a journalist.
The day before at the border of Macedonia and Greece, as police prevented hundreds gathered on a bridge from crossing, the journalists swarmed around snapping photos of the raindrenched, desperate faces of the refugees and migrants from Syria and beyond.
It’s difficult to cover these kind of crises, when suffering people become like animals in a zoo and you’re expected to be part of the spectating audience. Initially, at Idomeni, a sleepy Greek border village, the thousands of Syrians and Afghans crossing were smiling to the lone photographer present, a journalist from Bosnia.
But by the time they reached Hungary a day and a half later, after traveling some eight hours and 700 kilometers on buses across the Serbian border, they had gotten tired of the press presence. Women covered their faces and men looked more despondent....
Julia Hahn
breitbart.com, September 14, 2015
...A review of recent terror activity– provided by the Senate Immigration Subcommittee– confirms the terror threat posed by our federal immigration policy of issuing large numbers of visas to majority-Muslim countries:
A refugee voluntarily admitted from Uzbekistan and “living in Idaho was arrested and charged with providing support to a terrorist organization, in the form of teaching terror recruits how to build bombs.”
A college student voluntarily admitted from Somalia, “who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, attempted to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon.”
An immigrant voluntarily admitted from Kazakhstan “with lawful permanent resident status conspired to purchase a machine gun to shoot FBI and other law enforcement agents if they prevented him from traveling to Syria to join ISIS.”
An immigrant voluntarily admitted from Sudan, “who app lied for and received U.S. citizenship, tried to join ISIS and wage jihad on its behalf after having been recruited online.”
An immigrant voluntarily admitted from Bangladesh, “who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, tried to incite people to travel to Somalia and conduct violent jihad against the United States.”
An immigrant voluntarily admitted from Yemen, “who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested for trying to join ISIS. He was also charged with attempting to illegally buy firearms to try to shoot American military personnel.”
Yet even as the United States struggles to properly screen and assimilate the large numbers brought in each year, many Republican presidential candidates say that number should be even greater. GOP presidential hopefuls John Kasich (Gov-OH), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jeb Bush, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have all expressed support for admitting more Syrian migrants....
Uzay Bulut
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 04, 2015
The political history of Muslim states has often been restricted to two options. They have either been ruled by nationalist ("secular") oppressive regimes, or Islamist oppressive regimes. Unfortunately, many people in Middle East have so much affinity for political Islam that they do not realize that political Islam is the root cause of their problems. That attitude is the main reason they cannot get rid of their backward and violent regimes, or make cultural or scientific progress.
Sadly, the founder of Islam did not leave behind a humanitarian message to respect people of other faiths and to be on an equal footing with them. What the the Islamic State (ISIS) and other barbaric Islamist groups have been doing to people is horrific beyond words; but it is meticulously based on Islamic scriptures. So it is not the West causing these human tragedies; it is Islam and Muslims.
Members of a culture that murders intellectuals who try to present ideas to improve their societies do not have the moral right to blame its backwardness and bloodthirsty culture on the West.
Muslims should not try to turn Europe, which is being so generous to them, into more Muslim lands. We already have far too much barbarity, misogyny and persecution in the Muslim world. Muslims could do our people an enormous service if instead they tried harder to turn the Muslim lands into Europe-like places....
Nick Short
westernjournalism.com, September 14, 2015
Admiral James “Ace” Lyons, Jr. (Ret.), the former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, noted the following in regards to President Obama’s pro-Islamic policies during the Defeat Jihad Summit sponsored by the Center for Security Policy. The Admiral stated that Obama’s policies are “very simple, and any thinking American should be able to grasp it. It’s anti-American, anti-Western, pro-Islamic, pro-Iranian, and pro-Muslim Brotherhood.” Bold as these comments may seem today, one only needs to look at Obama’s underlying belief that America has played a malign role in the world as our sins have been both of omission and commission.Thomas Sowell writes “Obama, in his citizen-of-the world conception of himself, thinks that the United States already has too much power and needs to be deflated.” In viewing Obama’s repeated sacrifices of American national interests as deliberate, one can begin to understand the administrations’ anti-American foreign policy. No one defined Obama better than Dinesh D’Souza when he wrote that Obama’s view of America is one which we are a part of a “multi-polar world.” This is a world in which, “the American era is over as we become just one power in the great dining table of nations.” Seen through this lens, Obama’s “successes” become just as dangerous, if not more-so, than his failures.
In the early months of Obama’s administration he made sure that people in foreign capitals throughout the world knew he believed much was wrong with America as he went on an apology tour beginning on April 3, 2009 in Strasbourg, France. In his remarks to the people of France, Obama stated that, “America has shown arrogance and been dismissive even derisive” throughout our nations existence. He then explained that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was a “sacrifice of [our values] for expedience sake” while announcing that this was the reason he would be closing it. “In dealing with terrorism, we can’t lose sight of our values, and who we are. That’s why I’ve ordered the closing of Guantanamo,” stated Obama, further claiming that enhanced interrogation techniques like those used at Abu Ghraib, “wasn’t good for our security — it was a recruitment tool for terrorism.”
During the Question and Answer session afterword, Obama then went on to explain his view that if America would cut the size of its nuclear arsenal, Iran and North Korea would be convinced to abandon their ambitions. This was an early indicator the President always intended to bring Iran to the negotiation table with the skewed view that if we cut our own nuclear arsenal, then Iran wouldn’t pursue their own. Obama stated that America needed to “take serious steps to actually reduce our nuclear stockpiles” because doing so “would give us greater moral authority to say to Iran, don’t develop a nuclear weapon; to say to North Korea, don’t proliferate nuclear weapons.” The obstacle to diplomacy for Obama was in fact, and has always been, America’s own strength. If our strength could be reduced, then we would have the “moral authority” to bring murderous regimes such as Iran into the “community of nations” by pursuing diplomacy backed by no actual hard power....
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror
besacenter.org, September 16, 2015
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Global upheavals are underway, U.S. foreign policy is changing, and the Middle East is in turmoil. All this presents Israel with multiple threats, and Jerusalem must be ready for any scenario. Deterring Iran and its proxies, and the Islamic State, will remain priorities for Israel. Caution and preparedness are the watchwords.
Global upheaval is upon us. Europe is being flooded by refugees fleeing dysfunctional Africa and the disintegrating Middle East, and the influx, which it is struggling to deal with, may change Europe’s cultural and social fabric. The fluctuations in China’s economy resonate through global economy, all while Beijing is striving to increase its influence in the South China Sea. And Russia, plagued by economic troubles of its own, refuses to loosen its grip on Ukraine, even at the cost of economically crippling Western sanctions.
The Middle East is changing dramatically. Nations are disintegrating, their residents are fleeing, and its rulers are wary of the future, which is clouded by growing Iranian power that troubles both the Sunni states and Israel.
The terrorism wielded by radical Islamist groups is drenching the Muslim world in blood as they overrun it, and it threatens the rest of the world, courtesy of “imported” jihadists, who are trained in Syria and Iraq before returning to their homelands.
Nevertheless, is seems world powers understand their mutual responsibility for world peace. Wary of seeing international tensions spiral out of control, they try to downplay their differences on global issues, so not to agitate an already volatile situation further....
Eli E. Hertz
mythsandfacts.org, September 01, 2015
As recently as the mid-20th century, when Arabs last controlled parts of Jerusalem, they exhibited no respect for the Holy City.
In 1948, when Jordan took control of the eastern part of Jerusalem, including the Old City, it divided the city for the first time in its 3,000-year history. Under the 1949 armistice agreement with Israel, Jordan pledged to allow free access to all holy places but failed to honor that commitment. From 1948 until the Six-Day War in 1967, the part of Jerusalem controlled by the Jordanians, again became an isolated and underdeveloped provincial town, with its religious sites the target of religious intolerance.
The Old City was rendered void of Jews. Jewish sites such as the Mount of Olives were desecrated. Jordan destroyed more than 50 synagogues, and erased all evidence of a Jewish presence. In addition, all Jews were forced out of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City adjacent to the Western Wall, an area where Jews had live d for generations.
For 19 years [1948-1967], Jews and Christians residing in Israel (and even Israeli Muslims) were barred from their holy places, despite Jordan’s pledge to allow free access. Jews, for example, were unable to pray at the Western Wall; Christian Arabs living in Israel were denied access to churches and other religious sites in the Old City and nearby Bethlehem, also under Jordanian control. During Jordan’s reign over eastern Jerusalem, its restrictive laws on Christian institutions led to a dramatic decline in the holy city’s Christian population by more than half – from 25,000 to 11,000 – a pattern that characterized Christian Arabs in other Arab countries throughout the Middle East where religious freedom is not honored.
It was only after the Six-Day War that the Jewish Quarter was rebuilt and free access to holy places was reestablished. It is worth noting that after Jordan annexed the West Bank in the 1 950s, it too failed to make Jerusalem – a city that Arabs now claim as “the third most holy site of Islam” – its capital.
Udi Segal
jpost.com, September 14, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overlooks site of work on eastern security fence. (photo credit: Chaim Tzach/GPO)
In a white tent set up not far from the border with Jordan - very similar to the tent that hosted the ceremony for the signing of the peace treaty with Jordan 21 years ago in Ein Evrona, the small Arava town just a few kilometers north of Eilat - a number of army officers, environmental experts, and intelligence officials gathered for a meeting that included a surprise stop by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.
Twenty-one years after the signing of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty, the border between the two countries has proven to be the quietest, albeit the least maintained from a financial standpoint, of any of Israel’s frontiers. Nonetheless, the prime minister was given the latest intelligence data that surveyed possible future threats.
In years past, Hamas operatives from Gaza sought to enter the Sinai Peninsula, from where they would seek to infiltrate Israel in order to carry out attacks. That route was closely watched by Israeli intelligence experts until the completion of the fence along the Egyptian border. The barrier has almost completely sealed Israel off from drug smugglers, African refugees and economic migrants, women traffickers, and, of course, terrorists.
Nowadays, the fence has proven to be a necessity given the fact that some violent Beduin tribes from Sinai have joined Islamic State. It allows Israel to better prepare in dealing with a hostile Islamist element currently fighting the Egyptian authorities in an area that is supposed to be demilitarized as per the terms of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. T hese elements can just as easily try to do harm to Israel as part of its campaign against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, either in an attempt to undermine the cold peace with Israel or simply out of an Islamist ideology that loathes Jews.
Now that the Gaza-Sinai-Israel path has been blocked off, the terrorists will seek an alternate route. It begins in Gaza, continues into Sinai, and, from there, heads further east into Jordan. Then the route takes a northward turn along the rusty, barbed-wire fence that runs along the frontier with Israel....
Robert Hand
Sep 19, 2015, 12:48:06 AM9/19/15
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Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 21:23:42 -0500
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:52:16 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday September 18, 2015
| ROBERT SPENCER and Erick Stakelbeck discuss the rise of the Islamic State CBN News video - 22:30 (Sept 16, 2015) |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| REFUGEE CRISIS World leaders must avoid supporting the Syrian refugees as the Palestinian refugees have been supported through UNRWA. The Palestinians have been maintained with refugee status as political pawns and the U.N. monies - primarily U.S. tax dollars - have been misused for military training and weapons to support terrorism against Israel. These failing U.N. refugee policies which sustain poverty and support terrorism must not be allowed to spread throughout the world. The Glazov Gang-The ISIS REFUGEE DECEPTION YouTube video - 10:48 (Sept 14, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- New Shudders: Guess What Else Team Kerry Gave Away?, jewishpress.com, Lori Lowenthal Marcus
- 'Suspect and Verify,' Says Israel's Barak on Iran Deal, thecrimson.com, Luca F. Schroeder
- Dying To Get Out: True Refugees and the Refugee Scam, Israel Resource Review, Renee Garfinkel
- The Islamic State's activities in western Egypt raise risk of two-front insurgency, threatening oil assets in Western Desert, IHS Jane's Intelligence Review, Ludovico Carlino
- What the Third Lebanon War will look like, ynetnews.com, Ron Ben-Yishai
- In central Tunisia, birthplace of Arab Spring now jihad hotbed, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Arab push to pressurise Israel thwarted at U.N. nuclear watchdog, reuters.com,
Lori Lowenthal Marcus
jewishpress.com, September 17, 2015
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. July 29, 2015. (Photo Credit: YouTube)For the majority of Americans who have already figured out that the Nuclear Iran Deal negotiated by U.S. President Barack Obama’s team led by Secretary of State John Kerry is a win for the mullahs intent on acquiring nuclear weapons capacity, there’s more nightmare-generating bad news.
Kerry has admitted to various American lawmakers that both Russia and China, as well as Europe will be shielded from any “snapback” in renewed sanctions should Iran be found red-handed violating the few prohibitions contained in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The Secretary of State also disclosed that under the deal he and his team deftly negotiated, the testing of ballistic missiles (those na sty vehicles which can be used to deliver nuclear weapons) is perfectly okay.
Why doesn’t the JCPOA cover testing of ballistic missiles, you ask? It is because there is already a United Nations Security Council Resolution which tells them they “should not” test such missiles. Should. Please....
Luca F. Schroeder
thecrimson.com, September 18, 2015
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak spoke on Thursday at the Institute of Politics about the need for closer U.S.-Israel political and military cooperation in the wake of the historic Iran nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries in July.
The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum event, moderated by Kennedy School of Government professor Graham T. Allison, came just hours after Senate Democrats blocked a third attempt to pass a resolution of disapproval against the Iran deal. The international agreement would significantly restrict Iran’s nuclear capability for the next 10 to 15 years, limiting plutonium production and uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.
Barak—who also served as Israel’s defense minister from 1999 to 2001 and later between 2007 and 2013—called for greater American support for Israeli defense.
“The most urgent objective should be to resume [a] working relationship be tween the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem and the White House,” Barak said....
Renee Garfinkel
Israel Resource Review, September 17, 2015
...The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established in 1948 as a temporary institution. It has become the U.N.’s largest entity, with over 30,000 employees – all of whom would be out of work should the “refugees” be settled in the countries in which they live. The organization is widely recognized as corrupt. Even the Palestinian refugees themselves have protested against them!
The U.S. contributes to UNRWA’s budget, and thereby enables the scam. The organization is awash with international aid and European NGO money for keeping the grandchildren of refugees living in squalor. And who works for UNRWA? They admitted to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that they do not screen potential staff (or aid recipients) for ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Hezbollah.
Two pictures were published in the same week, and they say it all. The first was the iconic image of today&r squo;s refugee crisis: a young boy who drowned along with his brother and mother, on their journey to safety.
The second is my nominee for the iconic photo of the refugee scam. It is the planned 13 million dollar palace being built by Abbas, the president-for-life of the Palestinian Authority, whose third generation Palestinian “refugees” are living on U.N. handouts.
Ludovico Carlino
IHS Jane's Intelligence Review, September 16, 2015
...Key Points
- This is the first attack officially claimed by the Islamic State in the Western Desert, and it reflects the group's strategy to expand its operational reach and presence beyond Sinai.
- The Islamic State is likely to use smuggling networks in the border area with Libya to establish a foothold in the Western Desert. If it succeeds in doing so, it would raise the risk of a two-front insurgency in the Western Desert and Sinai, severely overstretching the security forces.
- The likely consolidation of Islamic State groups in eastern Libya and western Egypt would raise the risk of attacks against energy assets in the Western Desert and in Beni Suef....
Ron Ben-Yishai
ynetnews.com, September 13, 2015
It's late summer, and all is quiet on the northern front. On the Lebanese side of the border, the extreme heat has driven shepherds and their wards to the shade. Lebanese army and UNIFIL troops take cover at their posts, and Hezbollah's operatives – those who are still in south Lebanon and have not been sent to fight in Syria – collect intelligence on us.
The UN Security Council established after the Second Lebanon War that Hassan Nasrallah's people are forbidden to openly move along the border fence, armed, and provoke Israeli soldiers. They are careful to abide by the rules, but they are here, utilizing all the new technology Iran has provided to ensure that the IDF is not entering Lebanese territory. Meanwhile, they prepare "surprises" to hurt Israel during the next conflict – just like Hamas in Gaza.
At the Lebanese-Israeli border (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
While Hezbollah is deeply submerged in the Syrian quagmire, and despite a substantial interest in avoiding confrontation with Israel, over the past year the organization's leadership has been preparing for the Third Lebanon War as though it will begin tomorrow. This derives mainly from a decision by Nasrallah and members of Iran's Quds Force about a year ago to change the strategy towards Israel.
This strategy is aimed at deterring Israel from pinpoint actions the IDF occasionally takes to foil terrorism and the strengthening of Hezbollah (known in the IDF as a battle between the wars). Fighting Israel provides Hezbollah with the legitimacy it needs to arm itself in Lebanon and battle in Syria.
It was hence decided to treat Lebanon and Syria as a single front against Israel and to respond to any significant attacks attributed to t he IDF, even if the result is escalation that leads to destruction and many casualties on both sides....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, September 17, 2015
This is no surprise to the few who identified the Arab Spring from the beginning as an attempted Islamic supremacist takeover. We were derided at the time for our pessimism, as mainstream analysts hailed the dawn of democracy in the Middle East. At that time on Fox, Juan Williams responded that I was “fearmongering” when I said that the Arab Spring was hardly a flowering of democracy, and that the groups best poised to take advantage of it were pro-Sharia Islamic authoritarians. Now we know.
“In Central Tunisia, Birthplace Of Arab Spring Now Jihad Hotbed,” by Frédéric Bobin, Worldcrunch, September 16, 2015:SIDI ALI BEN AOUN — Ali Chadli opens his eyes wide, incredulous even now. No, he had no idea his sons were planning to leave for Syria, where they eventua lly died. “They were praying as usual,” he says. “I hadn’t noticed anything in particular.”
The aging man invites us to take a seat next to the grapevine, on the terrace of his little farm, outside a small village called Sidi Ali Ben Aoun. The village sits at the end of a bumpy path lined with olive and barbary fig trees, at the foot of the infamous Sidi Aich mountains, where armed groups have their hideouts, according to villagers.
Located 250 kilometers south of Tunis, this Salafist stronghold is a different world altogether. Here, a portion of the young people dream of jihad in Iraq, Syria or Libya. Some are even starting to turn their anger against their own country....
reuters.com, September 18, 2015
An Arab bid to pressurise Israel over its assumed nuclear arsenal failed on Thursday after Washington and other powers united to reject it at the U.N. atomic watchdog's annual gathering.The extent of the rejection - with a larger number of 'no's than a similar vote last year - will reassure Israel, whose relationship with the United States and other traditional allies has been strained by their support for a nuclear settlement with its enemy Iran.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office described the rejection of the motion - which called on Israel to join a global anti-nuclear weapons pact - as a "great victory" for its diplomatic efforts.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told wor ld leaders before the vote: "There is no room for a debate of this sort while the main problem in the Middle East is Iran's attempts to arm itself with nuclear weapons and its clear declarations of its intention to destroy the state of Israel."...
Robert Hand
Sep 22, 2015, 1:02:52 AM9/22/15
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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2015 23:54:53 -0500
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2015 14:10:18 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday September 21, 2015
| From Barren Desert To Top Cyber Center, Beersheba Is Turning Into a High Tech Oasis CLICK HERE for article |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| IRAN: Billions for Terror? With billions of dollars of unfrozen assets expected to be available to Iran, Iranian leaders have stated that they will continue to fund Hamas. The interviews and video of boy and girl child soldiers of Hamas educated by UNRWA- was filmed in Gaza in the summer of 2015. YouTube video - 08:39 (Sep 10, 2015) Susan Rice: U.S. Fighting ‘Growing Terrorist Threat’ in Africa |
| The Glazov Gang - The Problem With Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Influence on Mosques in America Dr. Mark Christian (President, Global Faith Institute) YouTube video - 11:25 (Sept 10, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- US to accept 100,000 refugees by 2017 , kansascity.com, Ken Dilanian
- Germany Arrests ISIS Recruiter Posing as Asylum Seeker, clarionproject.org, Elliot Friedland
- Core legal shortcomings of Obama's Iran agreement, jpost.com, Louis Rene Beres
- Boosted by nuke deal, Iran ups funding to Hezbollah, Hamas, timesofisrael.com, Avi Issacharoff
- Saudi Arabia: World's Human Rights Sewer, gatestoneinstitute.org, Douglas Murray
- 64 Muslims in US have been charged with supporting the Islamic State, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- US Jewish group pans UN's 'one-sided' Temple Mount critique, timesofisrael.com, Times of Israel staff
Ken Dilanian
kansascity.com, September 20, 2015
US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met with a group of refugees fleeing Syria at Villa Borsig in Berlin on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015. (Evan Vucci/AP)
The Obama administration will increase the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept in 2017 to 100,000, a significant increase over the current annual worldwide cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.
The announcement came as Kerry conferred here with German officials on the wave of migrants that has swamped Europe and met with Syrian refugees who are seeking asylum in Europe.
Under the new plan, the U.S. limit on annual refugee visas would be increased to 85,000 in 2016. The cap would rise to 100,000 the following year....
Elliot Friedland
clarionproject.org, September 20, 2015
The Islamic State and other Islamists are trying to manipulate the refugee crisis, which they partially created, in order to undermine European security(Photo: Alex Meyler/Clarion Project)
A 21-year old from Morocco has been arrested by German authorities at a refugee center near Stuttgart on suspicion of being an Islamic State recruiter. The man was sought under a European arrest warrant issued by Spanish authorities. He used a false identity to pose as an asylum seeker.
According to The New Observer, this is the first time German authorities have arrested a terror suspect masquerading as an asylum seeker.
At the same time it was reported the German government seized 10,000 fake Syrian passports, which are being sold to those seeking to gain entry to the EU for around $1,500 each. Po ssession of a Syrian passport makes claiming asylum a lot easier....
Louis Rene Beres
jpost.com, September 20, 2015
...On its face, perhaps, any such expressed Iranian rationale would appear to contradict elementary logic. After all, Iran would already have acknowledged this corrosive effect at the time of its initial agreement. Nonetheless, a usable case could conceivably be fashioned by Iran that would combine this particular rationale for abrogation with an argument of rebus sic stantibus – that is, that the foreseeable circumstances that had existed originally no longer obtain.
Alternatively, at least in the closing years of this agreement, Iran could decide that it would be better to remain in the pact, at least in principle, but to simultaneously quit the NPT. The rationale of any such contrary strategy would be that the newer pact will allow full nuclearization after the 15-year duration, while the NPT could never make such an allowance. Per Article X of the NPT, Iran’s withdrawal could rest on the acceptable argument that any continued agreement members hip would jeopardize its “supreme interests.”
It could do this very easily, of course, merely by giving “three months’ notice.”
Security failings of the Iran nuclear agreement should be granted pride-of-place in any systematic identification of prospective risks. Still, this pact’s mocking indifference to both international and US law should not pass unnoticed. The new agreement would have devastating security consequences for the United States and Israel, but even this overriding flaw should not stand in the way of simultaneously recognizing the pact’s near consummate illegality.
The author was educated at Princeton (PhD, 1971), and is emeritus professor of international law at Purdue.
His tenth book, Israel’s Nuclear Strategy: Surviving amid Chaos (Rowman and Littlefield), will be published later this year. He was born in Zürich, Switzerland, at the end of World Wa r II. He is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post.
Avi Issacharoff
timesofisrael.com, September 21, 2015
Hezbollah fighters hold party flags during a parade in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon (AP/Hussein Malla/File)On Sunday, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, arrived in Iran for talks on the nuclear agreement, as part of what appears to be an attempt by the UN nuclear watchdog to evaluate whether Iran ran a military nuclear program in the past.
Amano is expected to meet with various Iranian nuclear scientists for answers on this very subject. On December 15, ahead of the lifting of crippling economic sanctions on Tehran, he is slated to present the world with definitive answers that will determine whether Iran complied with the terms of a nuclear deal signed on July 15. But the Islamic Republic is not waiting for a green light from Amano or the inte rnational community, and is working under the assumption that the sanctions will be lifted.
Since the deal was signed, Iran has significantly increased its financial support for two of the largest terror groups in the region that have become political players, Hamas and Hezbollah. In the years before the deal was signed, the crippling sanctions limited this support, which had significantly diminished along with Iran’s economy. But Tehran’s belief that tens, or hundreds, of billions of dollars will flow into the country in the coming years as a result of sanctions relief has led to a decision to boost the cash flow to these terror organizations....
Douglas Murray
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 21, 2015
- Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, sentenced to be crucified, was accused of participating in banned protests and firearms offenses -- despite a complete lack of evidence on the latter charge, and he was denied access to lawyers. Al-Nimr is also alleged by human rights groups to have been tortured and then forced into signing a confession while in custody.
- Not only are the Saudi authorities preparing to crucify someone -- in 2015 -- whom they tortured into making a confession; they are preparing to crucify someone who was a minor at the time of arrest.
- Alas not a week goes by without Saudi Arabia demonstrating to the world why they retain their reputation as one of the world's foremost human rights sewers.
- Crucifixion is a punishment which, it would appear, is not only Sharia-compliant but also -- we must assume -- Geneva-compliant....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, September 20, 2015
They come from all over the country, as you can see. None of the non-Muslim authorities who so confidently tell us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam have explained why this misunderstanding of Islam is so widespread in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Map from “The Islamic State’s suspected inroads into America,” by Adam Goldman, Jia Lynn Yang and John Muyskens, Washington Post, September 8, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace).
CLICK HERE for more details
Times of Israel staff
timesofisrael.com, September 19, 2015
Police use stun grenades to disperse Palestinian demonstrators in a street of the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem's Old City during scuffles with Israeli riot police on the Temple Mount on September 15, 2015. (AFP Photo/ Thomas Coex)
An American Jewish umbrella group on Friday lambasted the UN Security Council’s statement about violence on the Temple Mount issued the day before, saying it was “one sided,” and “unacceptable” in its denial of Jewish connection to the holy site.
The Security Council on Thursday expressed “grave concern” about ongoing violence on the contested holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, or Haram al-Sharif. The statement said Muslims at the site “must be allowed to worship in peace, free from violence, threats and provocations” and that “visitors should be without fear of violence or intimidation.”
The compound is the holiest site in Judaism, which venerates it as the site of the biblical temples, and the third-holiest site in Islam. Under long-standing regulations introduced by Israel when it captured Jerusalem’s Old City from Jordan in the 1967 war, Jews are allowed to visit but cannot pray there to avoid provoking tensions.
The UN, US and EU have urged restraint on both sides amid the latest clashes, while Jordan, which has custodianship rights over Muslim holy places in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, has warned that bilateral relations are at stake....
Robert Hand
Sep 25, 2015, 12:39:38 AM9/25/15
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Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2015 23:21:39 -0500
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2015 13:12:51 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday September 24, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Iran Promises to Violate Nuke Deal |
| Iran on Israel: ‘We Are Going to Destroy Them’ |
| The Glazov Gang-Border Security Nightmares YouTube video - 10:13 (Sep 17, 2015) Muslims All Over the World Want This Video Removed From The Internet Israel Video Network - 04:24 (Sept 24, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The Poisonous Obama Years, commentarymagazine.com, Noah Rothman
- Report: Evidence US Is Backtracking on Iran Stance, Restarting Negotiations With Islamic Republic, algemeiner.com, Ruthie Blum
- Egypt's War on Terrorism Bears Fruit, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- Senior Israeli official: World needs to see through Abbas's 'charade', jpost.com, Herb Keinon
- German police raids target Islamic State recruiters, suspected of recruiting among refugees, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- US-trained Division 30 rebels 'betray US and hand weapons over to al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria', telegraph.co.uk, Nabih Bulos, Amman
- Latakia Is Assad's Achilles Heel, washingtoninstitute.org, Fabrice Balanche
Noah Rothman
commentarymagazine.com, September 22, 2015
For millions of Americans, Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency absolved the United States of myriad sins. His rise to the presidency was a redemption tale for an America that had lost its way in the immediate post-9/11 years.Obama’s promise was to be a transformative figure, his supporters averred. He would reverse a suspiciously colonialist Bush-era foreign policy, deliver the country into a post-racial period, and restore America’s faith in the power of collectivism and the righteous efficacy of government. As the winter of the Obama presidency approaches, it seems beyond dispute that this presidency has robbed Americans of what remaining faith they had in the value of collective action. The power of massive governmental programs to effect positive change is, at best, dubiou s. The tragedy of it all is that cynicism has replaced shock when the latest scandalous revelations hit the newsstands. That’s dangerous. The expectation of corruption is a condition that saps a nation’s faith in the virtue of self-governance. It is this kind of contempt for public institutions that leads republics to ruin.
Barack Obama’s administration is scandal-plagued. In its twilight years, this White House has subordinated accountability and the preservation of faith in public sector competence to exculpation from the political press.
The in-party spent the better part of the three years that followed the deadly assault on diplomatic and CIA compounds in Benghazi by framing the investigation into it as a manifestation of Republicans’ pathological hatred for the president. That is an impression which remains cemented in the minds of many average voters who have not closely followed a congressional investigation into that aff air – an investigation that exposed the scandalous details regarding how Hillary Clinton and her cadre of privileged aides comported themselves at the State Department. Those Americans who do not see the investigation as a partisan witch-hunt are apt to view it as an indictment of the political culture in Washington that afforded Clinton the leeway to flout the law and jeopardize American national security in order to preserve her sense of “convenience.”
The Obama-era has made it difficult to recall that it was once the left that prided itself for serving as sentinels standing guard against abuses by powerful government agencies. “Artful” Nixonian abuses of the IRS in order to intimidate and tarnish the reputations of political opponents were once a Republican phenomenon. Today, yet another simmering scandal involving the misuse of the IRS has ensnared Democrats. As such, it is dismissed as a non-issue by the left and partisans in the press.
Americans recently learned that, like Clinton, Lerner conducted official business via a private email account where she went by the name “Toby Miles.” The emails sent via that account are among the hundreds that have been shielded from congressional investigators, but those that have been recovered reflect a searing disdain for conservatives against whom Lerner has been accused of conspiring to limit their ability to participate in civic affairs. “Citizens United is by far the worst thing that has ever happened to this country,” Lerner, who has been accused of targeting conservative political action committees with undue scrutiny, wrote. “We are witnessing the end of ‘America.’”
Motive and opportunity having been established, we are told that there is nothing to see here. You’re just being paranoid....
Ruthie Blum
algemeiner.com, September 22, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry shaking hands with his Iranian counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The U.S. could be easing its policy on sanctions relief for Iran and restarting negotiations with the Islamic Republic, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported on Monday.
According to the report, the fact that foreign ministers of the P5+1 and Iran are set to meet with their Iranian counterpart in New York next week to “examine the recent developments of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)” is evidence of this potential shift.
At a joint press conference in Berlin on Sunday with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he would meet Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on September 28 – on the margins of the UN General Assembly – to discuss “Iran and other matters.”
This, MEMRI points out, comes on the heels of statements emerging from Tehran, which cast doubt on whether the JCPOA was actually finalized.
For example, on Saturday, the head of Iran’s Center for Strategic Research, Ali Akbar Velayati, one of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s close advisers, said that the “nuclear negotiations are not over yet.”...
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 23, 2015
- Egyptian President Sisi's war against the smuggling tunnels will undoubtedly weaken Hamas and other radical groups in the Gaza Strip. Sisi should be commended, rather than criticized, for his courageous actions against Islamist terrorists, both in the Gaza Strip and in Sinai.
- Sisi's actions will benefit not only Egyptians, but also many Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas and radical Islamist groups.
- When the Egyptians destroy a Hamas tunnel, that is called "war on terrorism." But when Israel destroys a tunnel, that is condemned as an "act of aggression." This moral slithering is why it is important for the international community to stand behind Sisi's relentless war on radical Islam.
- Without such backing, Islamists will continue to pose a major threat not only to Israel, but to many Arabs and Muslims who oppose Hamas, Islamic State and Islamic Jihad.
- The environment of the Gaza Strip is the last thing that Hamas cares about. Hamas did not think about damage to the environment or to agricultural fields when it used those fields, as well as populated areas, as launching pads for attacking Israel....
Herb Keinon
jpost.com, September 24, 2015
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas walks with Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (unseen) as they review the honor guard in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. (photo credit: Reuters)
The international community should end the “charade” whereby Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to negotiate with Israel, deliberately creates a crisis, adds to the crisis through inflammatory rhetoric and then pleads to the world to “save us,” a senior government official said on Wednesday night.
The official, who said the world should finally hold Abbas “accountable” for his behavior, was responding to the PA leader’s comments in Paris on Tuesday alongside French President François Hollande warning of a third intifada resulting from v iolence in Jerusalem, and calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s actions in the Old City, stop settlement activity, and return to negotiations....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, September 22, 2015
German police are worried about Muslims who have traveled to the Islamic State and then returned to Germany. Why are they allowed back in? The Islamic State has declared its determination to destroy Germany and other Western states. Traveling to it should be regarded as an act of treason, and those who go not allowed to return.
“German intelligence ‘concerned’ Islamists recruiting refugees,” by Deborah Cole, AFP, September 22, 2015 (thanks to Lookmann):
Berlin (AFP) – German intelligence warned Tuesday that the number of Islamic extremists in the country had increased sharply in recent months and expressed serious concern that they were recruiting among refugees.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic security w atchdog, said the number of radical Salafists had surged to 7,900 in September from 7,500 in June, and that many were trying to lure asylum-seekers into their ranks....
Nabih Bulos, Amman
telegraph.co.uk, September 23, 2015
Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated to al-Qaeda, took the technicals, guns and ammunition from the US-trained Division 30 in northern Aleppo (Photo: Reuters)
Pentagon-trained rebels in Syria are reported to have betrayed their American backers and handed their weapons over to al-Qaeda in Syria immediately after re-entering the country.
Fighters with Division 30, the “moderate” rebel division favoured by the United States, surrendered to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a raft of sources claimed on Monday night.
Division 30 was the first faction whose fighters graduated from a US-led training programme in Turkey which aims to forge a force on the ground in Syria to fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil)....
Fabrice Balanche
washingtoninstitute.org, September 23, 2015
In light of its large Sunni population, the coastal city and its environs are not secure for the Syrian regime, possibly explaining why Russian forces are concentrating there.
Over the past few months, the Syrian army has grown weaker and lost many positions, a development that explains Russia's recent deployment of troops. Previously, Russia had sent only military advisors and technical staff to support the Syrian army. Another key question, however, involves why these troops are being sent to Latakia and not Tartus, site of the official Russian military base. Indeed, this new, strong Russian presence along the northern Syrian coast can be explained by the Assad regime's weakness in the area, where Alawites no longer constitute a majority....
Robert Hand
Sep 26, 2015, 12:39:44 AM9/26/15
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Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 17:49:44 -0500
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 13:44:40 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday September 25, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Boehner Announces Resignation As House Speaker CLICK HERE for video and article 08:22 (Sept 25, 2015) Will German welcome of refugees come at Jews’ expense? CLICK HERE for article and video 00:45 (Sept 21, 2015) Rare 3,000-year-old King David era seal discovered by Temple Mount Sifting Project CLICK HERE for picture and article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- After embedding with ISIS for 10 days, senior journalist reveals they are planning 'the largest religious cleansing in history.', israelnationalnews.com, Nir Har-Zahav
- The Temple Mount is in danger, jpost.com, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz
- PM Netanyahu Attends Event Marking the Mossad's 65th Anniversary , pmo.gov.il, PM Netanyahu
- Time to Dismantle the UN Human Rights Council, gatestoneinstitute.org, Jagdish N. Singh
- Iran Openly Declares it will Violate UN Resolution on Arms Restrictions, unitedwithisrael.org, United with Israel Staff
- Selected sections of the Interim Agreement are not now being honored by the PA, imra.org.il, Dr. Aaron Lerner
- Poll: Majority of Palestinians want Abbas to resign, no longer support two-state solution, jpost.com, Khaled Abu Toameth
Nir Har-Zahav
israelnationalnews.com, September 25, 2015
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Reuters)A veteran German journalist who became the first to gain access as an embedded reporter with Islamic State (ISIS) revealed the jihadist terror group plans to bring nuclear annihilation across the globe.
The journalist, Jurgen Todenhofer (75), released his findings in a book called "Inside IS - Ten Days in the Islamic State," reports the UK's Daily Express on Friday.
Todenhofer, who previously was an MP in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party before turning to journalism in 2000 as a war reporter, spent ten days with ISIS.
He was overseen during his visit by "Jihadi John," the ISIS terrorist from the UK named Mohammed Emwazi who gained fame in gruesome beheading videos.
According to the journalist, the We st is unprepared for ISIS. He writes that "the terrorists plan on killing several hundred million people. The west is drastically underestimating the power of ISIS."...
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz
jpost.com, September 20, 2015
Palestinians in front of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City. (photo credit: Reuters)
Over 80 years ago, even before the establishment of the State of Israel and the return of Jewish sovereignty to the Temple Mount, the Muslim mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, began to spread lies about Jews trying to harm the Aqsa Mosque. Since then, this evil, false accusation has led to the deaths of many Jews and Muslims alike. Jews have paid with their lives for clinging to their forefathers’ heritage and to the Western Wall, and Muslims have died because of this false and contemptuous blood libel.
Forty-eight years have passed since the Temple Mount, the site of the Temple, returned to Jewish sovereignty – and never have Muslims been restricted fro m entering. On the contrary, the State of Israel has invested great effort to make freedom of worship possible on the Mount – even at the cost of harming Jewish visitors who wish to ascend to the site. (Without debating the issue of allowing Jews into the Temple Mount area, the Chief Rabbinate, which I represent, forbids Jewish entry to the Temple Mount.) And yet, from the depths of hatred, the cry of “The Temple Mount is in Danger” is sounded again, enlisting naïve people who will kill and be killed in this mendacious war.
Only a few days ago, on the eve of Rosh Hashana, another name was added to the horrific list of the Temple Mount libel victims. A Jew, wrapped in tallit and tefillin, was on his way to the Western Wall when he was nearly beaten to death by a gang of young Muslims. His only sin was his Jewish appearance, and for this he almost paid with his life....
PM Netanyahu
pmo.gov.il, September 24, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Intelligence Affairs Minister Yisrael Katz and Mossad Director Tamir Pardo, this morning, attended a festive holiday toast at the Mossad to mark 65 years since it was established.(Photo by Amos Ben Gershom, GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:
"We cannot solve the fundamental problems of the Middle East. They are revealed in all their power, and today our enemy is twofold: It is Shiite radical Islam led by Iran and its proxies and the Sunni [radical Islam], which for now is led by ISIS. They are fighting each other, but it is an accepted norm that we have no place in the Islamic world, as they see it. Their alliances change, rise and fall and rise again and spread their tentacles in different directions - and we are on the inside.
&nbs p;
There is one certain rule: No one makes a pact with the weak. The real defense of our country during its years of existence and the 65 years of the existence of the Mossad that we mark today, that is the power of the State of Israel. This is the power we cultivate....
Jagdish N. Singh
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 24, 2015
...The past record of the UNHRC shows it has overlooked rights violations in a large part of the world in general and the Middle East in particular. The UNHRC has notoriously been obsessed with inventing rights violations by Israel, the Middle East's only democracy, where women and minorities -- the most oppressed sections in most of the nations in the world -- enjoy equality in law and practice both. Since March 2006, when the UN General Assembly brought the UNHRC into existence, it has condemned Israel 61 times, compared to just 55 condemnations of all other nations in the world combined.
How many times has the UNHRC condemned states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, which oppress their own citizens -- women and minorities in particular -- and inspire many states to follow them?What makes the UNHRC ignore such rig hts violations? The answer is simple: most of the member states of the Council are themselves the worst violators of the rights of their own citizens, and they are trying to save each other through a conspiracy of corruption.
The mandate of the UNHRC Advisory Committee experts is too restrictive for them to look into the rights abuses of the states they themselves belong to. Experts tend to pass time discussing some vague, high-sounding priorities, initiatives, working methods, procedural efficiency measures and proposals, such as creating a world human rights court for ensuring citizen safety and human rights.
Recently, the UNHRC voted on a resolution that condemned Israel for human rights violations allegedly committed during the 2014 Israeli strikes on Gaza. Forty-one countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States alone voted against it. India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained from voting....
United with Israel Staff
unitedwithisrael.org, September 24, 2015
Missile launched during Iranian military drill. (AP/Hadi Yazdani)
Iran openly declares it will violate the UNSC resolution regarding the nuclear deal and will progress with its weapons build-up and development program.
Iran’s three leaders – President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Abbas Araghchi – have openly declared that Iran has no intention of abiding by UN Security Council resolution 2231, which endorses the nuclear deal and restrictions on Tehran’s missiles and weapons acquisition. Rather, they say they will abide only by the original nuclear deal.
According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Iran said that it separates the deal regarding it s nuclear program from the UNSC resolution. Passed on July 25, the resolution endorses the deal and also includes prohibitions on Iran’s development of advanced ballistic missiles and its purchasing of other types of arms....
Dr. Aaron Lerner
imra.org.il, September 24, 2015
According to news reports, Mahmoud Abbas plans to announce during his address to the United Nations General Assembly that the PA will no longer be honoring various parts of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip signed in Washington, D.C., September 28, 1995.
Today there are a multitude of armed groups both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank - including armed groups of Mahmoud Abbas' own Fatah - in gross violation of the Agreement.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The following are just a few excerpts from this agreement that the PA today does not honor:
Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip Washington, D.C., September 28, 1995
HEREBY AGREE as follows:
CHAPTER 2 - REDEPLOYMENT AND SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS
ARTICLE XIV
The Palestinian Police
1. The Council shall establish a strong police force. The duties, functions, structure, deployment and composition of the Palestinian Police, together with provisions regarding its equipment and operation, as well as rules of conduct, are set out in Annex I.
2. The Palestinian police force established under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement will be fully integrated into the Palestinian Police and will be subject to the provisions of this Agreement.
3. Except for the Palestinian Police and the Israeli military forces, no other armed forces shall be established or operate in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
4. Except for the arms, ammunition and equipment of the Palestinian Police described in Annex I, and those of the Israeli military forces, no organization, group or individual in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shall manufacture, sell, acquire, possess, import or otherwise introduce into the West Bank or the Gaza Strip any firearms, ammunition, weapons, explosives, gunpowder or any related equipment, unless ot herwise provided for in Annex I....
Khaled Abu Toameth
jpost.com, September 21, 2015
Mahmoud Abbas. (photo credit: Reuters)A public opinion poll published on Monday showed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s popularity has declined in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while only 48% of Palestinians support the two-state solution.
The poll found that 51% oppose a two-state solution to the conflict, which was a reverse of the finding three months ago, when 51% supported and 48% opposed this solution.
In contrast to Abbas’s drop in the poll, the popularity of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has increased significantly in the West Bank and declined slightly in the Gaza Strip.
The poll, which was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, also showed that the popularity of Hamas dropped significa ntly in the Gaza Strip and improved in the West Bank.
Fatah’s popularity has declined in both areas, the poll found....
Robert Hand
Sep 29, 2015, 1:10:58 AM9/29/15
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Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:06:33 -0500
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2015 13:22:02 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday September 28, 2015
| French Company That Once Threatened to Boycott Israel Invests $17 Million in Israeli Startup CLICK HERE for article JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
Violence on Temple Mount on Sunday YouTube video - 02:12 (Sept 27, 2015) Jamie Glazov Moment: Ben Carson: Heroic Truth-Teller About Islam. YouTube video - 05:52 (Sep 25, 2015) Jewish history’s greatest archaeological crime The Temple Mount Sifting Project, now in its 10th year, has uncovered hundreds of thousands of invaluable antiquities from tons of ancient debris discarded like trash from Judaism’s holiest site. CLICK HERE for photo and article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- As UN General Debate opens, Iran deal takes the stage, timesofisrael.com, Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
- German Journalist Back from Frontlines: ISIS Seeks Nuclear Holocaust, JNi.Media,
- Iran to Purchase Russian Satellite Equipment, Superjet in $21Bln Deal, sputniknews.com, Mikhail Voskresenskiy
- Pressure on Obama grows to declare war against Christians a genocide, jihadwatch.org, Ralph Sidway
- Migration Crisis: "Islam Will Conquer Europe Without Firing a Shot", gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- Former Grand Mufti of Lebanon: No way except jihad to liberate Palestine, abna24.com,
- Israeli Government Welcomes Egyptian President al-Sisi's Call to Expand the Peace with Israel, IMRA, Prime Minister's Media Adviser
Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
timesofisrael.com, September 28, 2015
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, left, meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 26, 2013. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images/JTA)
NEW YORK — The General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly will open Monday morning with speeches from headliners ranging from US President Barack Obama to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani. While the podium of the General Debate has seen drama and surprises over the years, one thing is certain about Monday’s performances — the nuclear deal between the P5+1 states and Iran will take center stage.
A senior White House official said Sunday evening that when Obama takes the podium as the fourth speaker at the 70t h General Debate, he will emphasize the importance of nations working cooperatively while arguing that those states that pursue a path of aggression are weaker and will ultimately fail.
Obama will define appropriate leadership on the international stage as one that confronts threats while pursuing diplomacy, seeking the fulfillment of democratic principles and establishing support for international institutions and laws....
JNi.Media, September 26, 2015
Jürgen Todenhöfer with ISIS fighters (Photo Credit: Book cover, 10 Tage im 'Islamischen Staat')
(JNi.media) German author and politician Jürgen Todenhöfer, 75, who in 2014 visited Syria and Iraq as the first Western journalist to be allowed extensive access to ISIS-controlled territories and to return safely, has now published a book titled “Inside IS – Ten Days in the Islamic State,” in which he suggests that “the west is drastically underestimating the power of ISIS,” and declares in no uncertain terms that “the terrorists plan on killing several hundred million people,” The Express reported.
Todenhöfer writes that ISIS’ ambition is to secure atomic weapons, comparing the Islamic army to a “nuclear tsunami preparing the largest religious cleansing in history.”...
Mikhail Voskresenskiy
sputniknews.com, September 26, 2015
Tehran signed contracts worth $21 billion with Moscow for the purchase of satellite-related equipment, as well as Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) aircraft, at the MAKS-2015 international air show, the managing director of Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) told Sputnik Saturday.
Serbia to Purchase Two Russian-Made Military HelicoptersTEHRAN (Sputnik) — The Iranian delegation visited the MAKS-2015 air show held in the Russian city of Zhukovsky in the Moscow Region between August 25 and August 30.
"There is a large share of contracts for the purchase of this type of aircraft," Manouchehr Manteghi stated, not specifying, however, the exact number of jets.
In late August, Iranian Vice President Sorena Sattari told the Russian Kommersant daily that the country was holding act ive talks with Russia on the purchase of at least two types of military aircraft. Tehran was also interested in using Russian rocket carriers to launch satellites into orbit, according to Sattari.
The Superjet 100 is a twin-engine regional passenger jet, which became commercially available in 2011.
Ralph Sidway
jihadwatch.org, September 23, 2015
“Christianity in the Middle East is shattered,” Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska Republican, told the IDC [In Defense of Christians] conference on Sept. 9. “The ancient faith tradition lies beaten, broken and dying. Yet Christians in Iraq and Syria are hanging on in the face of the Islamic State’s barbarous onslaught. This is genocide.”
Yes. And as the Islamic State itself tells the world, it is the direct result of devout Muslims following the commands in the Qur’an, imitating Muhammad’s example as extolled in the ahadith and the Sira, and applying the doctrines of Islamic jurisprudence. Islam itself is the direct cause of the first genocide of the 21st century.
“Pressure Grows to Declare War Against Christians a Genocide,” By Douglas Burton, Washington Times via AINA, September 23, 2015:
Memorial to victims of 2010 church bombing; Baghdad, Iraq.Human rights activists see it. Foreign leaders see it. And more than 80 members of the U.S. Congress see it. Together, they are pressuring the leader of the free world to declare there is a Christian genocide going on in the Middle East.
Their campaign — which was discussed at a Capitol Hill conference earlier this month hosted by the two-year-old In Defense of Christians nonprofit — has an influential ally on its side.
Pope Francis, making his first visit to the United States on Wednesday, has noted the number of Christians being martyred today exceeds the number martyred during the days of the Roman Empire....
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 28, 2015
- The failed foreign policies of the EU and the US under President Obama, have brought the Arabs to the brink of chaos, and destroyed regimes which, even though they were not democratic utopias, at least provided governance and public order. These failed policies have abandoned the Arabs to the atrocities of the Sunni Islamists and to the murderous proxies of the Iranian Islamic Revolution -- and are ultimately the cause of the tsunami of refugees beating at the gates of Europe.
- Now the EU and Obama want to bring the catastrophe of Gaza to the West Bank.
- The American FDA is more careful with experiments on animals than the White House is with experiments on the people of the Middle East.
- Every time the Palestinians have taken steps against the Israelis, we have hurt no one but ourselves, and are left with -- nothing.
- The Arabs living in Israel and the Palestinian Authority territories know, although it is a bitter pill to swallow, that we have been favored by fortune, because under the State of Israel we live in security.
- In the face of ongoing mass murder in the Middle East, what arcane consideration, apart from Federica Mogherini being a racist, could possibly bring the EU to deal with something as marginal to global issues as boycotting Israeli face-cream and cookies?...
abna24.com, September 27, 2015
The former Grand Mufti of Lebanon called on Muslim scholars and governments to rise up and liberate Palestine, saying it is the duty of Arab and Islamic peoples to support Palestine and its people.Ahlul Bayt News Agency - In regard to the Israel army’s storming of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque and its precincts, the former Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Muhammad-Rashid al-Qabbani, said in a statement that the superpowers have supported and continue to support state terrorism against Palestine and the Palestinian people since the establishment of the so-called State of Israel as a Western colony on the Arab lands of Palestine in 1948.
He added that these Zionist terrorist groups, including the Haganah and the Stern Gang, committed massacres in Deir Yassin and burned and shelled man y Palestinian homes and villages with their tanks and artillery.
Shaykh al-Qabbani added that the Western countries who established the Zionist colony in Palestine are responsible for the extermination of the Palestinian people and their expulsion from their homeland and all the crimes committed by Israel since 1948, which included brutal massacres and genocide....
Prime Minister's Media Adviser
IMRA, September 27, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released the following statement this afternoon (Sunday, 27 September 2015):
"The Government of Israel welcomes Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi's call to expand the peace with Israel to include additional Arab countries. Prime Minister Netanyahu again calls on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return immediately to the negotiating table in order to advance the diplomatic process."
Robert Hand
Sep 30, 2015, 1:04:08 AM9/30/15
to
From: Judaism_Israel_T...@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0500
Subject: [Judaism_Israel_Today_and_Tomorrow] FW: Today's News Summaries
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:04:52 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday September 29, 2015
SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
More than 200,000 people have been killed in the four-and-a-half-year Syrian civil war.
At least 28,277 civilians have died in shootings and mass killings.
At least 27,006 civilians were killed in mortar, artillery and rocket attacks.
At least 18,866 civilians were killed in Syrian government air attacks.
At least 8,871 civilians were killed after being kidnapped, detained and/or tortured.
At least 984 civilians were killed by exposure to chemical or toxic substances.
At least 654 medical workers were killed in attacks on hospitals.
At least 565 civilians died from starvation, dehydration or lack of basic medical care.
Eric Shawn reports: Rouhani at the UN
Fox News video - 2:27 (Sep. 28, 2015)
SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
More than 200,000 people have been killed in the four-and-a-half-year Syrian civil war.
At least 28,277 civilians have died in shootings and mass killings.
At least 27,006 civilians were killed in mortar, artillery and rocket attacks.
At least 18,866 civilians were killed in Syrian government air attacks.
At least 8,871 civilians were killed after being kidnapped, detained and/or tortured.
At least 984 civilians were killed by exposure to chemical or toxic substances.
At least 654 medical workers were killed in attacks on hospitals.
At least 565 civilians died from starvation, dehydration or lack of basic medical care.
Eric Shawn reports: Rouhani at the UN
Fox News video - 2:27 (Sep. 28, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- What Next?, Weekly Standard, Vol. 21, No. 04 , Michael Makovsky
- Obama, Putin open talks with deep differences over Syria, timesofisrael.com, Associated Press
- Russia Surprises U.S. With Accord on Battling ISIS, nytimes.com, Michael R. Gordon
- Russian marines join Hizballah in first Syrian battle - a danger signal for US, Israel, DEBKAfile Exclusive Report ,
- Palestinians: We Are the New Nazis, gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- Anti-Semitism on Campus: Part 2, israeliadvocate.net, Jerrold L. Sobel
- Ongoing Terror in Jerusalem - the City of Peace, mythsandfacts.org, Eli E. Hertz
Michael Makovsky
Weekly Standard, Vol. 21, No. 04 , September 28, 2015
It's been two weeks since a majority of Congress sought to register its disapproval of the Iran deal but fell short of the votes necessary to break a filibuster or override a presidential veto, and most politicians and commentators have moved on.
Netanyahu calls on Putin. (NEWSCOM)It’s understandable to want a mental break after a long and hard-fought struggle. But the world hasn’t taken a break. The consequences of the deal are already reverberating.
On Monday, September 21, Iran self-inspected a key suspect nuclear weapons site without international inspectors present. “This deal is not built on trust,” President Obama had told us. “It is built on verification.” But apparently we trust Ira n to carry out that verification. That same day, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a two-and-a-half-hour emergency meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin (followed by a meeting of Russian and Israeli military chiefs) to discuss Russia’s military presence in Syria.
The front page of the Wall Street Journal on September 22 captured the new Middle East, with a picture of Netanyahu meeting Putin at the top, and below it the headline “Russia, Iran Team Up in Syria.” Putin is depicted as the central player with whom sworn enemies Iran and Israel have to deal. And where is the United States? At best, watching from behind. At worst, making life more difficult for our friends and allies. We’ve become like William Macy in the 2003 movie The Cooler, whose very presence and proximity turns people’s luck bad....
Associated Press
timesofisrael.com, September 29, 2015
US President Barack Obama and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands ahead of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on September 28, 2015 in New York. (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)
UNITED NATIONS — With a stony-faced handshake, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday began their first formal meeting in more than two years, a discussion expected to lay bare their deep differences over the chaos in Syria.
The meeting came hours after the leaders outlined their contrasting visions for Syria’s future in dueling speeches at the United Nations General Assembly summit. Obama urged a political transition to replace embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Putin warne d it would be a mistake to abandon the current government.
Obama and Putin were also expected to discuss the crisis in Ukraine during their evening meeting at UN headquarters....
Michael R. Gordon
nytimes.com, September 27, 2015
UNITED NATIONS — For the second time this month, Russia moved to expand its political and military influence in the Syria conflict and left the United States scrambling, this time by reaching an understanding, announced on Sunday, with Iraq, Syria and Iran to share intelligence about the Islamic State.
Like Russia’s earlier move to bolster the government of President Bashar al-Assad by deploying warplanes and tanks to a base near Latakia, Syria, the intelligence-sharing arrangement was sealed without notice to the United States. American officials knew that a group of Russian military officers were in Baghdad, but they were clearly surprised when the Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command announced the intelligence sharing accord on Sunday.
It was another sign that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was moving ahead with a sharply different tack from that of the Obama administration in battling the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, by assembling a rival coalition that includes Iran and the Syrian government....
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report , September 24, 2015
Before dawn on Thursday, Sept. 24, Russian marines went into battle for the first time since their deployment to Syria, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources reveal. Russian Marine Brigade 810 fought with Syrian army and Hizballah special forces in an attack on ISIS forces at the Kweiris airbase, east of Aleppo.
This operation runs contrary to the assurances of President Vladimir Putin to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sept. 21 – just three days ago - that Russian forces in Syria were only there to defend Russian interests and would not engage in combat with the Syrian army, Hizballah or Iranian troops.
The ISIS force defending the air base is dominated by Chechen fighters under the command of Abu Omar al-Shishani, who is considered one of the terrorist organization’s leading commanders in the last two years. The 27-year-old al-Shishani hails from the Chechen enclave of Pankisi in Georgia, like many others who joined ISIS from 2012....
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, September 26, 2015
These are people behaving in a way that does not deserve being rewarded with anything, let alone a state. They far more resemble all tyrannical thugs throughout history who spend their lives telling other people how to live, and using violence, or threats of violence, to coerce anyone who does not agree. Sadly, we already have too much of that kind of muscling in our Arab and Muslim world, as Egypt's forward-looking President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as well as many others, regularly point out.
We have now reached the same stage as Germany's Nazis -- the same thing, ironically, we falsely accuse the Jews of being -- where the appearance of a Jew on a Palestinian television show is considered as an act of "treason" and a "crime." In reality, it is we who are the New Nazis.
A Palestinian TV talk show host is facing strong condemnations and threats for hosting an Israeli Jewish singer who is extremely popular among Palestinian youths.
The condemnations expose the ugly face of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), whose followers are vehemently opposed to any form of "normalization" between Palestinians and Israelis....
Jerrold L. Sobel
israeliadvocate.net, September 28, 2015
...An organization called the Canary Mission, was created by students and concerned citizens to answer these very questions. According to their mission statement: “The purpose of the website is to expose those who promote lies and attacks on Israel and the Jewish people. We pursue our mission by presenting the actions and records of individuals and organizations at the vanguard of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
Their database recounts 9 main anti-Israel/American groups entrenched on American Campuses: To be certain there are many, many more groups and propagandist publications disrupting Jewish life on campus. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) lists their top 10 such as: CODEPINK; Neturei Karta; Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Friends of Sabeel-North America, and so on, but for the sake of brevity, let’s examine 5 listed in the Canary Mission database.
- Students for Justice in Palestine(SJP);
- American Muslims for Palestine(AMP);
- Muslim Students Association(MSA);
- Jewish Voice for Peace(JVP)
- Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
- The Electronic Intifada(EI)
- Mondoweiss
- End the Occupation(USCEIO)
- International Solidarity Movement(ISM)
(SJP) members frequently intimidate and harass pro-Israel supporters. Members have been responsible for physically assaulting Jewish students, vandalizing communal property and violently disrupting pro-Israel speakers and events. Under the guise of anti-Zionism, their rhetoric and actions expose anti-Jewish hatred possibly exceeded only by their sister group, (AMP)....
Eli E. Hertz
mythsandfacts.org, September 25, 2015
Palestinian Arabs have concentrated many of their terrorist attacks on Jews in Jerusalem, hoping to win the city by an onslaught of suicide bombers who seek to make life in the City of Peace unbearable. But this is not a new tactic. Arab strategy to turn Jerusalem into a battleground began in 1920.
Unfortunately, Arab leaders often turn to violence to gain what they were unable to achieve at the negotiating table. When talks broke down at Camp David in 2000, Palestinian Arab leaders unleashed the al-Aqsa Intifada, which amounted to a full-blown guerrilla war against Israel.
It began the day before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, when Arab mobs hurled rocks from the Temple Mount onto Jewish worshipers praying at the Western Wall below. That rock attack turned into a steady campaign of terrorist attacks. As the priming powder for the Intifada, Palestinian leaders incited Palestinians and Muslims throughout the world with fables that falsely sugge sted that Jews began an assault on al-Aqsa when Ariel Sharon made a half-hour visit to the Temple Mount during tourist hours. The truth is that Palestinians’ plans for warfare had begun immediately after Arafat walked out of the Camp David talks....
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Robert Hand
Oct 2, 2015, 1:20:56 AM10/2/15
to
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:09:55 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday October 01, 2015
See articles 1 - 3 regarding the Syrian Civil War
What Putin's Syrian strategy means for Israel CLICK HERE for article and video
EU admits: Only one in five "Syrian refugees" are actually Syrian
Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media reports on a new finding by the EU's official statistics office: Only 21% of the "Syrian refugees" flooding Europe are actually Syrian.
YouTube video - 02:13 (Sep 22, 2015)
See articles 1 - 3 regarding the Syrian Civil War
What Putin's Syrian strategy means for Israel CLICK HERE for article and video
EU admits: Only one in five "Syrian refugees" are actually Syrian
Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media reports on a new finding by the EU's official statistics office: Only 21% of the "Syrian refugees" flooding Europe are actually Syrian.
YouTube video - 02:13 (Sep 22, 2015)
Contents: (summaries below)
- Top NATO general: Russians starting to build air defense bubble over Syria, washingtonpost.com, Thomas Gibbons-Neff
- Ya'alon: We made it clear to Russia that Israel will continue to protect its interests, jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- The Islamic State's Frantic Response To The Wave Of Refugees Fleeing Syria, MEMRI, Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 1187, R. Green
- New U.S. Army patch for fight against the Islamic State closely resembles Muslim Brotherhood logo, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Christian and Muslim refugees should be housed separately, says German police chief, telegraph.co.uk, Melanie Hall
- Palestinian president says he is no longer bound by Oslo Accords, msnbc.com, Zeina Karam, Associated Press
- US offer of anti-Iran bomb lands as a dud in Israel, al-monitor.com, Julian Pecquet
Thomas Gibbons-Neff
washingtonpost.com, September 29, 2015
Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, right, believes that Russia’s new presence in Syria is the first piece of an intricate layer of defensive systems designed to hinder U.S. and coalition operations in the region. (Adam Warzawa)
While Russia’s stated goal in moving into Syria is to fight the Islamic State, NATO’s top commander believes Russia’s new presence includes the first pieces of an intricate layer of defensive systems deployed to hinder U.S. and coalition operations in the region.
“As we see the very capable air defense [systems] beginning to show up in Syria, we’re a little worried about another A2/AD bubble being created in the eastern Mediter ranean,” said Breedlove to an audience at the German Marshall Fund Monday.
A2/AD stands for anti-access/area denial. During the early stages of warfare, A2/AD could have been a moat around a castle, or spikes dug into the ground—anything to keep the enemy off a certain swathe of territory. In the 21st century, however, A2/AD is a combination of systems such as surface-to-air missile batteries and anti-ship missiles deployed to prevent forces from entering or traversing a certain area—from land, air or sea....
Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, September 29, 2015
Israel has made it clear to Russia that it will continue to act in Syria to protect its interests when necessary, and will not coordinate activities such as retaliating to Syrian cross-border fire with Moscow, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday.
He spoke a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed "concern" over Israeli strikes in Syria, and two days after IDF artillery units struck two Assad regime artillery positions in response to stray, cross-border Syrian fire that struck the Golan Heights.
During visit to Gaza-border communities, Ya'alon said, "Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear to president Putin that we are not involved in who will control Syria. Assad or not Assad, we are not entering that discussion at all. But we have interests, and when they are threatened we act, and we will continue to act. This has been clarified to the President of Russia, and here is the result. During the [Sukkot holiday] we acted a gainst every violation or harm of our interest… those who try to violate our sovereignty – we will strike them, and those who try to transfer advanced weapons to terror elements, with an emphasis on Hezbollah, we will strike them, and those who try to transfer chemical weapons to terror elements, we will strike them."
"We have no intention of giving up our ability to defend our interests. And I suggest that no one tests us," Ya'alon warned.
R. Green
MEMRI, Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 1187, September 28, 2015
...A writer calling himself Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ayoub Al-Qurashi summed up this argument by stating: "Perseverance against hardship in the land of the caliphate is better than a carefree life in a land in which the Lord of Glory is cursed and in which a child is attributed to him [i.e. a Christian land], in which His shari'a is prevented and depravities and abominations are abundant."[10]
Tweet by the French Islamist design team LVD. "To give up and flee towards the European mirage or fight the secular bloody dictatorships of the Arab regimes?" Images, left to right: "Flee towards the European paradise"; "Flee towards Allah's paradise"The Islamic Utopia Vs. The Impure West
Another prominent feature of ISIS propaganda is touting the contrast between its territories, presented as a utopia where Is lamic laws and values dominate, and European countries, ruled by ungodly laws and whose values are incompatible with those of Muslims.
One ISIS supporter tweeted in this vein: "Oh Muslims, the taghout[11] does not for one day want your good. Do not seek refuge with your enemy! Congratulations to the subjects of the commander of the faithful [the caliph, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi]: [they enjoy] safety and faith, happiness and prosperity in the shadow of a glorious Islamic caliphate… How can your heart agree to you living in a land where one of your neighbors might be a polytheist or loyal to the tawaghit or to the rawafid [Shiites]? Will you travel by sea seeking a land where pig is eaten, wine is consumed, and corruption and immorality are spoken of openly?"[12]
In a video, an ISIS cleric from Mosul asked: "Will those who left be secure? Will they be secure in their religion? Will they have sufficient religion and faith that will enable them to defend their religion and faith in the land of unbelief? Will they be able to carry out Allah's commands as they are fulfilled today in the state of the caliphate? Will they be able to pray the five prayers in the mosques? Will they be able to grow their beards, as the Islamic State ordered men to grow them in compliance with the command of the Prophet? Moreover, will they be able to protect their women? This is a country of prostitution, Allah protect us from it, this a land of immorality and wine, a land of fornication, a land of depravity, may Allah protect us from it. Oh Muslim, how can you protect your honor [i.e. your wife] in this land?"[13]...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, September 28, 2015
That’s fitting in Barack Obama’s America, since he so indefatigably aided the Brotherhood when they took power in Egypt and continued to do so even after they were toppled, and since the Brotherhood is a chief competitor to the Islamic State in wanting to establish a caliphate of its own. It’s also a fitting symbol for an America that is ideologically fractured and confused in the face of a growing Islamic jihad threat, and no longer confident of its own heritage or principles.
But this patch has no resemblance to U.S. Army patches of the past, which featured the American eagle and other recognizably American imagery, not the two swords of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In case you’re not sure which is which, the Brotherhood symbol is on the left and the Army patch is on the right.
Muslim Brotherhood and US Army patch
“Army to issue shoulder patch for ISIL fight,” by Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, September 24, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):...
Melanie Hall
telegraph.co.uk, September 28, 2015
...A few days earlier on Thursday evening, a fight broke out among up to 200 Syrian and Afghan refugees at a shelter in Leipzig, with migrants wielding table legs and slats.
German police have come under huge pressure during the refugee crisis as they are required to register new arrivals, settle conflicts in migrant homes and protect asylum seekers from Right-wing extremist protesters.
“The police have reached their absolute breaking point,” said Mr Radek. “Our officials are increasingly being called to confrontations in refugee homes. When there are 4,000 people in a home which only actually has places for 750, this confinement then leads to aggression where even a tiny thing like the corridor to the toilet can lead to violence.”
Mr Radek’s comments follow calls from German MPs from across the political spectrum for better protection for Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in asylum accommod ation.
Thuringia is currently the only German state to try to accommodate refugees separately according to their country of origin, following a decision from the state’s premier Bodo Ramelow from the Left party after an outbreak of violence at accommodation in the town of Suhl in August.
Germany officially expects to receive 800,000 asylum applications by the end of this year, although a senior figure has put this figure higher at one million.
German chancellor Angela Merkel's bold open-door policy for refugees has hit her usually high popularity ratings as well as brought a backlash in her conservative ranks.
The initial party-like atmosphere at train stations in Germany in recent weeks where volunteers and members of the public greeted refugees with applause and sweets has since turned more sober, with Mrs Merkel, usually voted Germany's most popular politician, slipping to fourth place according to news magazine De r Spiegel.
Zeina Karam, Associated Press
msnbc.com, September 30, 2015
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrives to deliver his address during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, on Sept. 30, 2015. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared before world leaders Wednesday that he is no longer bound by agreements signed with Israel, and called on the United Nations to provide international protection for the Palestinian people.
It was Abbas’ most serious warning yet that he might walk away from engagement with Israel and dissolve the Palestinian Authority, although he stopped short of accompanying his threat with a deadline.
The 80-year-old leader had threatened to drop a “bombshell” in the s peech - prompting speculation he would sever ties with Israel over its settlement expansion and other hardline policies....
Julian Pecquet
al-monitor.com, September 21, 2015
Talk is heating up in Congress and the Pentagon about whether to share America’s massive new bunker-busting bomb as a warning to Iran, but Israel remains cool to the idea.The proposal is expected to come up during next month’s visit to Washington by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Nov. 9 meeting at the White House. Interviews with current and former top-ranking Israeli military officials, however, suggest a distinct lack of enthusiasm for a cumbersome super-weapon of dubious military value.
“This idea is irrelevant for Israel,” a senior Israeli officer told Al-Monitor. “It is way beyond our means [and] not worth the means, money and effort. We are not capable of maintai ning and sustaining it.”
Israeli military experts and former officials are equally skeptical....
Robert Hand
Oct 2, 2015, 10:29:31 PM10/2/15
to
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2015 21:26:03 -0500
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2015 13:40:03 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday October 02, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE |
| Your Link to Israel |
| Benjamin Netanyahu, at U.N., Continues to Condemn Iran Nuclear Deal CLICK HERE for video and article Cameron Calls Out Obama for Failure to Name Islamism UK Prime Minister David Cameron told Barack Obama at the UN that Islamist ideology is the biggest problem, not violence from other faiths. CLICK HERE for article and video The Invasion of Europe EXCELLENT VIDEO addressing the migration crisis. The EU is breaking the law to import rape and jihad. YouTube video - 06:22 (Sept 28, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Bipartisan House Majority Votes to Suspend Iran Sanctions Relief, freebeacon.com, Morgan Chalfant
- Iran troops to join Syria war, Russia bombs group trained by CIA, reuters.com, Laila Bassam and Andrew Osborn
- Islamic State gaining ground on Golan border as moderate rebels wither, timesofisrael.com, Elhanan Miller
- IDF deploys 4 battalions to West Bank after deadly shooting attack, jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- The EMP Threat Is Real and Growing, jinsa.org, Dr. Bryan Gabbard and Amb. Robert Joseph
- Germany's Sharia Refugee Shelters, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
- Palestinian Groups Ahead of ISIS in Destroying Antiquities, camera.org, Sean Durns
Morgan Chalfant
freebeacon.com, October 01, 2015
Rep. Patrick Meehan/APA bill that would bar the Obama administration from releasing billions of dollars in sanctions relief to Iran before Tehran pays $43.5 billion it owes to victims of terrorism passed the House with a bipartisan majority.
The legislation, called the Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act, was introduced by Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.) earlier this week and passed in a 251-173 vote Thursday. Companion legislation has also been introduced by Sens. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) and Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) in the Senate.
On Wednesday, Meehan and other House lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill to publicize the bill, which would compel Iran to pay the legal penalties awarded to U.S. victims of Iranian terrorism and their families by U.S. courts. They were joined by Kenneth Stet hem, a former Navy SEAL and brother of an American victim of Iranian terrorism, who is a member of one of the many families to whom Iran has refused to pay damages....
Laila Bassam and Andrew Osborn
reuters.com, October 02, 2015
Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join a major ground offensive in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government, Lebanese sources said on Thursday, a sign the civil war is turning still more regional and global in scope.
Russian warplanes, in a second day of strikes, bombed a camp run by rebels trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the group's commander said, putting Moscow and Washington on opposing sides in a Middle East conflict for the first time since the Cold War.
Senior U.S. and Russian officials spoke for just over an hour by secure video conference on Thursday, focusing on ways to keep air crews safe, the Pentagon said, as the two militaries carry out parallel campaigns with competing objectives.
"We made crystal clear that, at a minimum, the priority here should be the safe operation of the air crews over Syria," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.
Two Lebanese sources told R euters hundreds of Iranian troops had reached Syria in the past 10 days with weapons to mount a major ground offensive. They would also be backed by Assad's Lebanese Hezbollah allies and by Shi'ite militia fighters from Iraq, while Russia would provide air support....
Elhanan Miller
timesofisrael.com, October 01, 2015
A Syrian rebel aims his rifle from inside a classroom at a school in the town of Deir Baalbeh in Homs province, Syria, February 22, 2012. (AP, File)As Russian airstrikes on Wednesday and Thursday targeted rebel groups in central and northern Syria, many of them reportedly unaffiliated with the Islamic State, Islamist groups in the south are growing stronger, with IS fighters now operating openly near the border with Israel, an opposition spokesman said on Thursday.
Speaking to The Times of Israel from Jordan, where he serves from within the joint Western-Arab command center in Amman known as MOC, the spokesman of Free Syrian Army units active in the provinces of Daraa and Quneitra said that an estimated 500-700 Islamic State fighters are currently active in the towns of Jamlah and Ash-Shajarah, ad jacent to the Israeli border in the southern Golan Heights.
Further east, moderate forces are attempting to push back IS fighters trying to occupy al-Lajjah, an area north of the town of Basr al-Harir.
Western training for moderate rebel fighters in Jordan has not taken place in five months, he added, and no ammunition or weaponry has reached the Free Syrian Army on the southern front in three months....
Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, October 01, 2015
IDF troops operating in the West Bank. (photo credit: IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
The IDF ordered four battalions to join existing military forces in the West Bank in the wake of a terror attack in which an Israeli couple was shot and killed. The decision was made following a security evaluation held by IDF General Staff on Thursday night.
A Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israeli parents in a shooting attack on their vehicle in Samaria, between Elon Moreh and Itamar on Thursday night.
The couple's four of their young children survived the attack without injury and were rescued by emergency responders from the bullet-ridden vehicle....
Dr. Bryan Gabbard and Amb. Robert Joseph
jinsa.org, October 02, 2015
Ongoing crises make it difficult for policymakers to devote sufficient attention to electromagnetic threats, which are less prominent but potentially catastrophic. Events that reflect our growing vulnerability to these threats often slip quickly from the front page, as did the cyberattack against Sony Pictures. Others, such as solar storms across Alaska in March and the accidental power station explosion in April that left Washington, D.C. in the dark, go mostly unnoticed. And even events that dominate headlines, like the Iran nuclear agreement, don't tell the whole story about electromagnetic threats. As a nuclear threshold state, Iran may quickly race to build a bomb that could be used to conduct a devastating electromagnetic attack against the United States.
Our nation is increasingly reliant on technology to manage and monitor the network of systems that deliver our basic goods and services, and our system for generating and distributing electricity i s the core of this network. A failure here could cascade across other vital national infrastructures, severely disrupting everything we take for granted, from food and water to cell service and sewer systems. However, little has been done to take the necessary steps to protect our infrastructures, thus our vulnerability only continues to increase. As this dangerous condition grows, the devastation that would follow such an attack also multiplies, making electromagnetic attacks an increasingly attractive option to U.S. adversaries. This is compounded by the fact that nuclear proliferation has resulted in new capabilities for those who may be more inclined to exploit our vulnerabilities to electromagnetic attack, particularly rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea.
Of special concern are natural events and man-made electromagnetic threats that expose and exploit weaknesses based on the very strengths of our modern digital society. Solar geomagnetic storms create im mediate and intense energy fields that may disrupt electrical and microelectronic systems, potentially on a continental scale. Cyberattacks, intentional electromagnetic interference weapons and high-altitude EMP attacks produced by the detonation of a nuclear device above the atmosphere could cripple our critical infrastructure and wreak havoc on the lives of millions of Americans....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, October 01, 2015
...Violent brawls are becoming commonplace at German refugee shelters across the country.
In the past two months alone, dozens of violent brawls and riots between different groups of migrants have erupted in Germany's refugee shelters.On September 30, migrants went on a rampage at a refugee center in Braunschweig, a city in Lower Saxony. On September 29, Syrian migrants clashed at a refugee shelter in Gerolzhofen, a small town in Bavaria. Also on September 29, migrants from Algeria and Mali clashed at a refugee center in Engelskirchen, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia.
On September 28, more than 150 Syrians and Pakistanis clashed at a refugee shelter on Nöthnitzer Straße in Dresden. The migrants attacked each other with wooden planks and metal bars. Two dozen police officers were needed to restore order. More than 30 Syrians and Pakistanis clashed at the same shelter on August 10.
Also on September 28, between 100 and 150 migrants of different nationalities clashed at a refugee shelter in Donaueschingen, a town in the Black Forest. The trouble started over a dispute about who should be able to use the shower facilities first. On September 22, more than 400 migrants marched through town to protest conditions at the same facility. On September 15, a male migrant was attacked by another migrant for using a female bathroom at the shelter.
On September 24, around 100 Syrians and Afghans clashed at a refugee shelter in Leipzig, the largest city in Saxony. The fight broke out after a 17-year-old Afghan pulled a knife on an 11-year-old Syrian girl at the shelter, which houses 1,800 migrants. On September 23, migrants clashed at a refugee shelter for unaccompanied minors in Nuremberg....
Sean Durns
camera.org, September 25, 2015
Destruction of antiquities and ancient artifacts by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has received considerable news media attention. Not so for other acts meant to erase the history of pre-Islamic peoples.
A Lexis-Nexis search shows that from July to September 2015, 13 editorials and articles appeared in The Washington Post alone on the threat to and eventual destruction by ISIS of one notable ancient site: the ancient Roman city of Palmyra in Syria. Yet, ISIS is far from alone when it comes to defacing and destroying evidence of ancient, non-Islamic civilizations.
Just as the al-Qaeda breakaway and now larger terrorist movement seeks to destroy antiquities that reflect a time before Islam (in Islamic terminology the Jahiliyyah or “age of ignorance”) and the Taliban dynamited the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan statues in Afghanistan in 2001, Palestinian Arabs have sought to erase evidence of the existence of the Jews on the land of Israel (eretz Yisrael) that predates any Arab or Muslim presence.
In August 2015, ISIS destroyed a fifth-century Christian monastery in the Syrian town of Qaryatain, claiming that the monastery was “worshipped without God.” The destruction received considerable media coverage, for example “Islamic State Destroys Assyrian Christian Monastery in Syria,” The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 21, 2015.
In 2013, more than 200 terror attacks occurred at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, where the Jewish matriarch Rachel is said to be buried—119 of those attacks included the use of explosives at the sacred site. Contrasted with its coverage of ISIS destructions, 2013 saw only one Washington Post three-sentence mention of attacks on Rachel's Tomb (“Palestinian inmate buried as leaders try to halt unrest,” Feb. 26, 2013). And even that was confined to the bottom of an article detailing the death of a Palestinian terroris t....
Robert Hand
Oct 6, 2015, 12:58:07 AM10/6/15
to
Subject: Today's News Summaries
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015 23:56:18 -0500
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015 13:40:27 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday October 05, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
ISIS so weakened by Russian airstrikes and desertion it could be destroyed in HOURS CLICK HERE for article, picture and video IMPORTANT PRO-ISRAEL VIDEOS Graham Speaks Out Against Obama's Disastrous Nuclear Deal with Iran YouTube video - 15:34 (Sept 10, 2015) Rubio: Obama Administration’s Treatment Of Israel Is A “Historic And Tragic Mistake” YouTube video - 15:54 (Mar 20, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The Iran Deal is not fully agreed and no one wants to talk about it, MEMRI, Yigal Carmon, President and Founder
- Iran: Missiles Pointed at U.S. Targets, freebeacon.com, Adam Kredo
- Column one: Israel's risk aversion problem, jpost.com, Caroline B. Glick
- Palestinian Stabbings Cause Jewish Blood to Flow in the Streets of Jerusalem, unitedwithisrael.org, Michael Bachner, Tazpit News Agency and United with Israel staff
- Israelis Fear Start of Third Intifada Following Series of Deadly Terror Attacks, breakingisraelnews.com, Lea Speyer
- Israel's Survival Amid Expanding Chaos, newenglishreview.org, Louis Rene Beres
- Obama surrenders the Middle East to Russia, and it matters, familysecuritymatters.org, Dr. Robin McFee
Yigal Carmon, President and Founder
MEMRI, October 04, 2015
On September 3, 2015, not two months after the July 14 announcement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action at Vienna and its celebration at the White House and in Europe, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dropped a bombshell.
In a speech to the Iranian Assembly of Experts, he backtracked from the agreement, demanding a new concession: that the sanctions be “lifted,” not merely “suspended.”[1] If that term is not changed, said Khamenei, there is no agreement. If the West only “suspends” the sanctions, he added, Iran will merely “suspend” its obligations. Giving further credence to his threat, he announced that it is the Iranian Majlis that must discuss and approve the agreement (or not), because it represents the people – when it is well known that the majority of its members oppose it, and Iranian President Hassan Rohani made every effort to prevent such a discussion in the Majlis from taking place.
Adding insult to injury, Ali Akbar Velayati, senior advisor to Khamenei and head of Iran’s Center for Strategic Research, said on September 19 that the negotiations, concluded and celebrated less than two months previously on July 14, are actually “not over yet.”[2]
Khamenei’s demand to replace “suspension” with “lifting” is not just semantic. It is a fundamental change, because the snapback of sanctions – the major security mechanism for the entire agreement – cannot take place with “lifting,” but only with “suspension.”...
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com, October 05, 2015
The chief of the aerospace division of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, left, listens to an unidentified colonel as he points to US RQ-170 Sentinel drone/APA senior Iranian military leader warned this weekend that “all U.S. military bases in the Middle East are within the range of” Iran’s missiles and emphasized that the Islamic Republic will continue to break international bans on the construction of ballistic missiles.
Much of this missile work, like the details of Iran’s advanced arsenal, remains secret, according to Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force.
Hajizadeh dismissed the threat of military action by the United States, warning that all U.S. assets and allies are in range of Iran& rsquo;s current missile arsenal, according to comments made Sunday in Tehran and recorded by Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency.
The threats of attack on the United States were issued as Iran unveiled new high-tech torpedoes and the formation of a joint war room along with Russia, Syria, and Iraq....
Caroline B. Glick
jpost.com, October 01, 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow. (photo credit: Reuters)
On Wednesday the Obama administration was caught off guard by Russia’s rapid rise in Syria. As the Russians began bombing a US-supported militia along the Damascus-Homs highway, Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at the UN. Just hours before their meeting Kerry was insisting that Russia’s presence in Syria would likely be a positive development.
Reacting to the administration’s humiliation, Republican Sen. John McCain said, “This administration has confused our friends, encouraged our enemies, mistaken an excess of caution for prudence and replaced the risk s of action with the perils of inaction.”
McCain added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had stepped “into the wreckage of this administration’s Middle East policy.”
While directed at the administration, McCain’s general point is universally applicable. Today is no time for an overabundance of caution....
Michael Bachner, Tazpit News Agency and United with Israel staff
unitedwithisrael.org, October 04, 2015
An upsurge of Palestinian terror attacks against Jews during Sukkot has killed 4 innocent Israelis and orphaned 14 children. As Jewish blood flows in the streets of Jerusalem, the Palestinians are celebrating, calling the terrorists “heroes.”
A series of deadly Palestinian attacks shook Jerusalem, sparking protests, demonstrations and tension throughout the capital.
On Saturday night – a day after the burial of Eitam and Naama Henkin, who were murdered Thursday evening in Samaria on their way home from Sukkot festivities, in the presence of their children – a Palestinian terrorist stabbed four Israelis in the Old City, killing two men. The victims were Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi, 41, a father of seven, and Aaron Bennett, 24, a father of one.
Bennett’s wife Adele and their baby were also wounded in the attack....
Lea Speyer
breakingisraelnews.com, October 04, 2015
Israeli police standing near the body of a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed a 15-year-old man outside Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday morning, October 4, 2015. (Photo: Flash90)Israelis are bracing for what many have begun to call the start of a Third Intifada following a series of deadly and violent Palestinian terror attacks across Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
Late Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, two incidents in Jerusalem’s Old City left two Israeli men killed and three others injured.
Following the conclusion of the Sabbath, a Palestinian terrorist, identified as 19-year-old Muhanad Shafeq Halabi from al-Bireh, near Ramallah, stabbed Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Bennett to death. Bennett&rsq uo;s wife and two-year-old son were injured in the attack.
Israeli security forces responding to the attack shot dead the terrorist. Bennett’s wife remains in serious condition after undergoing emergency surgery. The baby was lightly wounded and remains in stable condition....
Louis Rene Beres
newenglishreview.org, October 01, 2015
In world politics, preserving order has an understandably sacramental function. The reason is plain. Without minimum public order, planetary relations would descend rapidly and perhaps irremediably into a “profane” disharmony.
It has happened before, since time immemorial.
To be sure, generalized anarchy is not entirely new. In fact, in one form or another, it has long been an integral feature of international relations. This unsteady condition of structurally decentralized authority was even codified at the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648. Nonetheless, it should be borne in mind, anarchy is always less threatening or destabilizing than true chaos.
Today, in the Middle East especially, the fully “normal” absence of supranational authority is being transformed and worsened by something unique and potentially devastating. This “something” is the palpable and simultaneous disintegration of national boundarie s, classical power balances, and collective security remedies. Within this literally dreadful pattern of system-wide dissolution, tens of millions of stateless refugees now wander desperately across the earth. At the same time, presumptively sober jurisprudential limits on the spread of nuclear weapons have come to represent little more than a humiliating parody of effective legal controls.
Soon, too, a conspicuously stark juxtaposition of pre-modern ideologies with futuristic weapons could define an unprecedented challenge for dealing with chaos....
Dr. Robin McFee
familysecuritymatters.org, September 29, 2015
Putin asserts it is difficult to defeat ISIS without the current Syrian government. Whether that government is a puppet of Iran and Russia, is currently irrelevant. Putin is correct. Syria could act as a magnet to draw in ISIS fighters, and a kill box within which to defeat them, or at least eliminate a not insignificant number of their fighters.Putin has doubled down on Syria in recent days. No news there. He has had bases in that beleaguered nation for years. He is in a good position to weaken ISIS in the process - to a far greater degree than the US has been willing to do.
Speaking of which, Obama, not having learned anything from his many foreign policy misadventures in the region, has decided to invest in Syrian "rebels" who somehow have become virtuous patriots - instead of merely anot her assemblage of Jihadists, former mujahideen, current members of the various Al Qaeda franchises, and to be clear, NOT friends of democracy or freedom fighters. Obama just doesn't get it. There are no freedom fighters or prodemocracy plays in that region. It is a war of the roses based upon religion, anti-West sensibilities, adherence to Sharia, tribal power skirmishes, and territorial control. The old saw ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend' is both tired, misrepresentative of the landscape, and a dangerous game for amateurs to play.
Syria is an important place - geographically and geopolitically. Putin knows this. More importantly, Assad is his ally. Putin - spy master, politician, businessman, diplomat, quasi-dictator, martial artist, energy expert, possible assassin, and global force to be reckoned with - recognizes the importance of supporting your allies. We could learn something from him, as we continue to abandon our friends, and give benef its to our enemies. Reputations matter. Consider this....If you had to select a second for a street fight, would you pick Putin or Obama? A sad reality, but who does the world trust more? Not who does the world use more, or misuse more, or abuse more, but trust or fear more....
Robert Hand
Oct 7, 2015, 1:08:23 AM10/7/15
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Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2015 13:10:20 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday October 06, 2015
| Muslim immigrants in Finland: "We want money" I have a feeling they want money for something other than food or medicine. YouTube video - 02:29 (Oct 4, 2015) JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
ISIS's First Step: Conquer Rome, Defeat Christianity ISIS has Rome in their cross hairs, but how real is the threat? One author unravels the terrorists' strategy to start an "Islamic Armageddon." YouTube video - 05:06 (Oct 2, 2015) Robert Spencer: The speech the U.S. Catholic Bishops don't want you to see YouTube video - 57:35 (Oct 5, 2015) BattleCat Exposes Obama’s Islamic and Racist Agenda In this new edition of The Glazov Gang, I was joined by BattleCat, a pro-American activist whose videos can be seen on her YouTube Channel BattleCat Avenger. YouTube video - 13:18 (Oct 1, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Charles Krauthammer: Obama's Syria debacle, kansascity.com, Charles Krauthammer
- PM: We will defeat terrorism as we have done before, israelhayom.com, Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies an Israel Hayom Staff
- Jerusalem in a Nutshell, mythsandfacts.org, Eli E. Hertz
- Lebanon reaps weapons windfall from Congress, al-monitor.com, Julian Pecquet
- ISIS Cuts Off Fingertips of 12-Yr Old Christian Boy, clarionproject.org,
- ISIS Blows Up Palmyra's Arch of Triumph, truthrevolt.org, Sarah Fisher
- Swedish bishop wants to remove crosses from church and mark direction of Mecca to make it more inviting for Muslims human rights, islam and violence, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- 135 Senior Legislative Leaders from 40 States and Puerto Rico Support Federal Legislation to #LiftTheBan, Speaker Boehner's Press Office, John Boehner, Speaker of the House
Charles Krauthammer
kansascity.com, October 05, 2015
"Russia hits Assad’s foes, angering U.S." — headline in The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1
If it had the wit, the Obama administration would be not angered but appropriately humiliated. President Barack Obama has once again been totally outmaneuvered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two days earlier at the United Nations, Obama had welcomed the return, in force, of the Russian military to the Middle East — for the first time in decades — to help fight the Islamic State.
The ruse was transparent from the beginning. Russia is not in Syria to fight the Islamic State. The Kremlin was sending fighter planes, air-to-air missiles and SA-22 anti-aircraft batteries. Against an Islamic State that has no air force, no planes, no helicopters?
Russia then sent reconnaissance drones over Western Idlib and Hama, where there are no Islamic State fighters. Followed by bombing attacks on Homs and other opposition strongholds that had nothing to do with the Islamic State.
Indeed, some of these bombed fighters were U.S.-trained and -equipped. Asked whether we didn’t have an obligation to support our own allies on the ground, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter bumbled that Russia’s actions exposed its policy as self-contradictory.
Carter made it sound as if the Russian offense was to have perpetrated an oxymoron, rather than a provocation — and a direct challenge to what’s left of the U.S. policy of supporting a moderate opposition.
The whole point of Russian intervention is to maintain Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power. Putin has no interest in fighting the Islamic State. Indeed, the second round of Russian air attacks was on rival insurgents opposed to the Islamic State. The Islamic State is nothing but a pretense for Russian intervention. And Obama fell for it....
Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies an Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, October 06, 2015
Israeli police stand guard at the Old City in Jerusalem [Archive]The Diplomatic-Security Cabinet approved late Monday night a series of measures proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quell the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism.
The crackdown on Palestinian violence includes the increased deployment of security forces across Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, razing terrorists' homes, constructing new roads to circumvent known flashpoints, and the administrative detention of individuals who incite violence and terrorism.
Additional measures approved Monday include tougher punitive action against incitement on social media, minimum prison sentences for stone-throwing and firebombing, and imposing hefty fines on the parents of minors involved in violent riots....
Eli E. Hertz
mythsandfacts.org, October 06, 2015
Jerusalem’s Jewish connection dates back more than 3,000 years. Even after Jews lost control of the city in 70 CE, a Jewish spiritual and physical bond with Jerusalem remained unbroken, despite 2,000 years of dispersion.
Although Islamic dynasties controlled Jerusalem for some 1,300 years, they never once made it the capital of an Arab state. Even Jordan, which controlled part of the city for 19 years, until 1967, refrained from making it its capital. Furthermore, Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran, Islam’s most holy book.
Given the central role Jerusalem plays throughout Jewish history; given Arabs dismal record toward the rights of Jews and Christians in a sensitive, sacred city like Jerusalem; and coupled with the Arabs’ horrific record of bringing carnage to the City of Peace; Israel has a legal, historical and moral right to control Jerusalem as its undivided capital. Jerusalem must remain a unified capital under Israe l’s exclusive sovereignty in order to protect the interests of the Jewish people and as the only guarantee that the interests of all other faiths will be protected.
Julian Pecquet
al-monitor.com, September 30, 2015
Tiny Lebanon is seeing its fortunes surge on Capitol Hill as fear of the Islamic State (IS) supplants any lingering concerns about Hezbollah.Congress over the past year has approved more than $1 billion in proposed arms sales for the Lebanese armed forces, including attack aircraft and helicopters. And lawmakers on Sept. 29 cemented Beirut's status as a key ally with the release of a compromise annual defense bill that puts Lebanon on equal footing with longtime partner Jordan.
The free flow of aid and weapons represents a sea change from the situation five years ago, when Congress briefly held up all military aid following an incident in which Lebanese soldiers shot and killed an Israeli officer on the border. Hezbollah's political dominance over the following three years caused further hand-wringing on Capitol Hill, but over the past few months Lebanon's military has emerged as a trusted backstop against Islamist militants of all stripes.
“The mood in Congress is definitely much more positive than years ago regarding the security assistance to Lebanon," said Joseph Gebeily, president of the Lebanese Information Center, a Washington-based think tank. "There is an increased recognition by members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, that it is important for US interests in Lebanon and the region.”...
clarionproject.org, October 06, 2015
An Islamic State terrorist reading out a crucifixion sentence in SyriaReports have emerged about the brutal killing of 12 Christians, including a 12-year-old boy, by the Islamic State in Syria.
The boy was the son of a Syrian ministry team leader who had started nine churches in Syria. The executions took place in village outside of Aleppo.
A spokesperson for Christian Aid said, “In front of the team leader and relatives in the crowd, the Islamic extremists cut off the fingertips of the boy and severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam. When the team leader refused, relatives said, the ISIS militants also tortured and beat him and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met t heir deaths in crucifixion."
Eight other aid workers were separately executed for refusing to denounce their faith. In front of a crowd that was summoned to watch, two of the workers, women aged 29 and 33, were raped before all eight were beheaded....
Sarah Fisher
truthrevolt.org, October 05, 2015
According to media reports, ISIS has blown up the Arch of Triumph in the Syrian city of Palmyra. Palmyra was a center for art and commerce in ancient Rome and the Arch was estimated to be 2,000 years-old.Maamun Abdulkarim, the country's head of antiquities, on Monday told Agence France-Presse he was told the "icon of Palmyra," which stood at the entrance to the UNESCO world heritage site, was destroyed by the militants on Sunday.
Abdulkarim also said that other antiquities have been booby-trapped with explosives.
"We are living through a catastrophe. Since the capture of the city, it has been one shock after another," he told AFP.
ISIS has destroyed several monuments in Syria that pre-date Islam, claiming the monmuments promote idolatry. [With every destructive act the ISIS militants attempt to rewrite history]...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 04, 2015
How wonderful and generous and ecumenical and multicultural this is. Watch for mosques everywhere to remove their mihrabs and install crosses so that Christians will feel comfortable praying there.
This is what a society and culture in the midst of suicide looks like.
Bishop Eva Brunne“Bishop wants to remove Christian symbols in the Seamen’s Church,” translated from “Biskopen vill ta bort kristna symboler,” SVT.se, September 29, 2015:
Bishop Eva Brunne has proposed to remove the Christian symbols of the Seamen’s Church in Freeport to make it more inviting for visiting sailors from other religions.
The bishop wants to temporarily make the Seamen’s Church available to all, for example by marking the direction of Mecca and removing Christian symbols, as is already done in common prayer rooms at airports and in some hospital chapel.
“Making a room available for people of other faiths does not mean that we are not defenders of our own faith. Priests are called to proclaim Christ. We do that every day and in every meeting with people. But that does not mean that we are stingy toward people of other faiths,” writes Bishop Eva Brunne…
Has aroused protests
The proposal has triggered protests. Patrik Pettersson, priest of the Oscars parish in Stockholm, thinks that the proposal is noteworthy and writes on his blog:
“The church chapel can not reasonably be equated with prayer rooms at airports and hospital chapels anyway. The Christian churches and chapels are not public areas at any time.”...
John Boehner, Speaker of the House
Speaker Boehner's Press Office, October 05, 2015
Thanks to private companies’ ingenuity and hard work, America has experienced an energy boom like no other. The U.S. now produces more oil than Saudi Arabia, and more oil and natural gas than Russia. The world market has been reshaped. Prices are down at the pump, and families have more money in their pocket because of it. American manufacturing is coming back.
But here’s a problem: all that American-made oil is stuck in the states because of an export ban established 40 years ago, in 1975. How does that make sense?
It doesn’t, and that’s why Republicans are leading the call to modernize America’s energy policy and lift the ban. Editorial boards across the country have backed the idea, agreeing it would create jobs, lower gas prices even further, help our economy, strengthen our global influence, and support our allies around the globe.
The House will vote on legislation to lift the ban soon, and support for it is growing. Today, 135 senior legislative leaders from 40 states and Puerto Rico sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, offering enthusiastic support of efforts to “end the federal ban on crude oil exports and lift existing restrictions on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.”...
Robert Hand
Oct 8, 2015, 2:50:52 PM10/8/15
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Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2015 13:48:49 -0500
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2015 13:14:06 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday October 08, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Wake up America! YouTube video - 02:27 (Oct 6, 2015) Iran's supreme leader bans negotiations with the United States CLICK HERE for video and article With Russia’s Dep. Army Chie f due in Israel, Moscow posts 64 S-300 ship-to-air missiles off Syria, N. Israel |
| AP INVESTIGATION: Nuclear smugglers sought extremist buyers CLICK HERE for video and article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- A rising tide of terror, timesofisrael.com, David Horovitz
- UN chief condemns recent killings of Palestinians, without mention of Israeli terror victims, JPost.com staff, Danielle Ziri
- It's Not a New Cold War, It's Worse, commentarymagazine.com, Noah Rothman
- The Nuclear Agreement Boosts Iran's Missile Threat, defensenews.com, Uzi Rubin
- The Russian-Iranian Gambit in Syria, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 308, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror
- Shariah Incompatible With the Constitution, IPT News, Pete Hoekstra
- Australia: Jihad murderer got his gun at mosque, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
David Horovitz
timesofisrael.com, October 07, 2015
Ambulances at the Western Wall following a terror attack where a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man near Lions’ Gate of Jerusalem's Old City on October 07, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)Terror attacks and attempted terror attacks unfolded Wednesday with a nauseating, dizzying frequency.
First, in the West Bank near the settlement of Tekoa on Wednesday morning, a Palestinian mob smashed the windscreen of Rivi Ohayon’s car, surrounded the vehicle, opened the door, and tried to attack her. Six other vehicles were hit by the stone-throwing mob; Israelis in the area fired on the attackers, badly injuring a Palestinian teenager.
Next, an 18-year-old Palestinian student stabbed an Israeli in the back at the entrance to the Old City in Jerusalem; the victim managed to fire on his female assailant. It later transpired that she’d written a Facebook post that morning, declaring that she was setting out to become a martyr.
In early afternoon in Kiryat Gat, a Palestinian stabbed a soldier on a bus, grabbed his gun, and raced to a nearby apartment. There, he tried to attack Liat Ohana, who somehow fought him off, pushed him into the kitchen, and fled with her mother. Security forces shot him dead.
In early evening, in Petah Tikva, yet another Palestinian assailant got off a bus and began stabbing a pedestrian, moderately injuring him with a series of wounds in the upper body. Other Israelis subdued the terrorist.
Throughout the day, too, there were stone-throwing incidents and clashes across the West Bank, with Israelis and Palestinians injured....
Danielle Ziri
JPost.com staff, October 06, 2015
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. (photo credit: Reuters)UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday expressed his concern over the recent surge in tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, condemning the killings of Palestinians without mention of Israeli terror victims.
The UN chief said he is "profoundly alarmed by the growing number of deadly incidents in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem."
"The Secretary-General welcomes the commitment by Palestinian and Israeli officials to work together to curb the violence, including through continued security cooperation," he added.
Ban said he did not believe that the demolition of homes belonging to Palestinian terrorists or the construction of new Israeli settlements "will do anything other than inflame t ensions still further."...
Noah Rothman
commentarymagazine.com, October 05, 2015
“It’s not a new Cold War,” President Barack Obama insisted in July of 2014. He was right, but Americans properly found this pronouncement of little comfort. The West’s now self-evident and almost open conflict with an expansionist Russia does not represent the start of a new Cold War; it’s much more alarmingly dangerous than that.It had only been 22 months since Barack Obama admonished Mitt Romney for what he described as a desire to mirror Ronald Reagan’s confrontational approach toward Russia. “The 1980s are calling,” the president quipped. “They want their foreign policy back.” By July of 2014, the 1980s had gotten their wish, not to mention a rapidly graying president. Less than a year earlier, Moscow provided Obama with a Trojan horse in the fo rm of a negotiated arrangement in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would surrender his chemical weapons stockpiles in order to forestall what Secretary of State John Kerry called the forthcoming “unbelievably small” retaliatory air campaign against the WMD-wielding regime. A settlement was reached, and the airstrikes never came, but the chemical weapons continued to exact their gruesome toll.
Five months prior, Obama’s efforts to reassure a nervous American press corps that the bad old days of mutual mistrust and conflict between Russia and the United States had not made a striking comeback, Russia invaded Ukraine. With a stunning brazenness, Vladimir Putin became the first European leader since Joseph Stalin to invade and annex sovereign territory in Europe. Just two weeks before Obama took to the podium in the attempt to mollify a concerned nation, forces loyal to Russia in Ukraine had killed hundreds of Westerners and Malaysians when the y inadvertently shot a passenger plane out of the sky.
The downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 reminded the world how a single incident can rapidly spiral out of control, and why unchecked aggression by one of the world’s foremost nuclear powers is so deadly serious. The president had and continues to refuse to provide Ukrainian forces with lethal aid so as to ensure that Putin suffered a bloody nose in his new European battlefield. Instead, in response to the dramatic escalation of tensions on the continent, Barack Obama announced a new round of sanctions on Russian individuals and institutions. He averred, however, that the 1980s had definitely not come calling for its foreign policy.
“What it is is a very specific issue related to Russia’s unwillingness to recognize that Ukraine can chart its own path,” the president said. The experts nodded and agreed. Russia, you see, could not afford its adventurism in Ukraine. It most c ertainly couldn’t absorb the economic shock of the sanctions regime under which it must now labor. But Putin had already achieved his objective in Ukraine by destabilizing the anti-Moscow regime in Kiev and creating a set of conditions on the ground that represent the new status quo. That conflict is now “frozen,” as are similar proto-wars in places like Georgia and Moldova, just waiting for the order from the Kremlin to thaw.
Moscow now has a bigger conflict to prosecute, one in which the United States cannot decline to engage. Russia had spent the better part of the last two months paving the way for intervention in the Syrian civil war. Last Monday, that campaign began with a dramatic attack on CIA-armed and trained rebels under the guise of airstrikes on the Islamic State. The United States immediately scrambled to pursue “deconfliction” talks with Moscow, with the singular purpose of establishing military-to-military contacts so that Russian and NATO forces operating in the Syrian theater wouldn’t accidently start shooting at each other. But Russia’s aim is to ignite conflict. Its desire is to prop up the ailing Assad regime and to force NATO assets and its proxies out of Western Syria (and, eventually, out of the country entirely). It is a farce to pursue “deconfliction” when triggering conflict is the whole purpose of this exercise....
Uzi Rubin
defensenews.com, October 05, 2015
...Like many other things in diplomacy, language is the key to this puzzle. Some ballistic missiles, such as the US Minuteman or the Russian Topol M, were built specifically for nuclear delivery. Operationally, they are “missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons.” Technically, however, there is nothing to prevent them from delivering conventional warheads if needed; in other words, they are “conventional capable.”
Similarly, many ballistic missiles that have been mainly built for conventional missions, such as the ex-Soviet Scud, are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. (The Scud could carry three types of nuclear bombs). In other words, they are “nuclear capable.”
Thus, the JCPOA limitation on “missiles designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads” can be interpreted in contradictory ways. For the supporters of JCPOA it means continued limitation on Iran’s “nuclear-capable missi les.” For Iran it means a limitation on missiles designed only for nuclear delivery — hence irrelevant, because all of Iran’s medium-range missiles are dual purpose.
What counts is not what JCPOA proponents say but what Iran does, so it stands to reason that the nuclear deal is not going to block or even slow down any of Iran’s missile programs. If anything, the money released by the JCPOA is bound to accelerate them....
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 308, October 06, 2015
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Russian-Iranian gambit in Syria will only inflame the volatile situation in the war-torn country. Sunni-Alawite animosity runs too deep to foster any hope for compromise. Israel must remain vigilant, and prevent terrorists from getting advanced weapons.The Russian airstrikes in Syria, the recent Iranian-Russian arms deal, and the coordination between Tehran, Moscow, Damascus, and Baghdad in the war against the Islamic State group all herald a change in the Middle East. The age of the Arab Spring, the disintegration of several regimes in the region, and the introduction of various organizations into the subsequent vacuum has come to its end, and this is the dawn of a new era, the nature of which is still uncertain.
Russia and Iran are taking advantag e of the weakness displayed by world leaders and are both trying, through their joint efforts, to expand their global influence and dominance, at least across as much as they can of the Fertile Crescent, which spans Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, and Egypt.
Russia brings its considerable international political clout and advanced military capabilities, mainly air defense systems, intelligence, and a modern air force to this equation, while Iran brings funds, imperative knowledge about the lay of the land, and Hezbollah — a large, trained, and well-armed fighting force, dedicated to doing its patron’s bidding....
Pete Hoekstra
IPT News, October 06, 2015
...Libya remains a bitterly divided failed state with one group supporting jurisprudence under the model created by Mohammad and another fighting for more democratic reforms while still pledging allegiance to Islamic law.
In Egypt, the government led by the Muslim Brotherhood focused on consolidating power rather than quickly imposing expanded facets of Shariah. However, the Muslim populace quickly rejected the actions and declarations of leaders dedicated to implementing stricter adherence to the fundamental teachings of the Koran.
Egyptians already dissatisfied with the economic performance under the stewardship of President Mohammed Morsi turned on him before he could impose what many believed was an agenda to introduce it gradually.
The sad irony is that in both Libya and Egypt, the Obama administration — a supposed champion of liberty and human rights — supported groups that wanted to ultimately enforce the code of law c hampioned by Mohammed once they gained power.
Another irony is that while people in both countries are fighting and dying for political freedom and against more radical Shariah interpretations, that debate can't even take place in the United States. Those who raise the issue are immediately labeled as Islamophobic.
Finally, the third example of Shariah is that inflicted by ISIS which allows for genocide of religious minorities in the so-called caliphate, an area comprised of large swaths of Syria and Iraq. Their practices are so barbaric that it's difficult to imagine anyone in the U.S. defending them....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 07, 2015
When was the last time you recall a Christian murderer killing a non-Christian and then screaming “Jesus is Lord!”? And then it coming to light that the murderer was given his gun at a local church that had other ties to violent Christians? Happens all the time, right?
Parramatta shooting“Parramatta shooting: Farhad Jabar’s gun allegedly came from Middle Eastern crime gang,” by Mark Morri, The Daily Telegraph, October 7, 2015
(thanks to Kenneth):
THE weapon used by teen terrorist Farhad Jabar was believed to be sourced from a Middle Eastern crime gang and police suspect it was handed to the schoolboy at the Parramatta mosque….
The terror teen had been a regular member of an Islamic schoolyard prayer meeting being audited by the s tate government....
Robert Hand
Oct 9, 2015, 10:21:27 PM10/9/15
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Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2015 21:02:42 -0500
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2015 12:51:03 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday October 09, 2015
| The Glazov Gang-Islamic Lobbyist Saba Ahmed vs. Ex-Muslim Nonie Darwish on “Taqiyya”. YouTube video - 23:18 (Oct 5, 2015) Facebook to launch Israeli satellite to bring Africa online Social media giant partners with France's Eutelsat Communications to launch AMOS-6 satellite and expand internet access everywhere. CLICK HERE for article |
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 Did the UN General Assembly 'get' Netanyahu's scolding? Fox News video - 5:37 (Oct. 01, 2015) U. S. officials conclude Iran deal violates federal law |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Abbas' UN Speech and the Unrest in Jerusalem, Jerusalem Issue Briefs, Vol. 15, No. 31, Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
- PM Netanyahu's Press Conference Statement , pmo.gov.il, PM Netanyahu
- Putin and the Shiite 'Axis of Resistance', thehill.com, David Schenker
- Gulf states increase arms to Syrian rebels in counter to Russia airstrikes, america.aljazeera.com, Tom Kutsch
- Why Israel Should Be Worried About Russia's Role in Syria, warontherocks.com, Nadav Pollack
- Europe's refugee crisis driven by Iran deal, ynetnews.com, Guy Bechor
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
Jerusalem Issue Briefs, Vol. 15, No. 31, October 07, 2015
...On September 30, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he outlined the unilateral steps he intends to take to achieve Palestinian sovereignty in the territories and east Jerusalem without reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
Abbas’s speech revealed his basic stance, which includes unequivocal support for terror, a racist attitude toward the Jewish people, an entrenched hatred for Israel, and a will to destroy it. The following are the main points of the speech.
Denying the Jewish people’s historical and religious bond with the Land of Israel and Jews’ right to worship on the Temple Mount
“Palestine is the land of holiness and peace, the birthplace of Jesus the emissary of love and the place of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven,” Abbas said. He pointedly refrained, as in his previous addresses, from mentioning that the land is also holy to the Jewish people whose history has been entwined with it for millennia.
Abbas also averred that Israel seeks —
“…to create a new reality [including allowing Jews to worship on the Temple Mount]…. The Israeli government is acting to implement this program in violation of the situation before and since 1967, and it is therefore committing a major error because we will not agree to this, and our Palestinian people will not accept the implementation of this plan, which inflames the feelings of the Palestinians and the Muslims everywhere…. It will transform the conflict from a political conflict to a religious one and wreak havoc in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian land.”
Thus, Abbas declared that the Palestinians will not tolerate Jewish religious activity on the Temple Mount....
PM Netanyahu
pmo.gov.il, October 08, 2015
Photo by Amos Ben Gershom, GPO Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Thursday, 8 October 2015), issued the following statement at a press conference with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and Israel Police Acting Commissioner Bentzi Sau:
"This has been another difficult day for all of us, citizens of Israel. We are in the midst of a wave of terrorism. Terrorists that have been incited and who are riven with hate are trying to attack our people – babies, children, men and women, civilians and soldiers.
Our hearts – the hearts of the entire nation – are with the families of the victims whose lives were cut short by reprehensible murderers. I n recent days and hours I have seen displays of heroism by soldiers, police and – no less – by civilians. I see this in Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat, Hebron, Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv and now in Afula.
Israelis are acting with bravery, composure and determination to neutralize and eliminate the terrorists. This requires extraordinary courage and resourcefulness and we are proud to be part of a country that has such citizens.
This vicious terrorism did not start today. It has accompanied the Zionist enterprise since its beginning. We have always known how to defeat the rioters and build up our country and so it will be now. The terrorists and the extremists behind them will achieve nothing. We will rebuff them and we will defeat them....
David Schenker
thehill.com, October 07, 2015
Getty ImagesIn the summer of 2006, the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah went toe to toe with Israel for 34 days. When the smoke cleared, Hezbollah declared "divine victory," and soon after, Middle Eastern capitals were plastered with posters featuring militia leader Hassan Nasrallah alongside his benefactors Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This Shiite so-called "Axis of Resistance" achieved widespread regional popularity, including unprecedented support among Sunni Muslims, which lasted until 2011, when Assad, backed by Hezbollah and Iran, began his campaign to eradicate Sunni regime opponents.
In the aftermath of Russia's deployment of an expeditionary force in Syria, a new slew of posters have appeared. The current iteration features images of Nasrallah, Assad, Khamenei, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with an Arabic caption that roughly translates "Men who bow to no one but God." The poster, reportedly displayed in central Damascus, suggests another emerging regional "Axis of Resistance." Unlike 2006, however, this new axis — which targets Syrian Sunnis instead of Israel — is deeply polarizing. Worse, the Obama administration, through acts of omission and commission, risks implicating the U.S. in the new alliance.
According to Putin, Russia has deployed to Syria to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). But the public diplomacy belies a more limited Russian objective focused on protecting an increasingly vulnerable Assad regime. Indeed, Moscow holds that all of Assad's opponents are "terrorists" and has no compunction targeting Islamic and secular militias alike. Confirming Russia's unofficial agenda, the first week of airstr ikes were directly almost exclusively at Idlib, Homs and Dera', regions of Syria absent significant ISIS presence. The administration says that Moscow is "intentionally" hitting CIA-backed rebels....
Tom Kutsch
america.aljazeera.com, October 08, 2015
A Saudi government source revealed on Thursday that Gulf Arab countries have ramped up their supply of weapons to Syrian rebel groups in response to Russia’s escalating military support of President Bashar al-Assad, adding yet another layer of complexity to the four-year old war.
The unnamed official told the BBC that the groups receiving aid were not affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), but included Western-backed groups such as the Free Syrian Army, as well as Jaysh al-Fatah, which has ties to the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.
Russia launched its airstrike campaign last week with the declared purpose of combating ISIL, which has wrestled control of large swathes of Syria from the Assad regime. However, Russia’s military has since targeted a broad range of anti-Assad Syrian rebel groups, including those now reportedly being sent increased military aid from the Gulf.
While Gulf states and Russia are both opposed to ISIL, they are at odds over the future role of Assad and non-ISIL Syrian rebel groups in any post-civil war Syria. Saudi Arabia and its allies have long supported those groups trying to overthrow Assad, while Russia sees little differentiation with most of the Syrian rebel groups who want to unseat Moscow’s longtime ally....
Nadav Pollack
warontherocks.com, October 08, 2015
Photo credit: Israel Defense ForcesOn September 21, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu met with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, a meeting that focused on staying out of each other’s way in Syria. According to statements by both leaders, it seems the meeting went well. Netanyahu emphasized Israel’s main concerns in Syria, namely arms shipments to Hezbollah and Iran opening a new front against Israel in southern Syria. Putin gave his own analysis of the situation, stressing that the Assad regime is weak. Both sides agreed on forming a joint committee to coordinate their military activities in Syria.
Watching from the sidelines, some analysts in Israel posited that this meeting — and Russia’s increased involvement in Syria — is a net positive for Isra el. Giora Eiland, who was the national security advisor under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told me in a conversation that the new alliance between Russia, Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah can deescalate tensions between this axis and Israel. For example, Eiland claimed that Hezbollah will need to take into account the Russian interest of maintaining peace with Israel and might therefore avoid provoking the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Curtailing the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s advance toward western Syria will be another benefit, according to former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. While these statements might make Israelis optimistic about Russia stepping up, they do not tell the full story. Overall, it appears that Russia’s involvement will be a net negative for Israel.
In recent years, Israel has worked very hard to prevent any advanced weapons systems from falling into the hands of Hezbollah, which is currently Israel’s most potent adversary. As early as January 2013, Israel drew a redline: It would not allow Syria and Iran to exploit the chaos in Syria to boost deliveries of sophisticated weaponry — advanced anti-ship missiles such as the Yakhont, or advanced surface-to-air missiles such as the SA-17 and SA-22 — to Hezbollah. On multiple occasions, the Israeli air force targeted these shipments and destroyed the weapons systems. This, it was hoped, would change the risk calculations of the parties involved....
Guy Bechor
ynetnews.com, October 08, 2015
Why is a wave of tens of thousands of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe on a daily basis? Why is there suddenly a huge jump in this wave, which the continent is facing astounded, confused and lost? The civil wars in the Middle East didn't start today, but are about to enter their sixth year. So why now?
The amazing answer is the nuclear deal with Iran. The millions of refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan had some vague hope that Syrian President Bashar Assad would fall one day, that the Islamic State would disappear one day, that one day all this might end. As soon as they saw that the nuclear deal had been signed, and that Iran would receive $150 billion and an end to the sanctions, they realized that what is happening in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon is not going to end in our lifetime.
Iran is now coming in to save Assad, to bolster the Shi'ite government in Baghdad and to save Hezbollah in Lebanon, and so the fire of ethnic fla mes eventually reach the sky. It was clear that the Sunni-Shi'ite war would only intensify following "the deal," but no one imagined that it would all spill over now and flow into Europe....
Robert Hand
Oct 13, 2015, 1:43:16 AM10/13/15
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Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:07:00 -0500
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 13:37:28 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday October 12, 2015
| The Glazov Gang-Robert Spencer on “The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS”. YouTube video - 12:58 (Oct 8, 2015) Doha and Adeeb: The story of the Iraqi family - Refugees found in Lebanon YouTube - 06:23 (Sep 23, 2015) |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Putin Unleashed, Weekly Standard, Vol. 21, No. 05 , John Bolton
- Obama will be the only person sticking to Iran deal, nypost.com, Amir Taheri
- The Moscow-Washington-Tehran Axis Of Evil, Accuracy in Media, Cliff Kincaid
- Russia's New Mega-Missile Stuns the Globe, thedailybeast.com, David Axe
- Islamic State advances over wide swaths of Aleppo, activists report, washingtonpost.com, Erin Cunningham
- Where's the feminist outrage over ISIS's savage treatment of women?, FoxNews.com, Phyllis Chesler
- The Social Media Intifada: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Used Extensively for Promoting Violence Against Israelis, algemeiner.com, Ruthie Blum
John Bolton
Weekly Standard, Vol. 21, No. 05 , October 12, 2015
By any objective measure, Russia has made a strategic decision to challenge America for dominance in the Middle East. Despite depressed global oil prices and economic sanctions intended to curb his Ukraine adventurism, Vladimir Putin is pursuing an undisguised effort to expand Moscow’s military power, political heft, and economic influence in a region long under Washington’s sway. Barack Obama has made no effective response, and none seems in prospect. The recent Obama-Putin meeting at the United Nations did not change that underlying reality.
Vladimir Putin, RussiaAt a minimum, Russia’s Middle East actions today uncannily resemble Scoop Jackson’s characterization of the Soviet Union as an “opportunistic hotel burglar who walks down the corridors trying all the door handles to see which door is open.” The Kremlin is probing for U.S. weaknesses, meddling across the region in ways unprecedented since Anwar Sadat expelled Soviet military advisers in the 1970s, reversed Egypt’s global orientation, and thereby ultimately enabled the Camp David accords with Israel.
Russia is not pursuing its objectives alone. It is strengthening allies and proxies such as Syria and Iran that regularly assist Moscow or undertake parallel, reinforcing initiatives to advance their own agendas. The ongoing, perhaps accelerating, region-wide deterioration of state structures facilitates Moscow’s assertiveness.
Russia’s recent rapid buildout of an air base at Latakia, Syria, is a palpable demonstration of military muscle, complementing its longstanding Tartus naval facility. Near term, it buttresses Bashar al-Assad’s rump Syrian regime, which is already heavily dependent on Iran (dire ctly and through Hezbollah) and facing enormous battlefield pressure from ISIS, al-Nusra, and the remaining Syrian “moderate” opposition....
Amir Taheri
nypost.com, October 11, 2015
Photo: WireImageSometime this week, President Obama is scheduled to sign an executive order to meet the Oct. 15 “adoption day” he has set for the nuclear deal he says he has made with Iran. According to the president’s timetable the next step would be “the start day of implementation,” fixed for Dec. 15.
But as things now stand, Obama may end up being the only person in the world to sign his much-wanted deal, in effect making a treaty with himself.
The Iranians have signed nothing and have no plans for doing so. The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has not even been discussed at the Islamic Republic’s Council of Ministers. Nor has the Tehran government bothered to even provide an official Persian translation of the 15 9-page text....
Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media, October 04, 2015
The conventional wisdom is that Vladimir Putin has blindsided Barack Obama in the Middle East, catching the U.S. off-guard. It’s another Obama “failure,” we’re told. “Obama administration scrambles as Russia attempts to seize initiative in Syria,” is how a Washington Post headline described it. A popular cartoon shows Putin kicking sand in the faces of Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry on a beach.
The conventional wisdom is driven by the notion that Obama has the best of intentions but that he’s been outmaneuvered. What if his intention all along has been to remake the Middle East to the advantage of Moscow and its client state Iran? What if he knows exactly what he’s doing? Too many commentators refuse to consider that Obama is deliberately working against U.S. interests and in favor of the enemies of the U.S. and Israel.
In his U.N. address, Obama said, “As President of the United States , I am mindful of the dangers that we face; they cross my desk every morning. I lead the strongest military that the world has ever known, and I will never hesitate to protect my country or our allies, unilaterally and by force where necessary.”
This is laughable. We still have a strong military, but the inevitable conclusion from what’s recently transpired is that he doesn’t want to protect the interests of the U.S. or its allies in the Middle East. This is not a “failure,” but a deliberate policy....
David Axe
thedailybeast.com, October 09, 2015
On Oct. 7, Russian warships in the Caspian Sea fired 26 high-tech cruise missiles at rebel targets in Syria—a staggering 1,000 miles away.The missiles in question, which the Pentagon calls SS-N-30s, were mostly unknown to the outside world before the Oct. 7 raid. Even close watchers of the Russian military were surprised to see them. The missile attack was also highly visible. In many ways, it was an announcement to the world, and America in particular, that the once-dilapidated Russian navy is back in action—and that Putin’s missileers are now among the planet’s most advanced.
Planning for the missile attack began on Oct. 5, six days after Moscow’s warplanes conducted their fi rst bombing runs on rebel holdouts in western Syria. Russia is intervening in Syria ostensibly to help the Damascus regime defeat the so-called Islamic State widely known as ISIS, but the Russian attacks seem to be hitting ISIS’s enemies more than the terror army itself. What’s more, critics point out, Syria provides Moscow strategic access to the Mediterranean Sea....
Erin Cunningham
washingtonpost.com, October 09, 2015
BEIRUT — Islamic State militants swept into villages in northwestern Syria as part of a surprise offensive against rival insurgents on Friday, activists said. The militants threatened the country’s largest city, Aleppo, and dealt a blow to more moderate rebels under fire from Russian warplanes.
The Islamic State advance comes as Russia has backed a Syrian government offensive against rebel fighters elsewhere in the north and west in recent days. Russia says its military intervention in Syria is aimed at defeating the Islamic State. But most of Russia’s airstrikes have targeted Western-backed rebels instead of Islamic State infrastructure, U.S. officials say.
The Islamic State extremists, who have captured wide swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, seized at least five villages and a rebel-held infantry school in Aleppo province on Friday, according to Syrian activists and an online statement issued by the group. The gains were t he most significant for the Islamic State in Syria in months, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group....
Phyllis Chesler
FoxNews.com, October 08, 2015
Why would any woman who lives in a free society in the West choose to live under ISIS’s barbaric tyranny? Doesn’t she know that Syrian and Iraqi women (Muslims, Christians, Yazidis, Kurds) are desperate to flee the region, that they fear being captured, forcibly married, forcibly converted to Islam—or tortured as sex slaves?
I ask these questions because the Washington Post is currently running an in-depth look at “Life in the ‘Islamic State.’” Part two of the multi-part series focuses on women. The report is chilling and difficult to read.
The Post’s series reminds us that not all women are treated the same way under the men in charge of ISIS. -- There are wives and then there are literally sex slaves.
Tragically, we already know the fate of the lucky “wives.” They lead isolated lives spent mostly indoors without electricity or clean water. They wear heavy head-face -and-body covering in 100 degree weather--and they are monitored, harassed, and punished by a sadistic all-female brigade if their burqa slips. According to the Post they join “an institutionalized, near-assembly-line system to provide fighters with sex and children. When their (arranged marriage) husbands are killed, they are expected to celebrate their ‘martyrdom’ and quickly marry other fighters.”
The sex slaves are not even this “lucky.” The mainly Yazidi and Christian girls and women who are forced into sex slavery are raped up to thirty times a day by different men. They are forced to perform pornography-inspired acts which terrify and injure them. As members of a shame-and-honor tribal culture, most believe that they no longer deserve to live. Many attempt suicide; some succeed. Many are sold, over and over again—and trafficked to Saudi Arabia or Northern Africa....
Ruthie Blum
algemeiner.com, October 08, 2015
“All the rioters and rock-throwers we are seeing have smartphones, computers, websites and Facebook and Twitter accounts,” Palestinian affairs expert Khaled Abu Toameh told The Algemeiner on Thursday, following multiple stabbing attacks against Israelis throughout the day across the country.Abu Toameh was responding to the question of the role of social media in what the Palestinian street has been calling the “third intifada.”
Israeli officials and analysts deny that the recent spate of violence is an organized uprising, in the vein of the first intifada (from 1987-1991), characterized by rock-throwing and Molotov cocktails, and the second (from 2001-2005) suicide-bombing war.
But when &ldquo ;lone wolf” attacks occur several times daily, as they have been for weeks now, a new definition is sought for a terror wave that appears like a kind of “spontaneous combustion.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the Palestinian Authority leadership for the surge in violence, attributing it to incitement.
“But incitement comes in different forms,” said Abu Toameh. “There is the kind that Abu Mazen [P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas] systematically engages in to rile up his population; and there is also the kind that is spread and fostered by peers and activists, who use social media as a tool to organize riots and encourage one another to become ‘martyrs’ for the cause.”...
Robert Hand
Oct 14, 2015, 1:36:03 AM10/14/15
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Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:10:32 -0500
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2015 12:19:48 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday October 13, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| GRAPHIC: Powerful blasts rock Ankara peace rally, dozens killed YouTube video - 01:28 (Oct 10, 2015) Palestinian Terror Wave Prompts Media Bias Wave |
 This is what the independent Palestinian news agency Ma'an terms a "protester" |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran lawmakers vote to implement nuclear deal, washingtonpost.com, Nasser Karimi
- Terrorism epidemic, jpost.com, Boaz Ganor
- The Palestinian Intifada Turns into a Religious War, fiammanirenstein.com, Fiamma Nirenstein
- Actions Speak Louder than Words, The Jerusalem Connection , Victor Sharpe
- Arab states urge Abbas to restore calm; fewer at West Bank protests Monday, timesofisrael.com, Avi Issacharoff
- UNRWA holds pledging conference at UNHQ in New York, imra.org.il, Dr. Aaron Lerner
- German authorities accused of playing down refugee shelter sex crime reports, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
Nasser Karimi
washingtonpost.com, October 13, 2015
Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi speaks in an open session of parliament while discussing a bill on Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s parliament voted Tuesday to support implementing a landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers despite hard-line attempts to derail the bill, suggesting the historic accord will be carried out.
The bill will be reviewed by Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, a group of senior clerics who could return it to lawmakers for further discussion. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on key policies, has said it is up to the 290-seat parliament to approve or reject the deal....
Boaz Ganor
jpost.com, October 11, 2015
MDA at Afula terror incident. (photo credit: MDA)
Terrorism is the deliberate use of violence against civilians to achieve political goals. Israel is in the midst of a wave of terrorist attacks caused by nationalistic and mostly religiously-motivated terrorists, who are fueled by incitement blaming Israel for attempting to profane the Aksa Mosque and change the status quo on the Temple Mount.
These inciting messages have been vocalized for a long time by Palestinian terrorist organizations and in particular by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), but they received additional impetus when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas joined the chorus of instigators calling for Israel to stop “contaminating the Temple Mount” and King Abdullah II of Jordan blamed Isr ael for undermining the status quo. These declarations served as catalysts that spurred young, incensed and impassioned protesters to hit the streets and take the law into their own hands by killing and wounding Israelis....
Fiamma Nirenstein
fiammanirenstein.com, October 10, 2015
Spurred by a lie, namely that the Al Aqsa Mosque is in danger and that Israel wants to destroy the status quo, violence is escalating in Israel. Fatah’s leadership is capitalizing on such a lie: despite the enormous mess in Syria, the whole Islamic world must now set its sights on the tired Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But this is also a dangerous lie, as it lights the fuse of religious fanaticism and brings the confrontation further away from any political solution. After that dozens of people were hit in a week by stones and knives that made dead and wounded, the stabbings on Friday have been three: a 14 year old boy was injured in Jerusalem, an Israeli Arab woman has been hit in Afula to the north, and a soldier on guard was assaulted in Kiryat Arba.
In turn, a deranged young Jew wounded three Arabs in the city of Dimona out of personal revenge. The act was immediately condemned by Netanyahu. At the border with Gaza, while Ismail Haniyeh recognized the participation of Hamas in the clashes, the army killed seven Palestinians attempting to go into Israel amid a demonstration of four hundred people. Heniyeh asked his people to go and pursue terrorist attacks inside Israel, and some tenths succeeded in entering the border.
Abbas tries now to water down the situation, knowing that an explosion can significantly damage his position as well, and Netanyahu has banned ministers and parliamentarians from entering the Mosques Esplanade. But the hashtag "Third Intifada" praises the "martyrs" and invites to join them: once again the hatred of terrorism bites the existence especially of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It seems impossible that history can spill so much blood in this beautiful little town.
Now people in the street know that anyone can hide a knife. Silence has made its come back in the streets, the silence of those moments when, like in the Second Intifada, the suicide bombers emptied buses, malls , restaurants, cafes, cinemas. However, even if today like yesterday the citizens of Jerusalem are reactive, determined not to give up. Every time that a terrorist attack occurs, not only the police comes running, but also the people defend their fellow citizens. The mayor of Jerusalem said: "Those who have a weapon shall carry it around". Generally, a quiet character such as Nir Barkat does not invite citizens to self-defense, and this looks like an admission of impotence of the official forces that expresses the sense of anxiety in the capital. Some families keep children at home; those who have to go to the grocery store or to work rushes towards the goal....
Victor Sharpe
The Jerusalem Connection , October 11, 2015
We should all be indebted to Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for their tireless work in exposing the Jew hating crime family that is known as the Palestinian Authority.
With the growing and lethal murder spree by Arab Muslim thugs against Israeli Jews – clearly instigated by Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mamzer) – the October 8, 2015 bulletin in Palestinian Media Watch is particularly instructive.
As Marcus and Zilberdik point out, for these Arabs who call themselves Palestinians, the grisly picture of a young Israeli couple – Naama and Eitam Henkin, murdered in front of their four children last week – is “most significant” and “brings joy to Palestinians who see the killing as heroic.”
Marcus and Zilberdik reveal again and again how the Islamo-Nazi Arabs, who call themselves Palestinians, revel in an orgy of perverted joy when they are murdering Israeli Jews.
But so many Israel is are justifiably questioning the policies of Israel’s leadership, from the Prime Minister down, which appear lacking in effective measures against fatal Arab thuggery; to put it mildly....
Avi Issacharoff
timesofisrael.com, October 13, 2015
Palestinians run from tear gas during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank, Monday, Oct. 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Several Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last week to work to calm tensions and prevent further escalation of violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The states are concerned that the violence could mark the start of a third intifada.
The Arab governments expressed concern that a full-blown intifada would lead to a loss of control over the Palestinian street and lead to the empowerment of extremist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad....
Dr. Aaron Lerner
imra.org.il, October 12, 2015
Twenty-two UN member states are planning to pledge US$ 100 million to support next year’s budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, and several more indicated their contributions would be forthcoming or are pending approval by the respective national parliaments. Donors made their pledges during a meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee created by the General Assembly as the main forum to announce donor support for the 65-year-old Agency, which provides educational, health, relief and social services for some 5 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. US$ 100 million would cover a part of the basic needs of the Agency to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of essential services in education, health, relief. Provided these pledges and other expected contributions materialise, and thanks to strict internal control measures, the Agency expects to face a deficit of USD 81 million, lower than previous years.
In his opening statement, Mogens Lykketoft, President of the United Nations General Assembly, thanked donor countries for their ongoing support and their additional efforts in bridging UNRWA’s financial gap. He stressed that “Against the backdrop of unrest in the Middle East, the devastation caused by the Syria conflict, the recent clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the slow pace of the Gaza reconstruction, and the waves of refugees leaving the region to find shelter in Europe, it is time to change the paradigm: UNRWA and the rest of the UN needs be strengthened and not weakened. We, the International Community, have created this Agency to provide decent living conditions to Palestine refugees. We, the International Community, must ensure that it has the means to carry out its mandate. It is in the interest of all of us to make sure this community does not feel abandoned by the countries of the world.”
Sandra Mitchell, Deputy Commi ssioner-General of UNRWA, then said UNRWA was “emerging from a financial crisis that had been unprecedented in its severity and in the pain it caused its beneficiaries”. She commended the tremendous effort and support from partners, including donors and host governments, thanks to which sufficient funds to address the $101 million funding shortfall had been secured. She outlined the next phase of dealing with the financial crisis based on two key actions: “the pursuit of robust internal efficiency reforms through prioritization, cost efficiency, and innovative management of limited resources as well as a heightened fundraising outreach and direct engagement with donors in the region and elsewhere”....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 10, 2015
German authorities don’t want their citizens to start getting the idea that there is something to be concerned about in this inundation of migrants.
“German authorities accused of playing down refugee shelter sex crime reports,” Reuters, October 7, 2015:BERLIN: Germany’s police union and women’s rights groups accused the authorities on Tuesday of playing down reports of harassment, sexual assault and even rape at refugee shelters because they feared a backlash against asylum seekers.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere called on Germans to avoid succumbing to a blanket suspicion of the hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in the country, saying an unbelievable number of rumours were being spread on the Internet.
But police unio n chief Rainer Wendt said he believed that authorities in Germany’s federal states, which are responsible for housing asylum seekers, were playing down the problem of assaults on women in the shelters....
Robert Hand
Oct 15, 2015, 1:39:27 PM10/15/15
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Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:17:08 -0500
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:06:54 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday October 15, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| SERIES OF TERROR ATTACKS HITS ISRAEL Fox News video - 03:07 (Oct 14, 2015) See article #1 for more information STEPS TO INCREASE SECURITY IN JERUSALEM Government official on new steps to stem terror wave: ‘Dramatic times necessitate drastic ste ps’ |
| IRGC missile base 500m underground CLICK HERE for video |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Third intifada? The Palestinian violence is Israel's new normal, jta.org, Ben Sales
- Third Intifada Most Dangerous of All, jewishleadership.blogspot.co.il, Moshe Feiglin
- Kerry planning Mideast visit as US faces pressure to calm violence in Israel, FoxNews.com,
- China Joining Russia In Syria Brings Risks Of World War, news.investors.com,
- Russia and Iran Moving to Corner the Mideast Oil Supply, americanthinker.com, Steve Chambers
- IRGC Readying to Replace Long-Range Missiles with New Generation, english.farsnews.com,
- Afghan Taliban's Reach Is Widest Since 2001, U.N. Says, nytimes.com, Rod Nordland and Joseph Goldstein
Ben Sales
jta.org, October 13, 2015
A Palestinian protester during clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank, Oct. 8, 2015. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israelis have become accustomed to dismal news in the past few weeks – mornings and evenings punctuated by stabbings, car attacks and rock throwing.
The cycle of random violence has left dozens of Israelis and Palestinians dead, and many fearing the worst: The start of a third intifada, or armed Palestinian uprising, that could claim hundreds more lives.
But since the second intifada started in 2000, fears of a repeat have proved unfounded. Conditions in Israel and the Palestinian territories have changed since that time, and short bursts of low-level violence are the new normal....
Moshe Feiglin
jewishleadership.blogspot.co.il, October 13, 2015
...Feiglin has a plan to stop the violence. “The only way to restore calm is to restore our sense of justice,” he said. “To internalize that this is our Land. Exclusively. We must end the ‘Occupation’ and declare complete and exclusive sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel in our hands.”
Feiglin’s plan includes three options for the Arabs:
- Declaration of loyalty to the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish Nation as a condition for permanent residency status.
- Receipt of generous assistance to emigrate from Israel.
- Entry into a long-term process of Hebrew studies and national service in order to submit a request for citizenship.
Any nationalistically motivated violence will be considered a declaration of war and dealt with accordingly – both for the terrorist and his local support system.
“Clearly,” Feiglin predicted, “Netanyahu, Ya’alon and Bennett will do the opposite. They will try to pacify the Arabs with surrender and further retreats. The attempt to sweep the glowing embers under the rug may create a false impression of calm, but will ensure a more severe outbreak of violence in a short time. Even worse, the sovereignty vacuum will clear the way for increasing international intervention in our Land.”...
FoxNews.com, October 14, 2015
The Obama administration is under pressure to help calm the growing violence in Israel which has some warning of a third intifada, as Israel's military steps up its response to deadly Palestinian attacks by deploying hundreds of troops.
Amid the unrest, Secretary of State John Kerry just announced plans to visit the region, and has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We're working on trying to calm things down," he said Tuesday during an event at Harvard University. "And I will go there soon at some point appropriately and try to work to re-engage and see if we can't move away from this precipice."
Yet the State Department under both Hillary Clinton and now Kerry so far has been unable to push forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Relations between Obama and Netanyahu remain as chilly as ever -- particularly after the Iran nuclear deal put them on opposit e sides of the debate -- and it's unclear how much sway the administration still has in the volatile region....
news.investors.com, October 09, 2015
A soldier stands guard on the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning during exercises in the South China Sea. (AP)
American Decline: Chinese forces head to Syria to join with Russia in filling Obama's power vacuum and purportedly fight the Islamic State. A false move involving NATO member Turkey could mean world war.
Russian and Chinese military sources now confirm that Chinese warships are en route to the Middle East to get in on some of the action of humiliating the U.S.
In just a week and a half, Moscow has upended the dynamics of power in the Mideast by taking on the role that President Obama relinquished: acting like a superpower in a regional conflict that has implications extending far beyond the region....
Steve Chambers
americanthinker.com, October 15, 2015
It looks like Vladimir Putin and the ayatollahs are preparing to corner the world’s oil supply – literally.
Last May I wrote on this site that Iran was in the process of surrounding the Saudi/Wahhabi oil reserves, along with those of the other Sunni Gulf petro-states. I added that, “Iran’s strategy to strangle Saudi/Wahhabi oil production also dovetails with Putin’s interests. As the ruler of the second largest exporter of oil, he would be delighted to see the Kingdom’s production eliminated or severely curtailed and global prices soar to unseen levels. No wonder he is so overtly supporting Iran.”
We’ve now seen Putin take a major, menacing step in support of the Iranians by introducing combat forces into Syria. Many analysts argue that he’s doing this both to protect his own naval base at Tartus and as some sort of favor to the Iranians. Are those really sufficient inducement for him to spend scarce resources and risk Russian lives, or does he have bigger ambitions in mind? Given the parlous state of Russia’s economy, thanks in very large part to the recent halving of oil prices, he must relish the opportunity now presented to him, in an axis with Iran, to drive those prices back to prior levels....
english.farsnews.com, October 14, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced that the IRGC plans to replace its solid and liquid fuel long-range missiles with a new generation next year."A new and advanced generation of liquid and solid fuel long-range missiles will replace the current productions next year," Hajizadeh said on Wednesday.
Noting that Iran is now designing and building different types of long-range, mid-range and short-range missiles, he said, "We are not concerned even an iota about the enemies' new and most advanced generation of satellites and espionage and offensive devices and equipment."
Hajizadeh underlined that Iran will never initiate a war, but meantime warned that "any mistake by the enemies will trigger eruption of missiles from bases deep under the ground like eruptions of volcano which will destroy the enemy."
He also announced the IRGC's plans to stage massive drills in the near future....
Rod Nordland and Joseph Goldstein
nytimes.com, October 11, 2015
NATO soldiers and Afghan security forces at the site of a suicide car bombing in Kabul on Sunday. (Credit: Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images)
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban insurgency has spread through more of Afghanistan than at any point since 2001, according to data compiled by the United Nations as well as interviews with numerous local officials in areas under threat.
In addition, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan over the past two weeks has evacuated four of its 13 provincial offices around the country — the most it has ever done for security reasons — according to local officials in the affected areas.
The data, compiled in early September — even before the latest surge in violence in northern Afghanistan — showed that United Nations security officials had already rated the threat level in about half of the country’s administrative districts as either “high” or “extreme,” more than at any time since the American invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001....
Robert Hand
Oct 17, 2015, 12:16:48 AM10/17/15
to
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 23:12:24 -0500
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:07:34 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday October 16, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| SPECIAL MEDIA BRIEFING Regarding the Security Situation Security Cabinet member, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Dore Gold and spokesperson to the Arab Media in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr. Ofir Gendelman, hold a briefing in English and Arabic. YouTube video - 01:04:06 (Oct 14, 2015) JACK ABRAMOFF - JIHAD IN ISRAE L! Jack Abramoff, former Washington DC Lobbyist, discusses the current Islamic jihad activity taking place in Israel. YouTube video - 07:47 (Oct 14, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- US Secretary of State John Kerry Links Terrorism in Israel to Settlement Activity , mythsandfacts.org, Eli E. Hertz
- US claim of excessive Israeli force is 'twisted,' says minister, israelhayom.com, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
- What Do Palestinian Terrorists Want?, gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- Israel lives in terror, three more dead. Hamas rejoices: 'Heroes to be imitated', Il Giornale, Fiamma Nirenstein
- NPR Interviews Family of 'Dead' Palestinian Who is Actually Alive, honestreporting.com, Simon Plosker
- Looking beyond the 'third intifada', jpost.com, Louis Rene Beres
Eli E. Hertz
mythsandfacts.org, October 14, 2015
A "massive increase in settlements" built by Israel in recent years has led to the "frustration" and "violence" now stoking its decades-old conflict with the Palestinians, US Secretary of State John Kerry said at Harvard University on Tuesday night.
Kerry should study the United Nations Charter to learn: There are no excuses for acts of terrorism. Any support of terrorism violates International Law.
All acts of international terrorism constitute one of the most serious threats to international peace and security....
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, October 15, 2015
Israeli officials voiced outrage on Thursday after the U.S. State Department suggested that Israel "may have used excessive force" in quelling the recent surge of Palestinian and Israeli Arab violence targeting Israeli civilians and security forces.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the State Department's claims were "so far-fetched and so twisted that I expect President [Barack] Obama and Secretary of State [John] Kerry to distance themselves from them and clarify the American position on the matter."
Erdan, who oversees the police force as part of his ministerial duties, stressed that the police officers tasked with preventing terrorist attacks were given "moral and just" directives.
"Any sane person knows full well how the police in the U.S. would react if terrorists armed with axes and knives tried to murder civilians in Washington or New York, and that's before mentioning the American bombing of a hospital in Afghani stan as part of a justified war on terrorism, where mistakes do happen," Erdan said. "There should be a limit to the hypocrisy."...
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, October 15, 2015
- Palestinian terrorists are not driven by poverty and deprivation, as many have long argued. Instead, they are driven by hatred for Jews -- because of what their leaders, media and mosques are telling them.
- These young people took advantage of their status as permanent residents of Israel to set out and murder Jews. Their Israeli ID cards allow them to travel freely inside Israel. They were also entitled to the social welfare benefits and free healthcare granted to all Israeli citizens.
- Muhannad Halabi wanted to murder Jews because he had been brainwashed by our leaders and media, and was driven by hatred -- he was not living in misery and deprivation. The family's house in the village of Surda, on the outskirts of Ramallah, looks as if it came out of a movie filmed in San Diego.
- This conflict is not about Islamic holy sites or Jerusalem. Murdering a Jewish couple in front of their four children has nothing to do with the Aqsa Mosque or "occupation."
- For the terrorists, all Jews are "settlers" and Israel is one big settlement. This is not an intifada -- it is just another killing-spree aimed at terrorizing the Jews and forcing them out of this part of the world. It already succeeded in the rest of the Middle East and is now being done there to the Christians as well.
- The current wave of terrorism is just another phase in our dream to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. The terrorists and their supporters are not struggling against a checkpoint or a wall. They want to see Israel destroyed, Jews slaughtered, and the streets of Israel running with Jewish blood....
Fiamma Nirenstein
Il Giornale, October 14, 2015
There’s no stopping the Palestinian terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. Yesterday another three dead and 22 injured have distressed the city and Israel in its entirety. All of the terrorists are Israeli Arabs, holders of the blue ID card that allows them to circulate unrestrictedly anywhere and without any form of curfew. "Yesterday I took the children to the barber at the Malcha mall in Jerusalem", a journalist says, "where the barber is Arab. I did the shopping, and the shopkeeper is Arab. I went to visit a friend in the hospital, and many physicians and nurses are Arab … There is no way to contain this situation. It is a long-term nightmare. No use in building a separation wall, like mayor Barkat’s. We have only one weapon: our laws, the Parliament, democracy. But all of these must be asserted".
The feeling of danger lurks at every corner of the city, both downtown and in the suburbs. Yesterday was a terrible day, from the first hours of the morning. Two attacks were carried out at almost the same time, at 10.30 a.m., in the Gheula district and in Armon Hanatziv. One should watch the video made of the attack at the Gheula district to understand the effects of this eruption of hatred that, for lack of a better word, we call Intifada: the terrorist with his car drives into the bus station and invests three people who are waiting there, then, in the ensuing blood and chaos this big man jumps out of the car holding a knife and starts stabbing one of the fallen, once, twice, ten times. He kills one and injures a dozen. The hate he expresses is terrifying. An armed passerby, however, does not hesitate to confront him and, although the terrorist lunges at him, he shoots him. Then, because the zombie terrorist stands up again he is forced to shoot him once again, injuring him, while other passersby run up to help.
The attacker’s name is Ala Abu Jamal, from Jabel Mukaber, East Jerusalem, with an Israeli ID card. His plan to die as a martyr was already posted on a social network, and he accomplished his attack using a car marked Bezek, the national telephone company. It is the poetics of horror. Yesterday the series of attacks continued when a bus (bringing back memories of the Second Intifada…) was assaulted by two terrorists, one holding a gun. This type of weapon had yet to appear. Both terrorists are Israeli Arabs: Baha Alyan, aged 22, and Bilal Ranen, 23. They killed two people. Meanwhile, in Raanana, in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, a terrorist managed to knife four people before being stopped. One of them is in critical condition. Abu Jamal is a cousin of the terrorists who, in November 2014, carried out the Har Nof synagogue massacre.
The entire network of hatred of these last days is the product of decades of incitement that has peaked with the Al Aqsa Mosque lie fiercely espoused by Abu Mazen until it lay bubbling hot in his hands. Hamas wishes to joi n the attackers ("My brother in the West Bank: Stab!" cries out the Sheikh Muhmmad Sallah from a Mosque in Gaza), the terrorists are described as heroes to be imitated, their mothers are said to be "crying tears of joy”, and the israeli acts of self-defence that strikes them to the ground are seen as gestures of cruelty that, after creating the Al Aqsa provocation, are now killing innocent young people....
Simon Plosker
honestreporting.com, October 14, 2015
...TURNING THE TERRORISTS INTO THE VICTIMS
Israelis are confronting escalating Palestinian violence. You wouldn’t know it from NPR’s headline accompanying Harris’s report.
In the Orwellian world of NPR, Palestinians are the ones faced with an Israeli onslaught. The Palestinian victim-hood is evident in Harris’s interview with Badran:
HARRIS: Today his father, Qassam Badran, went to the street where his son was killed to ask shopkeepers what they saw. He believes his son was being harassed by Israelis, picked up a knife from a juice stand, used it somehow and was shot. Qassam Badran said his son studied at a good technical school, loved to swim but had been watching a lot of TV and videos about the recent rise in violence in Jerusalem.
NPR not only delibe rately humanizes a terrorist but even promotes the denial of the perpetrator’s father. Is it remotely feasible that Ishaq Badran simply “picked up a knife from a juice stand, used it somehow and was shot” by Israelis who had harassed him?...
Louis Rene Beres
jpost.com, October 13, 2015
Funeral in the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem, on October 10, 2015. (photo credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
“It’s farewell to the drawing-room’s civilized cry, The professor’s sensible whereto and why, The frock-coated diplomat’s social aplomb, Now matters are settled with gas and with bomb.”
– W.H. Auden, Danse Macabre
With apparent suddenness, and a very deliberate brutality, Palestinian terrorists are launching a new wave of indiscriminate assaults they proudly hail as a “third intifada.”
But behind the protective veneer of language, where homicide is conveniently transfigured into revolution, these latest Arab attacks remain what they have always been – that is, crudely camouflaged expressions of ra mpant criminality.
Jurisprudentially, this is all perfectly obvious. Prima facie, under all pertinent international law, calculated assaults on mostly women and children can never be sanitized or justified. Always, rather, they represent codified crimes of war and crimes against humanity....
Robert Hand
Oct 20, 2015, 1:04:17 AM10/20/15
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Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 23:20:31 -0500
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 13:53:10 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday October 19, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
Obama Orders US to Prepare to Lift Sanctions on Iran |
| Hamas Orders Suicide Bombings in Jerusalem |
| Jamie Glazov Moment: What a Woman in Hijab is Really Saying to You YouTube video 14:23 (Oct 9, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Palestine: The Psychotic Stage, wsj.com, Bret Stephens
- The Paranoid, Supremacist Roots of the Stabbing Intifada, theatlantic.com, Jeffrey Goldberg
- Why Kerry Keeps Blaming Israel, commentarymagazine.com, Jonathan S. Tobin
- ISIS Fires Up Palestinians, gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- Muslims condemn Britain's plans to combat extremism, Reuters, Michael Holden and Paul Sandle
- Israel's 'Best Friend' at Risk as Canadian Conservative Party Faces Elections, , Raphael Poch
- Amb Roet addresses UNSC on wave of violence in Israel, mfa.gov.il,
Bret Stephens
wsj.com, October 12, 2015
If you've been following the news from Israel, you might have the impression that "violence" is killing a lot of people. As in this headline: "Palestinian Killed As Violence Continues." Or this first paragraph: "Violence and bloodshed radiating outward from flash points in Jerusalem and the West Bank appear to be shifting gears and expanding, with Gaza increasingly drawn in."
Read further, and you might also get a sense of who, according to Western media, is perpetrating "violence." As in: "Two Palestinian Teenagers Shot by Israeli Police," according to one headline. Or: "Israeli Retaliatory Strike in Gaza Kills Woman and Child, Palestinians Say," according to another.
Such was the media's way of describing two weeks of Palestinian assaults that began when Hamas killed a Jewish couple as they were driving with their four children in the northern West Bank. Two days later, a Palestinian teenager stabbed two Israelis to death in Jerusalem' ;s Old City, and also slashed a woman and a 2-year-old boy. Hours later, another knife-wielding Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli police after he slashed a 15-year-old Israeli boy in the chest and back.
Regarding the causes of this Palestinian blood fetish, Western news organizations have resorted to familiar tropes. Palestinians have despaired at the results of the peace process-never mind that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas just declared the Oslo Accords null and void. Israeli politicians want to allow Jews to pray atop the Temple Mount-never mind that Benjamin Netanyahu denies it and has barred Israeli politicians from visiting the site. There's always the hoary "cycle of violence" formula that holds nobody and everybody accountable at one and the same time. Other Palestinian attacks include the stabbing of two elderly Israeli men and an assault with a vegetable peeler on a 14-year-old....
Jeffrey Goldberg
theatlantic.com, October 16, 2015
Mahmoud Illean/APIn September of 1928, a group of Jewish residents of Jerusalem placed a bench in front of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, for the comfort of elderly worshipers. They also brought with them a wooden partition, to separate the sexes during prayer. Jerusalem’s Muslim leaders treated the introduction of furniture into the alleyway in front of the Wall as a provocation, part of a Jewish conspiracy to slowly take control of the entire Temple Mount.
Many of the leaders of Palestine’s Muslims believed—or claimed to believe—that Jews had manufactured a set of historical and theological connections to the Western Wall and to the Mount, the site of the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, in order to advance the Zionist project. This be lief defied Muslim history—the Dome of the Rock was built by Jerusalem’s Arab conquerors on the site of the Second Jewish Temple in order to venerate its memory (the site had previously been defiled by Jerusalem’s Christian rulers as a kind of rebuke to Judaism, the despised mother religion of Christianity). Jews themselves consider the Mount itself to be the holiest site in their faith. The Western Wall, a large retaining wall from the Second Temple period, is sacred only by proxy.
The spiritual leader of Palestine’s Muslims, the mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, incited Arabs in Palestine against their Jewish neighbors by arguing that Islam itself was under threat. (Husseini would later become one of Hitler’s most important Muslim allies.) Jews in British-occupied Palestine responded to Muslim invective by demanding more access to the Wall, sometimes holding demonstrations at the holy site. By the next year, violence directed ag ainst Jews by their neighbors had become more common: Arab rioters took the lives of 133 Jews that summer; British forces killed 116 Arabs in their attempt to subdue the riots. In Hebron, a devastating pogrom was launched against the city’s ancient Jewish community after Muslim officials distributed fabricated photographs of a damaged Dome of the Rock, and spread the rumor that Jews had attacked the shrine.
The current “stabbing Intifada” now taking place in Israel—a quasi-uprising in which young Palestinians have been trying, and occasionally succeeding, to kill Jews with knives—is prompted in good part by the same set of manipulated emotions that sparked the anti-Jewish riots of the 1920s: a deeply felt desire on the part of Palestinians to “protect” the Temple Mount from Jews....
Jonathan S. Tobin
commentarymagazine.com, October 14, 2015
There were those who thought the end of the debate on the Iran nuclear deal would lead to a rapprochement between the Obama administration and Israel. But the U.S. reaction to the current surge in Palestinian terrorism makes it clear that anyone who thought Washington wanted to put the bad feelings over Iran behind it was dreaming. Far from seeking to stand behind Israel at a time when murderers are stalking Jews on the streets of Jerusalem, the administration’s message is unmistakable. They’re not blaming the Palestinian leadership for inciting religiously inspired violence or spreading lies about the Temple Mount. But that doesn’t mean no one is to blame. When asked about the crisis, Secretary of State John Kerry didn’t hesitate yesterday to say that Israelis had it coming.Spea king yesterday in Boston, Kerry said the reason for the Palestinian killing spree was “a massive increase in settlements” in the West Bank. A similar refusal to hold Palestinians accountable for their behavior was heard yesterday at the daily State Department press briefing. When asked why the U.S. continues to issue even-handed statements about Palestinian incitement and terrorism, spokesman Mark Toner refused to budge. As far as the U.S. was concerned, Toner said there was no need to single out the Palestinian leadership for their role in fomenting violence. Indeed, when asked what the Israelis should do more of, Toner said they should “uphold the status quo” on the Temple Mount.
This is curious. The administration knows the Netanyahu government has been doing just that. It has opposed any effort at changing the Mount and has even strictly enforced rules forbidding Jewish prayer at what is the most sacred spot in Judaism. It also knows th at Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has been inciting hate by spreading lies about Israeli intentions about the Temple Mount and praising terrorists, as well as condemning Israelis for shooting those attempting to kill their citizens. But as far as the U.S. is concerned, “both leaders” need to combat incitement in what Toner termed a “cycle of violence.” Nothing, not even Abbas’s startling rant about keeping “filthy Jewish feet” from desecrating holy sites, was enough to prod Kerry or the White House to condemn him....
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, October 19, 2015
The current wave of stabbings of Jews in Israel is an attempt to imitate Islamic State terrorists, who have been using knives to behead many Muslims and non-Muslims. In most attacks, the Palestinian terrorists focused on the victims' throats and necks. They are trying to replace Islamic State jihadis as the chief "butchers" of humans in the Middle East.
How can our leaders in Ramallah accuse Jews of "contaminating" the Aqsa Mosque with their "filthy feet" at a time when our youths burn a religious site such as Joseph's Tomb? Palestinian Authority security forces, which maintain a tight grip on Nablus, did nothing to prevent the arson attack.
The attacks are an attempt to erase history so that Jews will not be able to claim any religious ties to the land. This is exactly what the Islamic State is doing in Syria and Iraq.
Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders are lying. This is not a struggle against "occupation" or a wall or a checkpoint. This is an Islamic State-inspired jihad to slaughter Jews and wipe Israel off the face of the earth....
Michael Holden and Paul Sandle
Reuters, October 19, 2015
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled a new strategy on Monday to combat extremism, saying the battle was perhaps the "defining one of this century", but his proposals were condemned by Muslims as demonizing their communities and set to fail.
The Counter-Extremism Strategy has been promised by Cameron’s government for months, designed primarily to counter the ideology promoted by Islamic State militants, al Qaeda and other Islamists which the authorities say can lead young Britons onto a path of violence.
"Subversive, well-organized and sophisticated in their methods, Islamist extremists don’t just threaten our security, they jeopardize all that we’ve built together – our successful multi-racial, multi-faith democracy," Cameron wrote on his Facebook website. “So we have to confront them wherever we find them."
British police arrested a record number of people last year on suspicion of terrorism offences, and say they have thwarted a growing number of plots hatched by young Britons, some of whom had been radicalized in just weeks via the Internet....
Raphael Poch
, October 19, 2015
...Mann also noted that the Liberal party’s list features anti-Israel MPs. “The Liberal ticket includes Omar Alghabra, former head of the Canadian Arab Federation, who has refused to condemn Palestinian suicide bombers as terrorists, doesn’t believe that Hamas is committed to the elimination of Israel and said that Israel’s actions in defense of its citizen during last year’s operation in Gaza were ‘blind and cruel’,” he told Breaking Israel News.
Mann compared the empty rhetoric of other parties to the Conservative Party’s consistently pro-Israel actions. “Meanwhile, the Conservatives have spoken publicly against the BDS movement, have stood by Israel in the face of rockets and ongoing terror, and defunded the Canadian Arab Federation for their support of terrorism and promotion of anti-Semitism,” he said.
“When it comes to the question of the Canada-Israel relationship, there has never, in our short history as friend and allies, been a starker choice,” he concluded.
Canadians go to the polls on Monday, October 19th, in what is shaping up to be one of the closest elections in Canadian history. According to current election polls, the Liberal party has a strong lead. What this will mean for Canada’s close relationship with Israel remains to be seen.
mfa.gov.il, October 16, 2015
Even now, as the violence continues and lives are lost every day, instead of calming tensions, Palestinian leaders continue to lie and use inflammatory rhetoric. They are stoking the flames by portraying terrorists as innocent victims.
Ambassador David Roet addresses the UN Security Council (UN Photo/Amanda Voisard)
Israel's Deputy Permanent Representative, Ambassador David Roet, addressed the emergency Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East:
As we sit here today, Israel is facing an onslaught of terrorism; men, women and children are being stabbed to death on the streets on a daily basis. Yet for them there has been no demand for an emergency session at the Security Council; no calls for the Palestinian leadership to stop their incitement; and not even a whisper of condemnation of these acts in this hall.
Eitam and Naama Henkin were shot to death while driving in their car. Their four children were in the vehicle and watched their parents die in front of their eyes. These are just a few of the silent victims of Palestinian terror. Apparently, this Council has not seen fit to honor their memories with even the slightest recognition.
Mr. President,
Over the course of the last month, 24 terror attacks have claimed the lives of eight Israelis, and injured 70. Fifteen of them are still hospitalized. This tide of terror has washed over the entire nation and it spares no one: Young and old are being targeted every day. Israelis do not feel safe walking down the street, they avoid taking the bus to work, and they fear for the lives of their children every time they walk out the door.
The root cause of this wave of terror is clear. It is inflammatory rhetoric and lies lit the fuse, and inciteme nt that keeps feeding the flames....
Robert Hand
Oct 21, 2015, 1:16:09 AM10/21/15
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Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:11:40 -0500
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:53:29 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday October 20, 2015
| SUPPORT ISRAEL AS MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE SURGES!!! Please participate in our current Action Alert and let your Congressional Representatives now you support Israel! CLICK HERE TODAY! Robert Spencer - Reagan Ranch Center Robert Spencer discusses Obama, Putin and the Islamic State YouTube video - 56:14 (Oct 18, 2015) The Glazov&n bsp;Gang - Russia’s "Holy War" on the Islamic State? Interview with Daniel Greenfield (Shillman Fellow, Freedom Center) YouTube video - 09:48 (Oct 12, 2015) |
MSNBC Airs Palestinian Jihad Propaganda Map Rafah Cleric Brandishes Knife in Friday Sermon, Calls upon Palestinians to Stab Jews MEMRI video - October 9, 2015 - 05:23 Videos teach would-be Palestinian attackers ‘how to stab’ Jews CLICK HERE for article and graphics |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The Obama Intifada , nationalreview.com, Matthew Continetti
- Netanyahu vows to root out Islamic Movement in Israel, israelhayom.com, Shlomo Cesana
- Canada election: networks call victory for Liberals and Trudeau, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Putin Officials Said to Admit Real Syria Goal Is Far Broader, bloomberg.com, Ilya Arkhipov, Stepan Kravchenko and Henry Meyer
- Palestinian proposal to UNESCO: Western Wall is part of al-Aqsa, ynetnews.com, Itamar Eichner
- Israel reprimands French envoy over Temple Mount observers proposal, jpost.com, Herb Keinon
- World Turning Against Jerusalem in Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy, breakingisraelnews.com, Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler
Matthew Continetti
nationalreview.com, October 17, 2015
More than 30 dead in Israel as Palestinians armed with knives attack innocents. What’s responsible? A campaign of incitement, which slanderously accuses Jews of intruding on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and murdering Arab children in cold blood.
And who is legitimizing this campaign? None other than Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, whom President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have long held up as a peacemaker. “I think nobody would dispute that whatever disagreements you may have with him, he has proven himself to be somebody who has been committed to nonviolence and diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue,” Obama told writer Jeffrey Goldberg in 2014.
That’s a strange view of commitment. This is the same Abbas, remember, who rejected then–Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s absurdly generous 2008 peace offer. The same Abbas who resisted negotiations with Prime Minister Benjami n Netanyahu during the ten-month settlement freeze in 2010, which Obama demanded explicitly on the grounds that it would give Abbas the cover he needed to begin talks. Abbas finally relented to Saudi pressure and attended a few meetings with Netanyahu that September. But under no definition of what the word “negotiation” actually means were these meetings for real: The freeze was about to expire, the get-togethers were perfunctory, and nothing of significance was discussed. The farce ended soon after....
Shlomo Cesana
israelhayom.com, October 20, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo credit: AP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to outlaw the transfer of funds to the Islamic Movement in Israel.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, the prime minister said this action would cut the Islamic Movement from its sources of funding, both in Israel and abroad.
The Islamic Movement's overseas sources of funding include the Muslim Brotherhood movements in Turkey and Egypt.
"All of this funding will be deemed illegal," Netanyahu said. "The Islamic Movement's activities cost money. Its activities are organized. When it sends buses to the Temple Mount, this costs money. When it pays its activists or rents out stadiums for events, this costs money. We are going to root this problem out at its source.".
Netanyahu's decision was made as deliberations were underway in the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet and the Attorney General's Office regarding the possibility of outlawing the Islamic Movement as a whole. The legal feasibility of such a move is being investigated....
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to outlaw the transfer of funds to the Islamic Movement in Israel.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, the prime minister said this action would cut the Islamic Movement from its sources of funding, both in Israel and abroad.
The Islamic Movement's overseas sources of funding include the Muslim Brotherhood movements in Turkey and Egypt.
"All of this funding will be deemed illegal," Netanyahu said. "The Islamic Movement's activities cost money. Its activities are organized. When it sends buses to the Temple Mount, this costs money. When it pays its activists or rents out stadiums for events, this costs money. We are going to root this problem out at its source.".
Netanyahu's decision was made as deliberations were underway in the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet and the Attorney General's Office regarding the possibility of outlawing the Islamic Movement as a whole. The legal feasibility of such a move is being investigated....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 19, 2015
That’s it for freedom, worldwide. Justin Trudeau is a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of Islamic supremacists. Harper’s Canada was the last outpost, the last place where government was reasonably sane regarding the jihad threat. Now it is up to individuals to stand, no matter how much it costs them, against the forces of oppression and authoritarianism that will become increasingly aggressive, and soon. Many who were thought to be true have already been proven false, and this will continue: these are and will increasingly be the times that try men’s souls. The cowardice of many will be exposed, and it will surprise those who thought they were standing tall. But the human spirit, the spirit of freedom, will never be wholly extinguished — despite the best efforts of the forces of authoritarianism and oppression.
“Canada election: networks call victory for Liberals and Trudeau – live,” Guardian, October 19, 2015:The official projections continue to show Liberals in the lead, although many races in the dense Toronto area are far from being tallied in full. Polls have just closed in British Columbia, meaning the deluge of exit polls and counted ballots will only increase in the next hour.
Liberals: 128 ridings, 55.7% of the vote
Conservatives: 7 ridings, 22%
NDP: 14 ridings, 17.5%
Bloc Quebecois: three ridings, 0.7%
Ilya Arkhipov, Stepan Kravchenko and Henry Meyer
bloomberg.com, October 19, 2015
File photo showing Russian MIG-29 jet fighters. (Photographer: Krill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
As Russia’s air war in Syria nears its fourth week, officials now admit that Moscow’s aim is far broader than the publicly announced fight against terrorist groups.
The Kremlin’s real goal is to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad retake as much as possible of the territory his forces have lost to opponents, including U.S.-backed rebels, Russian officials told Bloomberg News. Moscow’s deployment of several dozen planes, as well as ships in the Black and Caspian Seas, could last a year or more, one official said.
President Vladimir Putin is willing to run the risk of falling into the kind of quagmire that helped sink the Soviet Union a generation ago for the chance to roll back U.S. in fluence and demonstrate he can dictate terms to Washington. If the strategy is successful, Russia’s largest military drive in decades outside the former Soviet Union would force the U.S. and its allies to choose between Assad, whom they oppose for his human-rights abuses, and the brutal extremists of Islamic State.
“They’re going to have to recognize that Islamic State is the real threat that has been countered only by the Syrian regular army commanded by President Bashar al-Assad,” said Iliyas Umakhanov, deputy speaker of Russia’s upper house Federation Council, who oversees international relations at the assembly....
Itamar Eichner
ynetnews.com, October 16, 2015
A new proposal to establish that the Western Wall is part of al-Aqsa Mosque is set to be submitted by the Palestinians to a vote at UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) next week, Ynet learned Thursday.
The proposal states among other things that the Western Wall is part of al-Aqsa Mosque, and condemns the Israeli government for its call on citizens to bear arms because of the recent wave of terror attacks – presumably referring to statements by the mayors of Jerusalem and the police chief in Ashdod. The proposal was presented to the Executive Council of UNESCO, which has 58 member countries.
Since the Palestinians are not members of the committee, the six Arab states submitted the proposal on behalf of the Palestinians: Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. However, senior Israeli sources say that the Palestinians are simultaneously acting to move the proposal to the UNES CO plenum, in which they are recognized as a state....
Herb Keinon
jpost.com, October 19, 2015
Border Police officers patrol Temple Mount. (photo credit: Reuters)
The Foreign Ministry called in French envoy Patrick Maisonnave on Monday to protest Paris' proposal to place international observers on the Temple Mount, and complained about France's penchant to put forward initiatives concerning Israel without consulting it or taking its interests into account.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman characterized the meeting as “sharp,” and said it dealt with the entirety of Israeli-French relations.
Paris angered Israel earlier this year when it considered bringing a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for negotiations toward a Palestinian state by 2017 based on the pre-1967 lines.
Israel, according to the Foreign Ministry, expressed its &ldq uo;determined opposition” to the French proposal to place international observers on the Temple Mount....
Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler
breakingisraelnews.com, October 20, 2015
“And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather against it.”
(Zechariah 12:3)
Palestinian youth hurl stones at Israel Police forces (unseen) during clashes with Police after Friday prayers in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras Al Amoud on February 28, 2014, Jerusalem, Israel(Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
As seen through multiple recent events, the nations of the world are increasing their efforts to weaken or remove Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem. Is this a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:3’s prophecy that, at the End of Days, the nations of the earth will gather against Je rusalem?
In the 1920s, the Muslims began calling the Kotel (Western Wall) the Al-Buraq Wall and the Kotel Plaza the Buraq Plaza. According to Muslim tradition, Al-Buraq was a horse with wings that carried Muhammad back and forth between Mecca and Jerusalem.
Historically, the Kotel is a part of the outer, western retaining wall of the Second Holy Temple that was destroyed in the year 70 CE. It has been sacred to Jews and Christians for 2,000 years. The millenia-long holiness of the Kotel derives from its association with the Temple Mount, where the two previous Holy Temples stood.
Recently, the Palestinian Authority, sponsored by six Arab states, submitted a resolution to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeking to claim the Kotel as a Muslim holy site, wresting the Kotel from the Jewish nation and claiming it as its own. In the proposal, the PA refers to Jerusalem as “the occupied capital of Palestine.&r dquo;...
Robert Hand
Oct 23, 2015, 1:31:41 AM10/23/15
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Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2015 00:18:00 -0500
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2015 12:56:41 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday October 22, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
| What a Woman in Hijab is Really Saying to You YouTube video 14:23 (Oct 9, 2015) |
| Meet Israel's first-ever female naval commander CLICK HERE for article and video Russia&rs quo;s "Holy War" on the Islamic State? |
| Interview with Daniel Greenfield (Shillman Fellow, Freedom Center) YouTube video - 09:48 (Oct 12, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Netanyahu: Abbas has joined forces with ISIS and Hamas, worldisraelnews.com, Aryeh Savir
- Ten Deadly Lies about Israel, politico.com, Ron Dermer
- Unesco Resolution Criticizes Israel Over Handling of Holy Sites, nytimes.com, Aurelien Breeden and Isabel Kershner
- Analysis: The differences between the current wave of violence and past Palestinian uprisings, jpost.com, Yaakov Amidror
- ISIS Campaign: Encouraging Palestinians To Carry Out Lone Wolf Attacks, Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 1195, M. Shemesh and R. Green
- Sweden: Muslim protesters in Malmo chant 'slaughter the Jews', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- 3 Ways the Media Distort Attacks in Israel, aish.com, Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
Aryeh Savir
worldisraelnews.com, October 22, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas of joining forces with extreme Islamic terror elements and of being the primary driving force behind the wave of terror attacks that has plagued Israel over the past weeks.“Your visit comes at a troubling time,” Netanyahu told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at a press conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Ban came to Israel on a surprise visit in an attempt to calm the tensions in the country.
“In recent weeks, Israelis have been deliberately run over, shot, stabbed and hacked to death, and in large part this is because President Abbas has joined ISIS (the Islamic State terror organization) and Hamas in claiming that Israel threatens the al-Aqsa mosque,” Netanyahu declared.
“This,” Netanyahu told Ban, “is a total lie. Israel vigorously protects the holy sites of all faiths. We keep the status quo,” he said, while pointing out that the Palestinians violate the status quo. “Palestinians have brought explosives into al-Aqsa mosque. That’s a violation of the status quo. They try violently to prevent Jews and Christians from visiting the Mount. That’s another violation of the status quo.”...
Ron Dermer
politico.com, October 20, 2015
As Israeli civilians are butchered by Palestinian terrorists, the truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is also being butchered by a campaign of vicious lies. Here are 10 of the most pernicious myths about the current attacks:
First: Israel is trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount.
False. Israel stringently maintains the status quo on the Temple Mount. Last year some 3.5 million Muslims visited the Temple Mount alongside some 200,000 Christians and 12,000 Jews. Only Muslims are allowed to pray on the Mount, and non-Muslims may visit only at specified times, which have not changed. Though the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site—where Solomon built his Temple some 3,000 years ago—Israel will not allow a change in the status quo. The ones trying to change the status quo are Palestinians, who are violently trying to prevent Jews and Christians from even visiting a site holy to all three faiths.
Second: Israel seeks to destroy al-Aqsa mosque.
False: Since reuniting Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has vigorously protected the holy sites of all faiths, including al-Aqsa. In the Middle East, where militant Islamists desecrate and destroy churches, synagogues, world heritage sites, as well as each other's mosques, Israel is the only guarantor of Jerusalem's holy places. Palestinians have been propagating the “al-Aqsa is in danger” myth since at least 1929, when the Palestinian icon, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, used it to inspire the massacre of Jews in Hebron and elsewhere. Nearly a century later, the mosque remains unharmed, but the lie persists.
Third: A recent surge in settlement construction has caused the current wave of violence.
False. Annual construction in the settlements has substantially decreased over the past 15 years. Under Prime Minister Ehud Barak (2000), 5,000 new units were built in the settlements; under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (2001-05) an average of 1,881; under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (2005-08) 1,774. All three were hailed as peacemakers. What about under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2009-15)? Just 1,554. Some surge....
Aurelien Breeden and Isabel Kershner
nytimes.com, October 21, 2015
The Western Wall in Jerusalem, shown in March, was added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 1981.(Credit De Agostini/Getty Images)
PARIS — The United Nations’ cultural heritage agency adopted a resolution on Wednesday that criticized Israel for mishandling heritage sites in Jerusalem, but it left out a contentious clause that would have classified the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, as a part of Al Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City.
The resolution was approved in a vote by the 58-member executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco, the Paris-based agency that designates and tries to protect cultural treasures around the world.
It “strongly condemns” what it calls “Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their holy site, Al Aqsa Mosque” and “firmly deplores the continuous storming” of the mosque compound by “Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces.”
The proposal regarding the Western Wall had emerged amid a deadly flare of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, prompted partly by a dispute over Al Aqsa compound, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims....
Yaakov Amidror
jpost.com, October 21, 2015
Former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror writes that the PA seems to be trying to curb violent events in Palestinian cities and across West Bank.
A masked Palestinian protester holds a knife during a protest near the Israeli border fence in northeast Gaza. [Palestinian Peace Sign](photo credit: Reuters)
Contrary to what some media reports would have the public believe, the current unrest, troubling as it may be, does not echo past Palestinian uprisings. Israel must opt for restraint whenever possible, to avoid playing into Palestinian propaganda.
The recent security escalation is difficult and frustrating. The violent riots, especially those in which protesters clash with Israeli security forces, cast serious doubt on the possibility of peaceful coexistence. Inflammato ry headlines and fervent media reports seem to exacerbate the situation by blowing it out of proportion.
Israel is currently facing five different types of security incidents: Terrorist attacks involving firearms, stabbing attacks, violent riots, the stoning and firebombing of vehicles, and attempts to breach the Israel - Gaza Strip border.
Attacks by terrorist cells using firearms have been few, with the brutal murder of a Jewish couple traveling on a Samaria road, and the shooting of passengers on a bus in Jerusalem representing the height of this effort so far.
There has been an increase in the number of lone terrorists carrying out stabbing attacks, as dozens of them have been recorded over the past few weeks. The main cluster of these attacks has taken place in Jerusalem, but the past week has proven that nowhere in Israel, from Afula in the north to Kiryat Gat in the south, is immune....
M. Shemesh and R. Green
Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 1195, October 20, 2015
...The videos convey several messages:
- Unqualified support for the "mujahideen of Bayt Al-Maqdis [i.e. Jerusalem, a symbolic term for all of Palestine]" and motivation for them to continue killing and slaughtering Jews with "lone wolf" attacks using all means available – stabbings, vehicular attacks, car bombs, throwing stones, IEDs, poisoning, and more.
- Calls to the Muslims in Bayt Al-Maqdis to join the jihad against the Jews "for the sake of Allah."
- Calls to all the Muslims to fight for Islam, instead of for empty values such as secularism, nationalism, or partisan interests.
- Harsh criticism of Palestinian organizations and groups that claim to defend Islam, particularly Hamas. According to ISIS, Fatah has become an agent of the infidel Jews and Christians, while Hamas is doing the bidding of the Shi'ites (Iranians) and 'Alawites (the Syrian regime).
- Promising that the soldiers of the Islamic caliphate will ultimately reach Jerusalem and liberate Al-Aqsa. Speakers in the video reiterate that although they and their comrades are fighting in Syria and Iraq, they have their sights set on Al-Aqsa.
- Calls to jihadi fighters to unite under a single banner – that of ISIS....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 20, 2015
“Slaughter the Jews”: naked, open genocidal bloodlust. And still Obama will blame Israel, and pressure it to make more concessions to the “Palestinian” jihadis.
“Protesters in Malmo chant ‘slaughter the Jews,’” JTA, October 20, 2015:Hundreds of protesters in the Swedish city of Malmo were filmed chanting in Arabic about slaughtering Jews and stabbing soldiers.
Pro-Palestinian groups organized a rally Monday in the city center against what they consider Israeli violence and to show solidarity with Palestinians amid deadly measures taken by Israeli authorities to stop the recent spate of attacks on Jews in Israel and the West Bank.
Isaac Bachman, Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, posted on his Facebook account a video t aken at the rally showing hundreds chanting “’slaughter the Jews, stab soldiers.” In other slogans, the chanters encouraged “heroes to carry out attack after attack” and to “start a third intifada.”...
Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
aish.com, October 20, 2015
When Israelis faced five separate stabbing attacks on Saturday, Oct. 17, they were luckily able to fight off their attackers and defend themselves.
How did the world’s press report on these attacks? “Four More Palestinians Shot Dead on the Streets”. “Israelis Kill Four Palestinians”. “Palestinians Shot Dead in Alleged Knife Attacks”.
These headlines (from the Irish Independent, USA Today and Sky News respectively) are typical of much reporting when it comes to the Jewish state, portraying Israelis under attack as aggressors and glossing over (or omitting) details of the terrorism that Israelis are facing every day.
Here are three common media distortions we’re seeing in coverage of the current violent attacks in Israel and what you can do about them.
1. Upside-Down Reporting : Terrorists as Victims, Victims as Aggressors
It might seem unbelievable that people who arm themselves with knives, guns and meat cleavers and go out to murder Jews would be called victims but many news reports perversely insist on painting a picture of innocent Palestinian victims and Israelis as cold-blooded killers.
An Oct.17, 2015 headline in the British Telegraph newspaper announcing “Israeli security forces kill four more Palestinians as knife attacks continue” misleadingly make it seem as if an ongoing massacre is going on against Palestinians – not a wave of terror attacks against Israelis. An Oct. 19, USA Today insert carried by papers across the country reported “West Bank Bands Together: from making food to slingshots, Palestinians do what they can to fight Israel” – the take-away impression being that fighting Israelis is a noble pursuit, not the reality of shooting toddlers, stabbing children, and attacking Israelis viciously – targeting them only because they are Jews....
Robert Hand
Oct 23, 2015, 10:11:20 PM10/23/15
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Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2015 12:14:41 -0500
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2015 12:03:30 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday October 23, 2015
| HAMAS CLERIC and TV Host Abu Funun: We Will Not Leave a Single Jew, Dead or Alive, on Our Land YouTube video - 03:19 (Oct 19, 2015) Children's Show on Palestinian TV Praises Palestinian Attackers as "Young Heroes" Al-Kitab TV - 01:41 (Oct 16, 2015) JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
ACTION ALERT Support Israel as Middle East Violence Surges As hatred and violence surge in Israel in what could become the third Intifada, we must stand strong with our only democratic ally in the entire Mideast. Israel needs both diplomatic and military support from the U.S. We must support Israel's human rights policy of protecting Israeli citizens against the brutal acts of violence perpetrated by the Palestinians. The current barbarism toward Israel is the latest attack in a long series of savage acts against men, women and children throughout the Middle East fostered by Radical Islam. CLICK HERE to send a letter to your U.S. Congressional Representatives Malzberg and Robert Spencer discuss the latest violence in Israel YouTube video - 05:59 (Oct 21, 2015) Brooke Goldstein on The Kelly File - Palestinian incitement to violence against Jews Lawfare Project Director and human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein discusses Palestinian incitement to violence against Jews, amidst the recent string of terror attacks targeting Israelis. YouTube video - 06:06 (Oct 21, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Deafening Silence, thecrimson.com, Rachel Huebner
- Stop inciting stabbings, lawmakers tell Palestinian boss, washingtonexaminer.com, Charles Hoskinson
- US sends 'message' to Abbas with $80 million aid cut, al-monitor.com, Julian Pecquet
- Germany: Muslim gang stole from churches to fund the Islamic State, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- ISIS Attacks Soared in Past 3 Months: IHS Jane's Database, nbcnews.com, Cassandra Vinograd
- Iran's Stake in Syria, jcpa.org, Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
- Russia is Proving Why Nuclear-Tipped Cruise Missiles Are a Very Bad Idea, defenseone.com, Tom Z. Collina and William Saetren
Rachel Huebner
thecrimson.com, October 16, 2015
The silence is deafening.
Two weeks ago, Palestinian terrorists shot two parents to death as they were driving home with their four children in the backseat of their car. Two days later, in the Old City of Jerusalem, a Palestinian stabbed two Israelis to death. As the wife of one of the victims lay on the ground slashed and crying for help, Arab passersby spat on her and laughed. Her two-year old was beside her, also stabbed by the terrorist. A few hours later, a terrorist in Jerusalem stabbed a 15-year-old boy.
Last week in Israel, hundreds of terrorist attacks occurred around the country. More than a dozen people were injured in stabbing attacks. In one attack, a Palestinian mob pelted an Israeli woman’s car with stones and then attempted to drag her out—presumably to abduct or to murder her. In another attack, a terrorist stabbed a soldier and stole his rifle, and then barged into the home of a young woman and attempted to stab her.< br />
This past Tuesday, two terrorists stormed a bus with a pistol and knives, and began to stab those on board. Many were seriously injured. Two were murdered. That same morning, a Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into a group of people waiting for a bus in Jerusalem. He then exited the car and proceeded to viciously attack them with a meat cleaver. One man was hacked to death. Also on Tuesday, two stabbings occurred within 90 minutes of each other outside of a rehabilitation center in the central city of Ra'anana; five were wounded.
But the world is silent....
Charles Hoskinson
washingtonexaminer.com, October 22, 2015
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday adopted a bipartisan resolution calling on Palestinian leaders to end the rhetoric U.S. lawmakers believe is fueling violence against Israelis.
The resolution by two Florida representatives, Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrat Ted Deutch, was adopted by voice vote without dissent.
It calls on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, to "discontinue all official incitement and exert influence to discourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in Palestinian civil society."
It also directs the State Department to track and publicize incidents of incitement by Palestinian authorities....
Julian Pecquet
al-monitor.com, October 22, 2015
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Oct. 21, 2015. (photo by Reuters/Alaa Badarneh/Pool)
The Obama administration is cutting aid to the Palestinians by $80 million in what congressional sources describe as a "message" to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The State Department notified lawmakers on Sept. 25 of its intention to reduce economic aid for the West Bank and Gaza Strip from $370 million to $290 million in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Al-Monitor has learned. The news of the 22% cut from the department's initial request follows mounting criticism from Congress about Palestinian "incitement" in the rash of stabbing attacks that have left at lea st 10 Israeli civilians dead over the past three weeks.
"We need to dial up pressure on Palestinian officials to repudiate this violence," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 21, 2015
The German churches should redouble their efforts at “Muslim-Christian dialogue.” Surely that will fix this problem right up in a hurry, won’t it? Otherwise, with hundreds of thousands more Muslims now streaming into Germany, there is going to be more of this kind of thing.
“Cologne gang ‘stole from churches to fund Isis’,” The Local, October 21, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):Eight young men appeared in court in Cologne on Tuesday charged with robbing churches and schools to finance Isis’ religious war in Syria.
When they broke into churches they stole collection boxes, crosses and other objects “dedicated to church services and religious veneration” prosecutors allege.
From the schools, the men stol e laptops, money and a cash card, which they used to finance jihadist fighters in the Syrian civil war, alleged chief prosecutor Nadja Gudermann.
Security measures were heightened around the Cologne city court as the men were brought from police detention....
Cassandra Vinograd
nbcnews.com, October 22, 2015
The number of average daily attacks carried out by ISIS worldwide jumped 42 percent over the past three months, according to new data published Thursday.
IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre recorded a total of 1,086 ISIS attacks worldwide between July 1 and Sept. 30 — and the average daily number of attacks jumped to 11.8 from 8.3 in the preceding quarter.
The true number of attacks was likely "far higher," according to IHS, because the data only included operations claimed by the militants or definitively linked to them by governments.
The average daily death toll also jumped significantly over the reporting period, according to IHS. There were 2,978 non-militant fatalities — at an average of 32.4 per day, a 65.3 percent increase from the previous quarter.
"The group's capacity to wage a territorial-focused insurgency in conjunction with a punitive campaign of terrorist attacks remains undiminished despite an increasingly broad spectrum of armed opposition," IHS said....
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
jcpa.org, October 22, 2015
Iranian Basij “volunteer” fighters
- Iran’s line of defense passes through Syria, and that is why the Iranian government proposed creating battalions of Basij volunteers – 60,000 Hizbullah fighters who replaced the Syrian army in waging the war in the cities.
- Hizbullah pays a heavy and daily price to protect Assad’s regime, including the loss of senior commanders. The price that Iran is paying to protect Assad’s regime is increasing as well. Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders have also been killed on Syrian soil.
- Iran, in coordination with Russia, will send additional forces to Syria, which it views as a strategic asset with or without Assad.
- The crisis in Syria is gradually turning from a protracted regional crisis into an international one in which regional (Iran, Saudi Arabia) and international (Russia, the United States) powers are involved. Iran and Russia, working hand in hand, demonstrate resolve and a clear political direction.
- Iran sustains Syria and Assad’s minority regime because it serves its strategic interests on the national-ideological-religious level. For Iran, Syria constitutes the first line of defense against Israel, and also a line of defense for the Shiite population in Lebanon against Islamic State incursion.
- Iran and Russia are striving to fill the void that the United States has left....
Tom Z. Collina and William Saetren
defenseone.com, October 19, 2015
Those four cruise missiles that crashed in Iran could’ve been carrying nuclear warheads — which is why the US should ban them, not renew them.
When Russia this month launched 26 cruise missiles from ships in the Caspian Sea into Syria, more than 900 miles away, the missiles had to pass over Iran and Iraq. Four crashed in Iran. According to reports, a number of cows were killed in the ensuing blast.
Apologies to the cows, but this could have been a lot worse.
The Russian cruise missiles, the Kalibr-NK, were armed with conventional warheads. But these missiles are also capable of carrying nuclear warheads. That’s a problem. Cruise missile attacks are inherently ambiguous and can add major risks to a crisis. Had the target been the United States, military leaders would not have known until impact if it was a nuclear attack. This kind of uncertainty can increase the risk of nuclear war and it’s why nuclear-tipped crui se missiles should be banned completely....
Robert Hand
Oct 27, 2015, 1:04:28 AM10/27/15
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Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 23:35:00 -0500
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 13:11:47 -0500
Editor's Note: Monday October 26, 2015
Top 45 Greatest Israeli Inventions
JERUSALEM ONLINE |
Here's the KEY MOMENT in Benghazi hearings - Rep. Jordan nails Hillary on LIES It's been painful to watch Hillary Clinton's testimony during the Benghazi hearings. She skirts, deflects and blames others. YouTube video - 11:09 (Oct 22, 2015) THE NAZIS AND THE PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT The video shows how PLO/Fatah emerged from the German Nazi Final Solution. Hajj Amin al Husseini, father of the Palestinian Movement, creator of Fatah, and mentor to Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, was co-director with Adolf Eichmann of the death camp system that exterminated between 5 and 6 million European Jews in WWII. Vimeo video - 15:08 (2013) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Jerusalem mufti: Temple Mount never housed Jewish Temple, timesofisrael.com, Ilan Ben Zion
- Palestinians suspicious of al-Aqsa monitoring promoted by Kerry, Reuters, Ali Sawafta
- One Year of the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula, INSS Insight No. 758, Zack Gold
- Germany: Asylum Seekers Make Demands, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
- Why It Matters That Carter Says Iraq Raid Isn't Combat, Then Says It Is, defenseone.com, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
- Islamic State Sends Hit Squads to Target Christian Refugees, , clarionproject.org
- 'The mufti planned to build crematorium in Dotan Valley', israelhayom.com, Daniel Siryoti, Erez Linn
Ilan Ben Zion
timesofisrael.com, October 25, 2015
The grand mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim cleric in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said Sunday that there has never been a Jewish temple atop the Temple Mount, and that the site has been home to a mosque “since the creation of the world.”
Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein said in an Arabic interview with Israel’s Channel 2 that the site, considered the third holiest in Islam and the holiest to Jews, was a mosque “3,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago” and has been “since the creation of the world.”
“This is the Al-Aqsa Mosque that Adam, peace be upon him, or during his time, the angels built,” the mufti said of the 8th-century structure commissioned by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
Hussein has held the post of mufti since 2006; he was appointed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He has previously endorsed suicide bombings against Israelis.
He vehemently denied th at there has ever been a Jewish shrine atop the Temple Mount, despite rich archaeological and textual evidence to the contrary, including from Muslim sources. The 10th-century Muslim historian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi wrote in his description of Syria and Palestine that “in Jerusalem is the oratory of David and his gate; here are the wonders of Solomon and his cities,” and that the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque “were laid by David.”...
Ali Sawafta
Reuters, October 25, 2015
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Palestinian officials reacted warily on Sunday to what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed as Jordan's "excellent suggestion" to calm Israeli-Palestinian violence by putting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site under constant video monitoring.
"This is a new trap," Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Voice of Palestine radio, accusing Israel of planning to use such footage to arrest Muslim worshippers it believes are "inciting" against it.
Kerry, who met Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on Saturday, said Israel gave assurances it has no intention of changing the status quo at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is holy to Muslims and Jews....
Zack Gold
INSS Insight No. 758, October 25, 2015
...Impact on Israel
Israel has given Egypt significant leeway in efforts to counter the mutual threat both face from Sinai militancy. Egypt’s military deployments in the peninsula, which exceed the quota stipulated in the peace treaty, are in full coordination between the parties. Israel also watches its western border closely, and provides Egypt with intelligence. At the same time, questions remain if Egypt can destroy or even contain Wilayat Sinai. The IDF is preparing for the likelihood that the group will strike across the border: targeting Israeli civilian towns or military positions the same way it has attacked Egyptian security posts. The prospect of improved Egyptian military operations and governance in North Sinai would thus greatly benefit Israel. However, Israel and Egypt will face continued security risks for the foreseeable future if the Egyptian policies that attempt to bring immediate stability exacerbate local tensions.
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, October 23, 2015
- "Human traffickers and the media in their home countries are making promises that do not correspond to reality." — Hans-Joachim Ulrich, regional refugee coordinator.
- The migrants said they were angry they were being asked to sleep in a huge warehouse rather than in private apartments. Hamburg officials say there are no more vacant apartments in the city. "The city lied to us. We were shocked when we arrived here," said Syrian refugee Awad Arbaakeat.
- "One of the men, who spoke broken German, said they [a family of asylum seekers from Syria] were not interested in viewing the property because I am a woman... I was taken aback. You want to help and then are sent away, unwanted in your own country." — Aline Kern, real estate agent.
- "A constitutional state cannot allow itself to be blackmailed." — Marcel Huber, Bavarian politician.
- "I man. You woman. I go first." — Muslim male with a full shopping cart at the supermarket.
- An asylum seeker from Somalia successfully sued the German Agency for Migration and Refugees for taking too long to process his application -- 16 months. The agency said it currently has a backlog of 250,000 unprocessed applications.
- Seventy percent of migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria who were offered apprenticeships fail to complete them. According to the director of the Munich Chamber of Trade, many young migrants believe apprenticeships are beneath them....
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
defenseone.com, October 23, 2015
In this Sept. 30, 2015, photo Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Pentagon.We may not be a nation at war, but U.S. special operators are fighting. And their raids against ISIS most certainly are combat.
An American soldier has died in Iraq as a result of the U.S. intervention to support Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State. It’s the first loss of an American service member since the fight against ISIS began, and the first combat death in Iraq since 2011. U.S. special operations forces operating in Iraq in what Pentagon officials say was a supporting role took part in an Iraqi operation to free Iraqi hostages, including members of the Iraqi Security Forces. After more than 70 hostages were freed, 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, a v eteran of 14 official combat deployments and doubtless several other less-official trips into danger, died of his gunshot wound.
His death has raised the question of how an American could have died in combat when America, at least according to President Barack Obama and his national security leaders, is not at war.
“We have this capability. It is a great American strength,” Carter said Friday at the Pentagon of special operations raids like the one this week. But he insisted those raids are not the same as the U.S. military “assuming a combat role.”...
clarionproject.org
, October 25, 2015
An Islamic State jihadiThe Islamic State is sending hit squads into Syrian refugee camps to kill Christians. The strategy is part of a larger commitment to wipe out Christianity, according to a former Islamic State jihadi, who was sent to a refugee camp but changed his mind about his mission.
Witnesses to the murders are afraid to speak out for fear they will be targeted next.
One aid worker, quoted by the Sunday Express, said, "They're like a mafia. People are even killed inside the camps, and the refugees are afraid to say if they saw somebody get killed. If you ask them, they'll say, 'I don't know, I was asleep'."
The jihadi squads are also kidnapping Christian girls and selling them into sex slavery.
"The last time I went inside a camp, I had a policeman with me,' said the aid worker. "The camps are dangerous because they have IS, Iraqi militias and Syrian militias. It's another place for gangs. They're killing inside the camps, and they're buying and selling ladies and even girls."...
Daniel Siryoti, Erez Linn
israelhayom.com, October 23, 2015
Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini with Adolf Hitler in Berlin (Photo credit: AFP)The controversy over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks on Jerusalem Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini's role in the extermination of European Jewry has promoted veteran journalist Haviv Kanaan to recall the malicious plan the mufti devised.
Kanaan published an article in Haaretz in 1970 in which he reviewed the senior Muslim clergyman's actions in 1942, when the Jewish community in then-British Mandate Palestine was preparing for the possibility of a Nazi invasion. Kanaan said that in 1968, while researching his article, he met with Faiz Bay Idrisi, a senior Arab officer in the Mandate Police, who spoke of al-Husseini's intention to build a crematorium in the northwest Samarian hills.
"Ev en today, as I recall what I heard from police officials and mufti supporters, chills go through my body," Idrisi told Kanaan at the time, recalling how in case of a German invasion "Haj Amin Husseini was gearing to enter Jerusalem at the head of the Muslim Arab Legion squadron he'd created for the Third Reich. The mufti's plan was to build a huge Auschwitz-like crematorium in the Dotan Valley, near Nablus, to which Jews from Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and North Africa would be imprisoned and exterminated, just like the Jews in the death camps in Europe."...
Robert Hand
Oct 28, 2015, 1:18:57 AM10/28/15
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Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2015 23:55:06 -0500
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2015 11:34:49 -0500
Editor's Note: Tuesday October 27, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| SECRETS under the Al-Aqsa Mosque: A Photographic Essay CLICK HERE for photos and article NATO BLIND: Top Secret Russian Air Defence System Deployed in Syria CLICK HERE for video and article "AN ANALYSIS of the Upsurge of Terrorism in Israel" with Yaron Gamburg This month Palestinian terrorists launched a vicious and systematic terror campaign against innocent Israelis living all over the country, including in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Ra’anana, and other major cities. YouTube video - 54:25 (Oct 26, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The Palestinian Jihad: Lies, Lies and More Lies, gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- The Hidden Hand behind the Palestinian Terror Wave, JCPA, Vol. 15, No. 33, Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
- Police: Jerusalem terrorism wave largely curbed, jpost.com, Daniel K. Eisenbud
- The Mufti and the Holocaust , Aish.com, Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
- Netanyahu Under Fire for Telling Truth About Mufti's Role in Holocaust, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Palestinian terrorism is not random, israelhayom.com, Yoram Ettinger
- British academics call for Israel boycott in Guardian ad, ynetnews.com, Itamar Eichner
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, October 24, 2015
- First, we are not seeing anything "popular." We are not seeing, as before, thousands of Palestinians participating in the violence or protests.
- It is just another wave of terrorism: targeting Jews for being Jews. The terrorists and their apologists do not distinguish between a Jew living in the city of Beersheba, and a Jew from a West Bank settlement. For the Palestinian leaders and media, these Jews are all "settlers" living in "occupied territories."
- The appropriate term for the current wave of terrorism is "jihad". The attacks on Jews in Israel and the West Bank are part of the global jihad that has been waged for many years against Jews in particular, non-Muslims in general, and even against other Muslims who might not agree with a differing version of Islam.
- This jihad is not aimed at "ending occupation" or protesting against misery and checkpoints. The terrorists do not see a difference between a "left wing Jew" and a "right wing Jew." They do not ask their victims about their political affiliation before knifing them....
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
JCPA, Vol. 15, No. 33, October 25, 2015
Arab disturbances along the Gaza-Israel borderGaza has in effect become an independent Palestinian state, and this Hamas-ruled state is making a pitch, by means of the “Al-Quds Intifada,” to annex the West Bank as well. For Hamas, this is only one phase in the phased plan to implement an ethnic cleansing of the Jews from the Land of Israel.
By unleashing Palestinian terror PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas hopes to bring about greater international intervention in the conflict, and, thereby, to give greater heft to UN General Assembly Resolution 67/19 of December 4, 2012, which recognizes “Palestine” as a nonmember observer state of the UN.
Hamas, which in the past was a bitter foe of the PLO, has made it a supreme goal to take over the organization. It thereby seeks to gain the status of sole representative of the Palestinian people....
Daniel K. Eisenbud
jpost.com, October 27, 2015
Rain in Jerusalem. (photo: Marc Israel Sellem/JPost)
Following three weeks of heightened security – including numerous roadblocks placed at violent Arab neighborhoods, an extra 1,200 Border Police officers, and coordination with the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) – police on Monday said Jerusalem’s terrorism wave has largely been contained.
While emphasizing that the city remains at its highest state of alert, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the capital’s far-reaching emergency security plan has prevented another terrorist attack from taking place for roughly one week.
“With police across the country drafted to Jerusalem, as well as 16 extra Border Police units, and rotating roadblocks and checkpoints as a strategic maneuver, pol ice have been able to stop another threat of a terrorist attack,” Rosenfeld said....
Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
Aish.com, October 26, 2015
...Although Netanyahu’s remarks were not accurate, there is little doubt that Haj Amin Al Husseini encouraged genocide during the Holocaust.
During the Nuremberg Trials that followed World War II, Dieter Wisliceny, a deputy of Adolph Eichmann, described the Mufti as one of Eichmann’s closest confidants: “The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry...and had been the permanent collaborator and advisor of Eichmann and Himmler in the execution of the plan.
According to my opinion, the Grand Mufti, who had been in Berlin since 1941, played a role in the decision of the German government to exterminate the European Jews. He had repeatedly suggested to the various authorities...the extermination of European Jewry. He was one of Eichmann’s best friends and had constantly incited him to accelerate the extermination measures.” When Eichmann was captured and tried in Israel in 1961, Gol da Meir called for Al Husseini to be tried, as well.
Although the Mufti was hardly the first to call for killing Europe’s Jews – mobile killing units had already murdered close to a million Jews by the time the Eichmann met the Mufti – Al Husseini was at the very least an enthusiastic supporter, and possibly a collaborator in wiping out Jews....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 25, 2015
“Aside from the outrageous fact that Netanyahu is drawing much more fire for this than Mahmoud Abbas ever does for his praise for the murderers of Jews and calls to kill more, there is one central problem with the denunciations: Netanyahu was right.” Indeed.
“Benjamin Netanyahu Under Fire for Telling Truth About Mufti’s Role in Holocaust,” by Pamela Geller, Breitbart, October 22, 2015:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being denounced worldwide for noting that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who lived in Berlin during World War II and recruited a Muslim SS division for Hitler, had a role in inciting the Nazis to murder six million Jews.
Aside from the outrageous fact that Netanyahu is drawing much more fire for this than Mahmoud Abbas eve r does for his praise for the murderers of Jews and calls to kill more, there is one central problem with the denunciations: Netanyahu was right....
Yoram Ettinger
israelhayom.com, October 25, 2015
Unlike national liberation movements, Palestinian terrorism has deliberately, institutionally, and systematically targeted Arab and Israeli noncombatants, sometimes hitting combatants.
Palestinian terrorism has haunted Arab societies in Jordan (especially during the 1968-1970 era of PLO terrorism), Lebanon (particularly during the 1971-1982 civil wars), Kuwait (during the 1990 invasion by Saddam Hussein), Iraq (until 2002, as an arm of Saddam Hussein's ruthless domestic oppression), Syria (until 2012, bolstering Bashar Assad's regime) and currently in Egypt (collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood terror organization). Pro-U.S. Arab regimes consider Palestinian terrorism a clear and present danger, never fighting on behalf of Palestinians. Sometimes these regimes launch severe military blows (1970 Black September in Jordan) and expulsions (300,000 expelled from Kuwait), showering them with rhetoric, but not resources.
Since the establishm ent of the Palestinian Authority in 1993, Palestinian terrorism has afflicted the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, denying the Palestinians civil liberties and instituting a corrupt, oppressive reign of horror. It prompted most Christians to flee from Ramallah (home of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters), Bethlehem and Beit Jallah. In addition, Muslim emigration from the Palestinian Authority has increased since 2000. While Egypt prevents emigration from Gaza through Sinai, Gaza's Arabs have emigrated, in increasing numbers, via the Mediterranean. Moreover, Palestinians flow across Jerusalem's municipal lines, escaping Abbas' tyranny to receive Israeli residency, social benefits and human rights.
Palestinian terrorists have targeted pro-U.S. Arab regimes and "the arrogant, infidel, Great Satan," the U.S., joining the ayatollahs in Iran (since the toppling of the shah in 1979), Taliban, al-Qaida, Islamic State and other Isl amic terror organizations. Osama bin Laden's role model and spiritual mentor, Abdullah Azam, was from a village in Samaria....
Itamar Eichner
ynetnews.com, October 27, 2015
343 British academics pledged to uphold an academic boycott of Israeli Universities due to their "support for Israeli violations of international law and support for the occupation," in a full page advertisement published in Tuesday's edition of the Guardian.
The ad is a direct response to an ad published in the same paper on Friday, in which 150 British authors, artists, and musicians - including Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling - expressed their opposition to a cultural boycott of Israel.
The Friday ad sparked a controversy among Guardian readers, leading the paper to publish furious letters against the pro-Israel movement authored by Brian Eno and the Baroness Jenny Tonge, among others.
The ad in the Guardian...
Robert Hand
Oct 30, 2015, 1:25:49 AM10/30/15
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Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2015 00:15:16 -0500
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 11:24:57 -0500
Editor's Note: Thursday October 29, 2015
U.S., Saudi Arabia to bolster support for moderate Syrian opposition
U.S., Saudi Arabia to bolster support for moderate Syrian opposition
The Glazov Gang-The Death of Europe.
Daniel Greenfield (Shillman Fellow, Freedom Center)
YouTube video - 11:40 (Oct 25, 2015)
Miri Lavi - I define myself as a proud Israeli, Zionist, Arab, Muslim.
Facebook video - 07:56
Miri Lavi - I define myself as a proud Israeli, Zionist, Arab, Muslim.
Facebook video - 07:56
Contents: (summaries below)
- Looking beyond the 'third intifada', jpost.com, Louis Rene Beres
- Saudi Prince: I Side with Israel - Not the Palestinians, unitedwithisrael.org, United with Israel Staff
- Egyptian, Saudi foreign ministers 'reaffirm accords' over Syria and Yemen, english.ahram.org.eg,
- Iran's New Palestinian Terror Group: Al-Sabireen, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- Op-ed: All EU funds to Palestinian territories should be conditional on a renouncement of hate and incitement to violence, says Swedish MEP., ynetnews.com, Lars Adaktusson
- Exclusive: Russia flying Iranian weapons shipments into Syria, sources say, FoxNews.com, Jennifer Griffin
“It’s farewell to the drawing-room’s civilized cry, The professor’s sensible whereto and why, The frock-coated diplomat’s social aplomb, Now matters are settled with gas and with bomb.”– W.H. Auden, Danse Macabre
With apparent suddenness, and a very deliberate brutality, Palestinian terrorists are launching a new wave of indiscriminate assaults they proudly hail as a “third intifada.”
But behind the protective veneer of language, where homicide is conveniently transfigured into revolution, these latest Arab attacks remain what they have always been – that is, crudely camouflaged expressions of rampant criminality.
Jurisprudentially, this is all perfectly obvious. Prima facie, under all pertinent international law, calculated assau lts on mostly women and children can never be sanitized or justified. Always, rather, they represent codified crimes of war and crimes against humanity....
Jurisprudentially, this is all perfectly obvious. Prima facie, under all pertinent international law, calculated assau lts on mostly women and children can never be sanitized or justified. Always, rather, they represent codified crimes of war and crimes against humanity....
United with Israel Staff
unitedwithisrael.org, October 28, 2015
Taking into account regional upheaval and changes throughout the Middle East, billionaire Saudi prince al-Waleed bin Talal says his country should work with Israel to contend with the Iranian threat. Significantly, and rare for a Saudi to admit in public, he emphasized that if the Palestinians launch another uprising, he will side with Israel.Saudi prince al-Waleed bin Talal has stated that in the event of another Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israel he would side with the Jewish State, saying that “Saudi Arabia has reached a political maturity to constitute a durable alliance with the Jewish nation.”
“I will side with the Jewish nation and its democratic aspirations in case of outbreak of a Palestinian Intifada and I shall exert all my influence to break any o minous Arab initiatives set to condemn Tel Aviv, because I deem the Arab-Israeli entente and future friendship necessary to impede the Iranian dangerous encroachment,” Al Qabas quotes the Saudi media tycoon as saying....
english.ahram.org.eg, October 25, 2015
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (L) talks with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during a news conference following their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, October 25, 2015 (Photo: Reuters)Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has reaffirmed the compatibility of visions between Cairo and Riyadh on the crises in Syria and Yemen, again quashing reports of discord between the two states over the region's pressing conflicts.
"There has not been [any] chasm before. Our [stances] are compatible," Shoukry told a presser in Cairo in reference to the two countries' purportedly diverging interests on Syria.
Saudi Arabia has staunchly insisted on the ouster of President Bashar Al-Assad's as a precondition for any future solution for Syria's four-year-old civil war. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has urged a political solution focused on fighting terrorism, as he made fighting Islamist extremism a main priority since coming to power last year....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, October 28, 2015
- The Iranians are also believed to have supplied their new terrorist group in the Gaza Strip with Grad and Fajr missiles that are capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
- The leader of Al-Sabireen, Hisham Salem, is a former commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. His activities and rhetoric have worried many in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who fear that his group is beginning to attract many of their followers.
- Salem has been accused by many Palestinians of helping Iran spread Shia Islam inside the Gaza Strip, where all Muslims belong to the rival Sunni denomination.
- This, of course, is bad news for [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas, who is now watching as many of his former loyalists have come onto Iran's payroll and are sharing its radical ideology.
- Many Palestinians and Arabs in the region are already voicing concern. The last thing Abbas, Egypt's President Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah need is another Iranian terror group such as Hezbollah in the Middle East.
- It now remains to be seen whether the Obama Administration and other Western powers will wake up and realize that the Iranians are continuing to fool them, not only regarding Tehran's nuclear program, but also concerning its territorial ambitions in the Middle East.
- Unless the U.S. and Western powers realize that Iran remains a major threat to world peace, Al-Sabireen and other terrorist groups will one day manage to establish a UN-recognized Palestinian state that would pose an existential threat to Israel and destabilize the entire Middle East....
Lars Adaktusson
ynetnews.com, October 28, 2015
In the European Parliament, when the name of Israel is muttered, the next two words that usually follow are settlements and occupation.
The European Union’s obsession with Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank has been the main drive behind all the recent initiatives spearheaded by the European External Action Service (EEAS), starting with the EU Guidelines on Israeli entities based outside the Green Line from December 2013 and continuing with the EU labelling of products coming out of the settlements and other similar measures.
They are also allegedly the main reason why some of my own colleagues sitting in the parliament are calling for a suspension of the Association Agreement with Israel.
Here in Europe, settlements are seen as the major stumbling block for the restart of peace talks. Admittedly, building new housing in the settlements does have a counterproductive effect when it comes to confidence building measures between the parties, and I for one have pointed out the need to respect international law. However, the complex nature of the settlements, the differentiation between outposts and building housing in an area already agreed to be part of the land swaps are nuances that should be considered if you choose to tackle them as one of the core conflict issues.
The EU should stop making large wire transfers to the PA bank account in the hope that they know best how to deal with extremist elements in their society(Photo: AFP)
The Quartet Principles meeting from Vienna last Friday and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' visit to Brussels on Monday are likely to produce a set of statements about measures that should be taken by both sides to de-escalate the tensions. We don’t, howev er, expect them to tackle head-on a key and core issue of the conflict, that of Palestinian incitement.
The "lone wolf" attacks that we have witnessed in the last few weeks against Israeli citizens have not only instilled a deep mistrust towards Israeli Arabs and East Jerusalem Arab residents, but have set the peace process way back. These attacks are symptomatic of a malaise in Palestinian society that the international partners, and Europe, in particular, have been trying to duck for several decades: Hate speech and incitement to violence....
Jennifer Griffin
FoxNews.com, October 29, 2015
Russian planes spotted on the tarmac in Latakia, Syria. (ImageSat International)Russia has helped Iran deliver weapons into Syria twice a day over the past 10 days, western intelligence sources tell Fox News.
Those sources say Russian cargo planes transported the weapons. The planes were spotted earlier this month on the tarmac at the Russian air base in Latakia, Syria's primary port city.
The flights are not registered, and are in breach of two United Nations Security Council resolutions which impose an arms embargo on Iran....
Robert Hand
Oct 30, 2015, 9:59:11 PM10/30/15
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Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2015 20:57:53 -0500
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2015 13:14:00 -0500
Editor's Note: Friday October 30, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
The Glazov Gang-Stealth Jihad vs. America David Kupelian-“The Snapping of the American Mind” YouTube video - 12:42 (Oct 26, 2015) Israeli Scientists Help Create First 3D Map Of The Brain An international team of scientists has created a digital representation of a rat’s brain, i n a project hailed as a breakthrough in brain research. CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Time for a new American understanding of the conflict, jpost.com, Eric R. Mandel
- Secretary Kerry unintentionally voices support for dropping 'two-state solution', IMRA, Dr. Aaron Lerner
- Introduction: Restoring a Security-First Peace Policy, jcpa.org, Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon
- Why Oslo failed: Confronting 'Peace Now', israelnationalnews.com, Louis René Beres
- Month of Russian air strikes on Syria kill nearly 600: monitor, reuters.com,
- Iran to Attend Vienna Talks on Syria, kayhan.ir,
- Al-Shabaab Faction Pledges Loyalty to ISIS After Killing 150 Christian Students, christianpost.com, Stoyan Zaimov
Eric R. Mandel
jpost.com, October 28, 2015
Netanyahu and Abbas. (photo credit: Reuters)
“The historical denial about the right of Jewish people to have their own homeland” and the Palestinian “refusal to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, that is a critical issue that needs to be addressed.” – Democratic California Congressman Alan Lowenthal
This week the United Nations Security Council debated the causes of the current violence in Israel.
It wasn’t much of a debate.
The ambassadors were in perfect agreement about who caused the violence, and were sure of the remedy. Facts were chosen, and context was conveniently ignored.
That evening I was asked to speak to young Jewish professionals in New York City about the current situation. During the Q&A and afte rwards, one question was repeatedly asked: How do we respond to people who disproportionately blame Israel? How do we interact with people especially on the Internet who barely acknowledge the unprovoked Palestinian attacks, or show any discomfort with the blatant Jew hatred pervasive on the Internet? The UN ambassadors were unanimous in agreement that the source of the violence was the settlements, and Israel’s change in the status quo on the Temple Mount. They agreed that it is the Palestinians who need protection from Israelis. The obvious fact that if Palestinian attacks ended, the violence would cease is never mentioned. Israel’s legitimate security requirements, and its rejected offers of land for peace were ignored, as they do not fit the anti-Israel narrative of the United Nations.
As a reminder, having a standard for Israel that is not expected of any other nation is considered anti-Semitism according to the US State Department’s definit ion....
Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA, October 29, 2015
...According to FBI data, in 2013 there were 16,037 incidents of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the USA - and given the U.S. population of 285,317,559 this comes to 5.6 per hundred thousand.
According to Israel Police data, in 2014 there were 127 incidents of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - and given the population of Israel of 8.2 million this comes to a rate of less than 1.6 per hundred thousand.
So we could have another 332 murders a year here in Israel to reach the murder rate in the United States. That's almost another murder a day.
"What’s been going on in the last weeks" has been a few knifings a day - almost all the people dying are the Palestinian knifers.
Bottom line: Mr. Kerry is telling us that in the absence of a "two-state solution with strong security protections" it is still going to be considerably less life-threatening to walk around in Israel than in the Unit ed States.
Oops!
By the way, Mr. Kerry declines to consider the outcome of a failed "two-state solution".
"Give peace a chance" may be a nice lyric for a song but its profoundly reckless not to consider the possible downside of that "chance"....
Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon
jcpa.org, October 28, 2015
Map 1 – Israel and the Middle East
Israel’s vital security requirements and a conditional endorsement of a Palestinian state were laid out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his first major policy speech at Bar-Ilan University, just two months after he took office in April 2009. Though at first glance it may appear as though Netanyahu articulated a major shift in Israel’s policy, the ideas he endorsed represent a restoration of Israel’s traditional security-based approach to achieving a lasting peace. This policy has been based on the government’s understanding of the strategic environment in the Middle East and the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. That is, since the beginning of the conflict, even before the founding of the state and all the way through the Oslo Accords, the readiness of the Zionist leadership to reach an historic compromise has failed to convince the Palestinians to forgo their commitment to “armed struggle” and other forms of opposition to the right of the Jewish people to live peacefully in a nation-state of their own in their historic home, the Land of Israel.
This background supports this urgently needed policy study, Israel’s Critical Requirements for Defensible Borders: The Foundation for a Secure Peace. Israel’s security requirements in any agreement with the Palestinians are presented here by some of Israel’s best military minds, who have experienced first-hand the dangers the Jewish state faces on all fronts, particularly in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and from groups and regimes sponsored by Iran.
Throughout my military career, that included the Oslo “peace process” in the 1990s, I dealt with Palestinian and radical I slamic terror as an IDF officer in a variety of posts. I served as head of Military Intelligence, Deputy Chief of Staff, and then as Chief of Staff of the IDF during operations against the Palestinian Authority’s paramilitary forces, Fatah militias, and Hamas forces in Gaza and Judea and Samaria from 2000 to 2005. The hard reality of these experiences taught me the importance of confronting security threats, ensuring the appropriate security protection systems, and not succumbing to wishful thinking about Israel’s enemies....
Louis René Beres
israelnationalnews.com, October 27, 2015
Notwithstanding the latest "Peace Now" demonstrations in Tel-Aviv, Oslo Agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority remain destined to fail. This is not because of any Israeli "right-wing government intransigence," but on account of an immutably corrupted Palestinian doctrine.
From Oslo's beginnings, in 1993, the Arab side sought only to embrace the U.S.-brokered pact as a promising means of improving its own relative power position. Even then, in unhidden sentiments that have become still more explicit during the so-called "Third Intifada," the Palestinians had been seeking only a One-State Solution.
Never, even for a moment, did a single Palestinian faction display any authentic interest in living "side-by-side" with any Jewish State.
Never did any such faction actually favor a "Two-State Solution."
Never....
reuters.com, October 29, 2015
Civilians inspect a site hit by what activists said were air strikes carried out by the Russian air force on Reef al-Mohandeseen area in the western countryside of Aleppo, Syria October 21, 2015. (Reuters/Hosam Katan)
Russian air strikes on Syria have killed nearly 600 people, a third of them civilians, since Moscow started its aerial campaign a month ago, a group monitoring the war said on Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said the Russian strikes had killed 185 civilians and 410 fighters from various insurgent groups.
Russia has said it is targeting Islamic State fighters and other jihadists in Syria a nd has denied its bombing has resulted in civilian casualties.
Writing by Sylvia Westall; editing by John Stonestreet
kayhan.ir, October 28, 2015
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif and three of his deputies will attend multilateral talks on Friday in Vienna aimed at resolving the conflict in Syria, the Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
It will be the first time that Tehran attends an international summit on the four-year-long war.
"Deputy Foreign Ministers Hussein Amir Abdollahian, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi will accompany Zarif on this trip," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying by Iran's ISNA news agency.
Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, the European Union and France also said they would attend Friday's talks, which come a week after a smaller round of negotiations between the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Around a dozen participants are expected in total. It was not clear if any invitations had been issued to either the Syrian government or the opposition, thoug h neither side was present at the last talks in Vienna....
Stoyan Zaimov
christianpost.com, October 26, 2015
People carry wooden crosses, symbolizing the people killed by gunmen at the Garissa University College, as they arrive for a memorial vigil at the "Freedom Corner" in Kenya's capital Nairobi, April 7, 2015. Kenyan university students marched in the capital on Tuesday to demand more security from the government after gunmen killed nearly 150 people at a campus in the eastern town of Garissa last week. A citizens group planned to hold a vigil in Nairobi's main park later in the evening, tapping growing public frustration over security in the wake of the attack claimed by al-Shabaab Islamists based in neighboring Somalia. (Photo: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)
Somali police take position a
fter Islamist group al Shabaab attacked Maka Al-Mukarama hotel in Mogadishu, March 27, 2015. Islamist militants blasted their way into a popular hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least seven people and trapping government officials inside, police and witnesses said. (Photo: Reuters/Feisal Omar)
A senior spiritual leader of the al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia, which earlier this year massacred close to 150 Christian students, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria.
"We, the mujahideen of Somalia, declare allegiance to the caliph as Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Awad al-Qurashi," Abdiqadir Mumin, an al-Shabaab commander in the Puntland region of Somalia, said in an audio tape, according to Reuters....
Robert Hand
Nov 3, 2015, 1:36:39 AM11/3/15
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Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2015 00:26:35 -0600
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2015 13:09:00 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday November 02, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your link to Israel |
Putin's DEADLIEST flamethrower WIPES OUT evil Islamic State militants in Syria CLICK HERE for video, pictures and article Jordanian sheikh stirs controversy with fatwa AGAINST KILLING Jews CLICK HERE for video and article Exclusive: Italy seeking Israeli-Egyptian-Italian NATURAL GAS EXPORT cooperation CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Op-Ed: Forget about waiting for peace with Islam, israelnationalnews.com, Victor Sharpe
- UK: Muslim sex attacker dodges deportation by claiming to be a Syrian refugee, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Activists, monitor say Syrian rebels lock people in cages as human shields, reuters.com,
- The whitewashing never stops, israelhayom.com, Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash
- Iran not to implement JCPOA until sanctions repealed: MPs, presstv.com,
- 13 reasons why we should not admit Muslim 'refugees', americanthinker.com, Carol Brown
- Installing Jew-Hatred on America's Campuses, frontpagemag.com, Phyllis Chesler
Victor Sharpe
israelnationalnews.com, October 28, 2015
“Even if Israel shrank to one downtown city block in Tel Aviv, the Arab and Muslim world would still not recognize a Jewish state or agree to live with it in peace and harmony.”
“Much of the Islamic world now feels empowered, as perhaps never before, to seek global domination. This is the tangible and growing threat to the world; not global warming.”
“What we have witnessed for far too long are Israeli leaders constantly making endless concession to the deceitful leaders of the terrorist crime family known as the Palestinian Authority.”...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, October 28, 2015
This fellow is apparently a “Palestinian” or an Egyptian, not a Syrian at all, but the UK Home Office is too busy preventing foes of jihad terror from entering the country to notice.
“Illegal immigrant sex attacker dodges deportation after saying he’s a SYRIAN REFUGEE,” by Nick Gutteridge, Express, October 27, 2015:
AN illegal immigrant who attacked and sexually molested a woman within days of smuggling himself into Britain looks set to avoid deportation by claiming he is a SYRIAN REFUGEE.
Despite authorities suspecting he is lying about his nationality, as well as his “frightening” criminal record, the predatory pervert will soon be free to walk the streets again....
reuters.com, November 01, 2015
A monitoring group and activists said on Sunday that Syrian rebels had locked people in cages and driven them to areas near Damascus to use as human shields against heavy government air raids.
A video posted online by the Shaam News Network, an opposition media outlet, showed men and women in iron cages being driven on the back of pickup trucks through what it said was the area of Eastern Ghouta, northeast of the capital.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had information from Eastern Ghouta residents that the people being used as human shields were military officers and their families who had been captured by rebels in the area....
Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash
israelhayom.com, October 29, 2015
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei(Photo credit: AP)
Iran has agreed to accept an invitation from the United States and Russia to participate in "a broad new round of negotiations to resolve the Syrian war," The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The report said Iranian consent was finally secured after the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was persuaded to allow Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to join the talks in Vienna this weekend.
Why the change of heart? Why does Iran of all countries, which provides backing for the murderous Assad regime, get an invitation to these talks? And how can it be that the U.S., which for years has condemned Iranian interventionism in the Middle East, particularly its support for Hezbollah and its funding of Hamas and other hostile elements, such as the Assad regime, now suddenly views it as a legitimate partner for dialogue? Antony Blinken, the deputy secretary of state, explained the White House's approach by saying, "It is hard to imagine a solution to the Syrian crisis without Iran."
Ironically, perhaps tragically, this shameful turn of events occurred the same day an exiled Iranian opposition group published an interview in Farsi with former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, now the head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, recounting the history of Iran's nuclear program. As one of the primary individuals responsible for developing Iran's nuclear program, Rafsanjani explained that the regime sought to acquire a nuclear bomb when it initiated its nuclear program as early as the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq War, mainly to counter the threat posed by Iraq at the time. Later on, however, in the 1990s, Iran continued to pursue the development of its nuclear weapon, turning to Pakistan, China and North Korea for help. According to Rafsanjani, Iran has always reserved the right to use its nuclear program for military purposes against its enemies....
presstv.com, November 01, 2015
A view of Iran's ParliamentIranian lawmakers have urged the administration to withhold the execution of its commitments under a nuclear agreement reached with the P5+1 group of countries until the US and EU sanctions against Tehran are declared null and void.
In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday, 213 lawmakers said no practical measure should be taken with regard to the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) before US President Barack Obama and the European Union officially declare the lifting of all financial and economic sanctions against Tehran....
Carol Brown
americanthinker.com, October 29, 2015
...Any one of the reasons noted below should be sufficient to make the case as to why we must close our doors to Muslims pouring out of Islamic countries heading West. But in case you encounter someone who is truly thick (and there are a lot of them out there), it’s always best to have several facts on hand.
- They are not “refugees.” They are invaders; soldiers of Allah: What is unfolding is hijra, otherwise known as immigration jihad. It is written in the Quran and is a powerful strategy the Islamic world has used for many centuries to overwhelm nations and assert dominance. We must not allow our culture to be undermined and destroyed by increasing the population of Muslims in the United States.
- The vast majority of Muslims flooding into the West are young men: We are being invaded by an army of young fighting-age men from across the Islamic world. Muslim males often wreak havoc wherever they go, including disproportionately high levels of involvement with criminal activity, rape, threats against others, terrorism, and everything in between. We should not be importing a demographic of people who have a propensity toward violence.
- We can’t vet these invaders: The FBI has stated we are unable to screen people leaving Islamic countries en route to the West. That should count for something. It’s madness to invite people into one’s home – one’s nation – when we know next-to-nothing about them. In addition, the FBI is stretched to its limit with nearly 1,000 ISIS investigations spanning all 50 states. We are doing a poor job of playing offense and we’re on the verge of losing our ability to play defense. That is a dangerous combination that will lead to increased violence against Americans....
Phyllis Chesler
frontpagemag.com, November 02, 2015
Editor's note: See Part I of this 2-Part Series HERE.
How ironic, how tragic, that such an academic should have to face accusations that she herself is allegedly “biased” and wants to censor academic, free speech.
How frightening that she is now being shunned by her colleagues of sixteen years—and that, earlier this month, she had to file a Notice of Claim against her college District based on a variety of charges including “discrimination, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment, retaliation, and tortious interferences with law enforcement investigation.”
What exactly happened?
Dr. Nussbaum challenged an invitation to an outside speaker, Miko Peled, an Israeli Jew. According to J.J. Surbeck, the head of T.E.A.M (Training and Education About the Middle East), Peled was a long-time martial arts instructor in California who was not known as an academic. He is the author of The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, published by Just Words Books in 2012. Introduced by Alice Walker, the frequent-Turkish flotilla goer, it seems to be a briskly selling title.
According to Nussbaum, Peled writes that “Iran is not the threat, Israel is.” He engages in non-stop falsehoods against the Jewish State. Peled has "seriously mischaracterized Israeli actions as 'a mission to destroy the Palestinian people,' accused Israeli Defense Forces of 'ethnic cleansing,' and falsely stated that the ongoing peace process is "a process of apartheid and colonization.'...
Robert Hand
Nov 4, 2015, 1:20:37 AM11/4/15
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Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2015 23:46:09 -0600
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2015 12:44:19 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday November 03, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
Graphic Video: ISIS threatens Barack Obama, beheads four kurdish fighters CLICK HERE for article and graphic video We Read All 159 Pages of the Iran Deal Before Creating This 4 Minute Video Analysis. Watch it! CLICK HERE for video Abbas rejects Israel’s legitimacy in any borders: All of Israel is an “occupation” PMW YouTube video - 00:39 (Nov 1, 2015) How social media is defeating the Palestinian intifada CLICK HERE for article and videos |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Diplomats to learn to defend 'legality of settlements', timesofisrael.com, Times of Israel staff
- Jerusalem Challenges US with Building Freeze on Arabs as well as Jews, jewishpress.com, Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
- The Facebook Intifada, nytimes.com, Micah Lakin Avin
- As Predicted, the Iran Deal Has Begun to Wreck Global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Efforts, familysecuritymatters.org, Fred Fleitz
- Ahead of International Syria Talks, Israeli Minister Elkin Meets Russian FM Lavrov to Lay Out Israel's Red Lines, algemeiner.com, Algemeiner Staff
- How the AKP dominated yesterday's election in Turkey, al-monitor.com, Mustafa Akyol
Times of Israel staff
timesofisrael.com, November 01, 2015
Foreign Ministry cadets will tour West Bank settlements and learn how to defend their legality, as well as hear lectures on Judaism and tour the City of David archaeological site in East Jerusalem, officials said Sunday, in a rightward shift for the country’s diplomatic corps.The new additions to the cadet course are a joint effort of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovel and Foreign Ministry director Dore Gold, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The foreign minister post is held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Both ministry officials believe the modified cadet course will help fledgling diplomats “honestly represent the positions of the Israeli government,” Army Radio quoted unnamed Foreign Ministry sources as saying.
Among the new classes added to th e cadet course are a lecture on the legality of Jewish settlements in the West Bank based on the claim that the West Bank is not occupied territory; a tour of the City of David in the Silwan neighborhood near the Old City guided by David Be’eri, an official of the right-wing NGO Elad, which administers the site; a tour of the settlements guided by settler leader Benny Katzover; and a tour of the Jordan Valley devoted to the subject of Israel’s borders. This last talk will be given by Uzi Dayan, a former IDF general....
Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
jewishpress.com, November 02, 2015
Arab construction workers are usually involved in building the homes for both Jews and Arabs. (Photo Credit: Gili Yaari/Flash 90)
A Jerusalem municipal committee has temporarily frozen all building construction permits in eastern Jerusalem, not only for Jews but also for Arabs, Army Radio reported Monday afternoon.
The office of the Prime Minister insists that it had nothing to do with the Jerusalem City Building and Planning Committee’s decision to freeze construction.
The halt in construction comes just before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to visit President Barack Obama to try to mend fences. It also comes shortly after the Obama administration denounced a near-final bureaucratic advancement in plans for building 900 new residential units in the Hareidi Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, adjacent to the Arab Shuafat area.
A source in the municipality said the decision to freeze all building construction permits was made so there will be no question of discrimination....
Micah Lakin Avin
nytimes.com, November 03, 2015
Photo Credit: Daniel ZenderTEL AVIV — THREE weeks ago, my father was riding on a public bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood when terrorists from East Jerusalem shot him in the head and stabbed him multiple times. Afterward, as he lay unconscious in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, fighting for his life, one question was on my mind: What inspired the two young Palestinian men to savagely attack my father and a busload of passengers?
My father, Richard Lakin, dedicated his life to the cause of Israeli-Arab reconciliation. Ever since moving to Israel from Connecticut in the 1980s, he spent his career teaching English to Israeli and Arab children. Inspired by his experience marching with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King J r. in the 1960s, he became a founding member of Israel Loves Iran, a social media initiative designed to bring the citizens of these two nations closer together. When news of his tragedy broke, many of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish residents of Jerusalem who knew my father and admired his work rushed to his bedside to pay their respects and say a prayer for his recovery. Even Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, stopped by on his recent visit to Israel.
Watching the well-wishers congregating in the intensive care unit, however, I realized that the world leaders who were having the most impact on the situation in the Middle East right now weren’t Mr. Ban or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and other young entrepreneurs who shape the social media platforms most of us use every day.
It may sound strange to talk of Twitter and Facebook as relevant players in the war agai nst terror, but as the recent wave of violence in Israel has proved, that is increasingly the case. The young men who boarded the bus that day intent on murdering my 76-year-old father did not make their decision in a vacuum. One was a regular on Facebook, where he had already posted a “will for any martyr.” Very likely, they made use of one of the thousands of posts, manuals and instructional videos circulating in Palestinian society these last few weeks, like the image, shared by thousands on Facebook, showing an anatomical chart of the human body with advice on where to stab for maximal damage....
Fred Fleitz
familysecuritymatters.org, October 30, 2015
Amid growing indications that Iran does not plan to comply with the July nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA), there is a new report that the huge U.S. concessions offered to Tehran to get this agreement are already undermining global efforts against nuclear proliferation.One of the most significant of these concessions allows Iran to continue to enrich uranium even while the JCPOA is in effect. This contradicts years of U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to halt all uranium enrichment, and previous U.S. policies that have strongly discouraged nations from beginning peaceful uranium-enrichment programs due to the ease with which they can be used to produce weapons-grade nuclear fuel.
Although Obama-administration officials deny it, this concession has been interpreted by Iran and other nations as conceding to Iran the "right" to enrich uranium. Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review in August that this denial is hard to take seriously, since John Kerry conceded Iran's right to enrich in 2009, when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The chickens have already come home to roost on the uranium-enrichment concession: The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which in 2009 signed an agreement with the U.S. barring it from pursuing uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, is now considering renouncing these commitments....
Algemeiner Staff
algemeiner.com, October 30, 2015
Israel’s Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Strategic Affairs and Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin laid out Israel’s red lines in Syria in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday, Israeli nrg news reported.The Israeli minister, according to the report, relayed to Lavrov Israel’s three main concerns: preventing the flow of weapons to the terrorist group Hezbollah, maintaining a quiet border in the Golan Heights and upholding the ban on the use of chemical weapons.
While the meeting was scheduled in advance to discuss economic issues, ultimately it ended up happening a day before Russia headed to international talks on the Syrian war on Friday and Saturday. The Israelis used Elkin’s trip as a chanc e to lay out their concerns.
“Israel believes this meeting is very important in light of the Vienna meetings and what appears to be a significant improvement for the battered Syrian president, Bashar Assad, ” reported nrg. Additionally, Lavrov reportedly described to Elkin some of Moscow’s plans for the months ahead in Syria....
reuters.com, October 29, 2015
Civilians inspect a site hit by what activists said were air strikes carried out by the Russian air force on Reef al-Mohandeseen area in the western countryside of Aleppo, Syria October 21, 2015. (Reuters/Hosam Katan)
Russian air strikes on Syria have killed nearly 600 people, a third of them civilians, since Moscow started its aerial campaign a month ago, a group monitoring the war said on Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said the Russian strikes had killed 185 civilians and 410 fighters from various insurgent groups....
Mustafa Akyol
al-monitor.com, November 02, 2015
Turkey's Nov. 1 snap elections ended with a result that almost no one expected: a crushing, fourth consecutive victory for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has now been in power since 2002. The party won 49.4% of the vote, a major increase over the 40.9% it won in the previous elections, held June 7. The AKP has a comfortable majority in the parliament, holding 316 of the 550 seats. It now has enough power to form a government on its own, avoiding coalition scenarios for the next four years. The final seat count, however, fell short of giving the AKP the chance to amend the constitution on its own, which requires at least 330 seats.How did the AKP pull off such a major victory, defying the predictions of almost all polling companies and political observers? I had predicted “some increase in the AKP votes,” but nothing this major. To understand what happened, one has to look at what changed in Turkey during the past five months, since the previous elections.
The first major change was an upsurge in terrorism, by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Islamic State, and an accompanying sense of diminishing security. The second change was a decline in the economy, in particular a surge by the US dollar at the expense of the Turkish lira. Many critics, in the Turkish opposition as well as the Western media, blamed the AKP government and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for both of these problems. Many Turks, however, viewed things to the contrary. To them, these problems had been caused by the absence of a strong AKP government since June 7. The 13 stable years Turkey experienced under AKP has helped create a longing for that same stability under yet another strong AKP government....
Robert Hand
Nov 6, 2015, 1:25:12 PM11/6/15
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Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2015 00:05:15 -0600
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2015 12:54:22 -0600
Editor's Note: Thursday November 05, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| The Glazov Gang-Stephen Coughlin on “Catastrophic Failure.” YouTube video - 13:36 (Nov 3, 2015) Sen. Ted Cruz Opening Statement on Victims of Iranian and Palestinian Terrorism YouTube video - 13:22 (Nov 4, 2015) Iran Responsible for Killing 14 Percent of U.S. Troops in Iraq CLICK HERE for article and video 2015 sets record for Israeli mergers and acquisitions CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Anti-US fervour alive in Iran despite nuclear deal, AFP,
- Iranian Legislature Votes to Continue 'Death to America!', clarionproject.org,
- U Report: Iran's Human Rights Record Worse Under Rouhani than Ahmadinejad, breitbart.com, Adelle Nazarian
- Minimum punishment for stone-throwing approved, jerusalemonline.com, Rachel Avraham
- After reports of Israeli strikes in Syria, Ya'alon issues warning, Jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- Germany: '20 Million Muslims by 2020', gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
- U.S. officials believe the Islamic State planted bomb on Russian plane, jihadwatch.org , Robert Spencer
AFP, November 05, 2015
Flag-burning Iranians mark US embassy seizureTehran (AFP) - Chanting "Death to America" and burning the US flag, Iranian protesters Wednesday marked the anniversary of the US embassy seizure with a show of anti-Washington fervour despite the nuclear deal.
The protest by thousands of Iranians follows the landmark nuclear accord sealed on July 14 by Tehran and world powers led by the United States.
The 1979 storming of the embassy in Tehran by students, months after the Islamic revolution, led to a 444-day hostage crisis and a break in diplomatic relations that continues to this day....
clarionproject.org, November 03, 2015
Spontaneous' chants of "Death to America!" during a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali KhameneiIranian legislators voted Tuesday to continue using the ubiquitous slogan, “Death to America!” despite the recent nuclear negotiations.
As reported by the AFP, 192 Iranian lawmakers out of the 290-seat parliament released a statement reading, “The martyr-nurturing nation of Iran is not at all prepared to abandon the slogan of ‘Death to America’ under the pretext of a nuclear agreement.”...
Adelle Nazarian
breitbart.com, November 02, 2015
Halabisaz/AP PhotoA report released this month on “The Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” reveals that Iranians are worse off under “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani than his more conservative predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and that, based on their current trajectory, they are expected to exceed well over 1,000 executions by year’s end.
“The human rights situation in the country remains dire,” Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s special rapporteur on Iran, said during a briefing at the United Nations last week.
Iran executes more individuals per capita than any other country in the world. In his 26-page report, Shaheed notes that between January 1 and September 15 of this year, Iran executed at least 694 people by hanging , which included at least 10 women and one juvenile. In 2014, Iran clocked in at a shocking 753 executions....
Rachel Avraham
jerusalemonline.com, November 03, 2015
Photo Credit: Reuters/Channel 2The Knesset approved last night stricter punishments for stone-throwing. 51 MKs supported the law in its second and third reading while only 17 opposed it. The law was advanced by a number of MKs and had the support of the Israeli Justice Ministry, who called for there to be a minimum punishment of four years imprisonment for stone-throwing; the punishment cannot be implemented as a fine or probation except under special circumstances.
One of the main changes in the law is the denial of benefits. The Israel National Insurance Law will be changed according to the instructions at this time and it was determined that pensions won’t be paid to prisoners during the time of their imprisonment even if the verdict is less than three months. I n addition, the law will deprive parents of stone-throwers child allowances if their son or daughter is convicted of stone-throwing and is imprisoned if the offense was implemented with nationalist or terrorist motivations.
MK Nissan Slomiansky, the Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, stated: "The punishment for stone-throwing does not nearly reflect the consequences and the carnage that they cause. Setting a minimum punishment was a neccessary step and is neccessary for deterance. Throwing a stone is attempted murder and we see that there at least needs to be a minimum punishment."
Yaakov Lappin
Jpost.com, November 03, 2015
IAF fighter jets during the Red Flag joint exercise at Nellis air force base in Nevada . (photo: Courtesy IDF Spokesman's office)
Israel will respond with zero tolerance to cross-border artillery fire from Syria, weapons trafficking to terrorists, and the distribution of chemical weapons to terrorists, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Tuesday.
Ya’alon spoke at a kibbutz leadership conference at Kibbutz Ma’aleh Hahamisha outside Jerusalem. The defense minister’s comments came three days after international media reports claimed Israeli aircraft carried out air strikes in Syrian airspace, reportedly attacking numerous Hezbollah targets in the Qalamoun mountain region near the Lebanese border, possibly to intercept a weapons convoy to Lebanon.
I t was the first reported attack attributed to Israel since Russia began providing air support to the Assad regime and its allies, who are fighting rebels on the ground....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, November 01, 2015
"We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples, as well as a different understanding of society and law." — From a leaked German intelligence document.
"We need to be clear that there must be limits and quotas for immigration -- we cannot save the whole world." — Markus Söder, Finance Minister of Bavaria.
"The migration crisis has the potential to destabilize governments, countries and the whole European continent. ... What we have been facing is not a refugee crisis. This is a migratory movement composed of economic migrants, refugees and also foreign fighters" — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
"Meanwhile, refugees are still heading into Germany -- at a rate of around 10,000 a day. ... The decade after Ms. Merkel first came to power in 2005 now looks like a blessed period for Germany, in which the country was able to enjoy peace, prosperity and international respect, while keeping the troubles of the world at a safe distance. That golden era is now over." — Gideon Rachman, Financial Times....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org , November 04, 2015
“First on CNN: U.S. officials believe ISIS planted bomb on Russian plane,” by Barbara Starr, CNN, November 4, 2015:(CNN)The latest U.S. intelligence suggests that the crash of a Russian passenger jet in the Sinai over the weekend was most likely caused by a bomb on the plane planted by ISIS or an ISIS affiliate, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
But the official stressed a formal conclusion has not been reached by the U.S. intelligence community....
Robert Hand
Nov 6, 2015, 10:34:33 PM11/6/15
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Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2015 21:29:43 -0600
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2015 16:13:08 -0600
Editor's Note: Friday November 06, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Congress Moves to Label Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Group CLICK HERE for article and video Exposé: Netanyahu governments have built the least |
| Six Israeli solutions to keep you safe on the road As automakers speed toward autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, Israeli companies are gearing up to make driving safer than ever. |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Debating against BDS - and winning, jpost.com, Alan Dershowitz
- Why is the EU stigmatizing Israel?, politico.eu, David Walzer
- The Iran Deal is not an agreement or a contract, israpundit.org, Arlene Kushner
- How much does Russia care about Hezbollah?, mmedia.me/lb/en, Nicholas Blanford
- Australian intelligence says spike in 'terrorism' funding investigations, reuters.com, Matt Siegel
- Anti-Semitism among migrants a concern for German Jews, jpost.com, Sam Sokol
- Direct Experience: The One Benefit of Accepting Muslim Migrants, frontpagemag.com, Raymond Ibrahim
Alan Dershowitz
jpost.com, November 03, 2015
...Mr. Tatchell’s main argument was that BDS was a nonviolent form of protest against Israel’s occupation and settlement policies that mirrored the boycott movement against apartheid South Africa, and followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He was articulate in arguing that boycott tactics generally were a nonviolent alternative to war and terrorism.
The force of his argument was somewhat weakened by the recent spate of terrorist knife attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, which leaders of the BDS movement such as Barghouti have justified as resistance to the “decades-old regime of occupation.”
I argued that BDS was not an alternative to war but rather an alternative to peaceful negotiations by the Palestinian leadership. This is because the BDS movement is firmly opposed to the twostate solution. Barghouti confirmed as much when he said “definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in an y part of Palestine.” Thus, the BDS movement makes it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership to accept the kind of painful compromises that both sides must agree to if there is to be a negotiated resolution....
David Walzer
politico.eu, October 24, 2015
EPAMany Israelis — both on the right and left of the political spectrum — look in utter astonishment at EU plans to compel European importers and retailers to brand Israeli products from the settlements with newly minted, Israel-specific consumer labeling. And it seems these labels would apply only to Israel, not to other countries or territories embroiled in territorial disputes. It is a step that threatens to reshape our relations, and I fear not for the better.
Europe is Israel’s main partner in trade and business. We are an ally for Europe in the Middle East, a region that now poses some very hard questions for Europe. Most importantly, we share the same humanist aspirations for our countries. This makes us part of the same family, and I hope this all ows me to speak openly and honestly.
Building on this kinship, recent months have seen a flourishing of diplomatic meetings between Israel and the EU. Before the summer, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met High Representative Federica Mogherini in Jerusalem and once again in New York. Last month, the prime minister also hosted European Council President Donald Tusk in Jerusalem. I was there to witness it and the mood was professional and forward looking.
The prime minister was unequivocal about the direction of our country. Israel remains committed to a two-state solution. Two states for two peoples, this continues to be our end objective. He has since repeatedly expressed his desire to find concrete ways forward, in direct talks with the Palestinian leadership, which he said could take place in Brussels, Jerusalem or Ramallah itself....
Arlene Kushner
israpundit.org, November 05, 2015
...Carmon says that a key demand of Khamenei is the full lifting of sanctions, whereas where the Congressional sanctions are concerned, Obama, cannot override them; he can only issue a suspension via waiver. “Politically too, it might be too far for him to go to break his promise of the JCPOA’s built-in security mechanism – snapback of the sanctions. Obviously, snapback is possible only if the sanctions remain in place under suspension.”
Carmon believes it would be impossible for the AIEA to provide confirmation that Iran has complied with required stipulations because “the Iranians themselves are declaring loudly that they are not going to do it.
“With every passing day, Iran is more and more in violation of the JCPOA. But neither the Republicans nor the Democrats, nor the media, nor anyone else will acknowledge this, for the implications are too devastating. The agreement is no longer in effect. Its clock has sto pped.”
A great deal to assimilate, I know. But this cannot be ignored.
Nicholas Blanford
mmedia.me/lb/en, November 03, 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside Moscow on 21 September 2015. (AFP/Ivan Sekretarev)
A series of reported Israeli airstrikes over the weekend, allegedly against weapons storage facilities in Syria’s Qalamoun region, raises questions on the limits of cooperation between Russia and Iran in Syria and on Israel’s operational latitude in a Syrian airspace today dominated by the Russian Air Force.
While Russia and Iran are battlefield comrades in defending the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli airstrikes suggest that Moscow has little interest in helping its allies protect arms stockpiles that are intended to bolster Hezbollah's front against Israel.
On the other hand, the limited nature of these latest airstrikes, which did not see a breach of Syrian airspace by Israeli jets, poses the question of how far Israel is prepared to go in Syria to target what it calls “game changing” weapons destined for Hezbollah. Would Israel risk antagonizing Russia by dispatching aircraft directly into Syrian airspace to attack targets closer to the Russian operational core in Latakia Governorate?...
Matt Siegel
reuters.com, November 04, 2015
Australia's anti-money laundering agency says reports of suspected "terrorism-financing" tripled in the past year, with over A$50 million ($35.92 million) which could be used to support Islamist militants being investigated.
The financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, said in its annual report released this week that it had recorded a trebling of "suspicious matter reports" that could be linked to funding of militant groups. It recorded up to 367 reported cases in 2014-15 from 118 a year earlier.
"The volume of terrorism financing in Australia is linked to the number of Australians travelling to join terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq," the report said....
Sam Sokol
jpost.com, October 28, 2015
A man wearing a kippah waits for the start of an anti-Semitism demo at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate September 14, 2014. (photo credit: Reuters)
German Jews are concerned over the potential for a rise in anti-Semitism due to the increasing flow of Syrian migrants, several community leaders told Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday.
Speaking with the chief of state during a meeting with the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union party, representatives of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said that while they believe that “Germany must provide protection” to those fleeing from war, Berlin must make sure that only legitimate refugees are provided sanctuary.
The German Jewish leaders called for increased inter-religious dialogue and expressed their concerns over the “widespread anti-Semitism among Muslim youth” who have made their way to Germany....
Raymond Ibrahim
frontpagemag.com, October 26, 2015
A silver lining exists in the dust cloud being beat up by the marching feet of millions of Muslim men migrating into the West: those many Europeans and Americans, who could never understand Islam in theory, will now have the opportunity to understand it through direct and personal experience.Perhaps then they will awaken to reality?
The fact is, most Western people have had very little personal interaction with Muslims. Moreover, because Muslims in the West are still a tiny minority—in the U.S., they are reportedly less than one percent of the population—those few Muslims that Westerners do interact with are often on their best behavior, being surrounded as they are by a sea of infidels (according to the doctrine of taqiyya).
And although there are a few media outlets and websites that document the hard but ugly truths of Islam, these are drowned out by the overarching “Narrative” that emanates from the indoctrination centers of the West (schools, universities, news rooms, Hollywood, political talking heads, et al)....
Robert Hand
Nov 9, 2015, 4:57:04 PM11/9/15
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Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 15:47:54 -0600
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 14:29:47 -0600
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 14:29:47 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday November 09, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Obama and Netanyahu to meet in D.C., looking for a way past the ugliness of the Iran deal |
See article #1 for more information |
| The Knife Intifada MEMRI video - 18:04 (Oct 30, 2015) Jamie Glazov Moment: The Leftist Heart of Darkness YouTube video -12:52 (Nov 6, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- With Netanyahu's Visit, 4 Reasons to Expect Smoother U.S.-Israeli Relations, wsj.com, Aaron David Miller
- Obama's Chance to Reinvent the U.S.-Israel Defense Relationship, defenseone.com, Matt Spence
- Hizballah top dog praises 'sublime jihad spirit' in murders of Israeli civilians, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Israel Air Force hits Hamas terror target after rocket lands in Israel, jpost.com, JPost.com Staff, Yaakov Lappin
- Do the Palestinians Want Two States?, jcpa.org , Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
- Germany: Migration Crisis Becomes Public Health Crisis, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
- The Shrinking Horizon, steynonline.com, Mark Steyn
Aaron David Miller
wsj.com, November 07, 2015
File photo of President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office in 2013. (Associated Press)
The mistrust and suspicions that have marked their relationship for seven years will not dissipate when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama meet on Monday. But for a few reasons, it’s likely that a smoother, steadier stretch in relations is coming.
1. For better or worse, Mr. Obama got what he wanted—and Mr. Netanyahu didn’t–from the deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The fight about what is or is not in the agreement is essentially over, though the Israelis will follow implementation closely while they steer clear of pushing Congress to undermine that process through additional sanctions. Iran’s own behavior—including jailing U.S. citizens, violating its citizens’ human rights, or offering support to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad–might prompt Congress to act without prompting. Right now, Mr. Netanyahu’s job is to make a virtue out of necessity and extract as much as he can in U.S. security and military assistance. It’s in his interest to show his constituents that while he lost the Iran fight, Israel will gain meaningfully all the same. What Mr. Netanyahu cannot afford is strained relations with the U.S. without a robust security package. That means accommodation, not confrontation.
2. Mr. Obama would like to slam Mr. Netanyahu hard on the peace process; the question is whether he can find an effective way to do so. Mr. Obama opposes Israeli settlement activity and believes that Mr. Netanyahu is playing him on the two-state solution. But he doesn’t have many levers to pull given the latest wave of Palestinian violence, Mahmoud Abbas’s campaign to gain international recognition by isolating Israel, and the long odds against agreement on the big issues such as Jerusalem and borders. Seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution that would lay out the basis of a deal would alienate Israel and Congress–and produce nothing on the ground. Mr. Obama may decide to air his ideas for a solution next year. But for now the smarter play is trying to work with Mr. Netanyahu rather than against him. Why fight if doing so produces only a breakdown with Israel and no breakthrough on the two-state standoff?...
Matt Spence
defenseone.com, November 08, 2015
Despite what you may hear this week, the U.S. and Israel are far closer than many realize, says Obama's former Middle East policy chief at the Pentagon.
Conventional wisdom is that the U.S.-Israel relationship is in crisis and the best hope is for both countries to wait it out until there is a new president.
That is a mistake. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday offers an opportunity to change course. But that effort need not start from scratch. The answer lies in reinventing the most solid foundation that exists between both countries—the U.S.-Israeli defense and intelligence partnership—through three new areas of cooperation.
America and Israel share more enemies and threats than they have differences in policy. A professional military and defense dialogue is a key to finding creative solutions to our most vexing problems. This does not mean ignoring or endorsing the Netanyahu government’s policies we disagree with – from the Arab-Israeli peace process to diplomacy with Iran. That would be profoundly wrong. But we should not miss the opportunity for what a parallel security effort can accomplish.
The depth of our defense relationship gets too little attention. As President Obama’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy, I traveled to Israel over two dozen times in three years to meet with Israel’s top defense officials about the deepest threats to our nations and how to preserve Israel’s “qualitative military edge”. Last year, the United States provided more military assistance to Israel than at any other time in history. Last week, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter reinforced his priority that America’s military must develop an insurance policy should Iran back away from the nuclear agreement. It was no accident that new Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford’s first visit abroad was to Israel....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, November 08, 2015
“What is going on now in Palestine reflects a lofty and sublime Jihad spirit.” He is referring to Muslims stabbing Israelis, running them down with their cars, etc.
“Hezbollah leader lauds Palestinian ‘sublime Jihad spirit’ against Israel,” Jerusalem Post, November 7, 2015:Head of Lebanese terror group calls for Muslim solidarity in increased backing for the “new Palestinian Intifada.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah lauded on Friday the Palestinians for the recent spate of terrorist attacks against Israelis, and condemned Arab states for under-supporting the “new Palestinian Intifada.”
Speaking at a pro-Palestinian conference, the head of the Lebanese Shi’ite terror group praised the Palestinian for utilizing simplistic weapons, such as cars and knives, in near-daily attacks that have prevailed for more than a month....
JPost.com Staff, Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, November 09, 2015
An Israeli rocket is fired into the northern Gaza Strip July 17 2014. (photo credit: Reuters)
The Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas terrorist target in Gaza early Monday morning, a few hours after a rocket hit southern Israel.
The IDF Spokesman said the air strikes were a response to the rocket attack, and that it views Hamas as being responsible for all terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier Sunday, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open area near the border in Israel, the IDF said.
The rocket triggered warning sirens in the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council area. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
jcpa.org , November 09, 2015
Is the Palestinian “popular uprising” in its current manifestations the preferred form of struggle for the Fatah leadership – as opposed to small-scale demonstrations at focal points of friction? When an interviewer on a prominent TV show on the official Palestinian channel directed this question to Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, Tirawi answered unequivocally in the affirmative.
Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee(Arab media)
The former head of Palestinian General Intelligence went on to boast of the young Palestinian generation’s awareness of the struggle, and, as an example, cited his son, who while not yet three years old, sings of the shahids [martyrs] and asks his father to bring him a rifle so that he can vanquish Israel and the Zionists. Noting that in another two years it will be 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, Tirawi asserted that the Palestinians have waged an ongoing struggle to liberate their land ever since.
This is the context in which to regard the current wave of terror attacks. As Tirawi explains, there is no single act that will achieve the long-awaited objective, just a “cumulative struggle.” In his view, Fatah has not ruled out any approach since its 2009 Sixth General Congress. At the moment, though, there is no point to negotiations since not only Benjamin Netanyahu and his “extremist government” but also the Israeli left and center are not prepared to give anything to the Palestinians. Hence, the need for an ongoing campaign that can return the Palestinian issue to the international and Arab stage and gain leverage for the renewal of the negotiations sometime in the future....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, November 08, 2015
- German hospitals are increasing security to protect doctors and nurses from violent attacks by migrants who are unhappy with the medical treatment they are receiving.
- Critics are warning that German taxpayers will end up paying billions of euros to provide healthcare for a never-ending wave of asylum seekers. This is in addition to the billions of euros already being spent to provide newcomers with food, clothing and shelter.
- In addition to the massive economic and social costs, as well as the burden of increased crime, including a rape epidemic, Germans are now facing the risk of being exposed to exotic diseases — and tuberculosis.
- Roughly 5% of asylum seekers are carrying resistant germs. In real numbers, this works out to around 75,000 newcomers with highly infectious diseases. — Dr. Jan-Thorsten Gräsner, director of the Institute for Rescue and Emergency Medicine.
- Twenty types of vaccines are now in short supply, and 16 others are no longer available at all. Because of production bottlenecks, some vaccines will not become available until 2017.
- Muslim women refuse to be treated by male doctors, and many Muslim men refuse to be treated by females. — Max Kaplan, director of the Bavarian Medical Board.
- German media outlets are downplaying the extent of the healthcare problem, apparently to avoid spreading fear or provoking anti-immigrant sentiments....
Mark Steyn
steynonline.com, November 06, 2015
The Russians' reluctant acceptance of the British view - that their plane was blown up over Sinai by an on-board bomb - is a glimpse of a new world. Air travel, for tourism and business, is a major prop of the globalized economy. But many airport security systems around the planet exist with one foot in the First World and one in the Third - Egypt is fairly typical in that respect. So is Russia, which managed to kill Christophe de Margerie, the head of the Total oil company, by leaving a snowplough in the middle of the runway as his plane was taking off. Having concluded a successful meeting with Medvedev, M de Margerie was on his way home and assumed he was in an advanced functioning transportation system. He wasn't: He was in one of those parts of the world in which the veneer of technology is a mere veil for the vast dysfunction underneath - one that ISIS and others can exploit very easily when they choose to do so. If they ever find out what happened to that Malaysian jet (the first one), there may be similar revelations about Kuala Lumpur. As Europe Islamizes, such incidents will come to Frankfurt and Stockholm and Amsterdam.It's what I called in both America Alone and After America "the re-primitivization of the map". What remains of civilization will, if we're lucky, live like Israel - as mostly secure fortresses, beyond whose iron dome you venture at your peril. And getting from one iron dome to the next will be ever trickier. But beach holidays in Sharm al-Sheikh will not be on the horizon....
Robert Hand
Nov 13, 2015, 1:20:11 AM11/13/15
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Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2015 23:36:35 -0600
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2015 14:37:50 -0600
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2015 14:37:50 -0600
Editor's Note: Thursday November 12, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
PM Netanyahu Comments on EU Decision |
| Allen West’s Message to all Those Still Willing to Stand up for Freedom YouTube video - 04:19 (Nov 10, 2015) The Glazov Gang-Sweden: On the Verge of Collapse. YouTube video - 11:18 (Nov 8, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Carson on ISIS: 'Destroy Their Caliphate', breitbart.com, Jordan Schachtel
- Syrian media reports Israeli airstrike near Damascus airport, jpost.com, JPost.com Staff, Noam Amir/Maariv Hashavua
- When Will Obama and the West Listen to Hamas?, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- White House: Israeli-Palestinian talks unlikely in Obama's last 14 months in office, jpost.com, Tovah Lazaroff
- American Defense Official: Relationship With Israel Makes US Safer, Algemeiner Staff,
- Prisons: Microcosms of Islamic Supremacy and Western Idiocy, raymondibrahim.com, Raymond Ibrahim
- MFA opens International Conference on Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism, mfa.gov.il, MFA Spokesperson
Jordan Schachtel
breitbart.com, November 10, 2015
Presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks during Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The fourth Republican debate is held in two parts, one main debate for the top eight candidates, and another for four other candidates lower in the current polls. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Carson was asked by Fox Business host and debate moderator Maria Bartiromo if he supports President Obama’s recent initiative to place 50 special ops forces in Syria, and leave 10,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
“Well, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there because that’s why they’re called special ops - they’re actually able to guide some of the other things that we’re doing there, and what we have to recognize is that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East,” Carson responded.
“This is going to be his base,” he added of the Russian dictator. “And we have to oppose him there and in an effective way. We also must recognize it’s a very complex place.”
Carson, who has continued to express a keen interest in foreign affairs throughout the primary process, continued:
“You know the Chinese are there as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we’ve been doing so far is very ineffective.”...
JPost.com Staff, Noam Amir/Maariv Hashavua
jpost.com, November 11, 2015
IAF fighter jets during the Red Flag joint exercise at Nellis air force base in Nevada. (photo credit: IDF Spokeman's Office)
Around two weeks after a reported Israeli strike on a weapons convoy in Syria, media outlets associated with Syrian President Bashar Assad reported Wednesday night another Israeli airstrike in the country.
According to the reports, Israeli aircraft carried out the strike adjacent to the Damascus airport at around 6:00 p.m. Yet it was not clear whether the target of the attack was a weapons shipment, or an alternate target, such as an Iran-backed terror cell operating against Israel.
Defense officials declined to comment on the foreign media reports.
However, Israel did previously announce a strict-policy of intolerance towards threats to the state, such as weapons transfers between Syria and Lebanon....
Around two weeks after a reported Israeli strike on a weapons convoy in Syria, media outlets associated with Syrian President Bashar Assad reported Wednesday night another Israeli airstrike in the country.
According to the reports, Israeli aircraft carried out the strike adjacent to the Damascus airport at around 6:00 p.m. Yet it was not clear whether the target of the attack was a weapons shipment, or an alternate target, such as an Iran-backed terror cell operating against Israel.
Defense officials declined to comment on the foreign media reports.
However, Israel did previously announce a strict-policy of intolerance towards threats to the state, such as weapons transfers between Syria and Lebanon....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, November 10, 2015
- What senior Hamas figure Musa Abu Marzouk and other Hamas leaders are saying is very clear: Even if a Palestinian state is established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, Hamas and other Palestinians will continue to fight until Israel is completely destroyed.
- Hamas is openly stating that it will use any future Palestinian state as a launching pad to attack and eliminate Israel.
- Hamas is not a small opposition party in the Palestinian territories that can be dismissed as a minor player. Hamas is a large Islamist movement, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that controls the entire Gaza Strip with its population of 1.8 million Palestinians. Hamas, not much different from Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, has its own security forces, militias, weapons and government institutions.
- The Obama Administration and Western governments can talk as much as they like about the two-state solution. Even if President Abbas agrees to a Palestinian state, he will never be able to persuade Hamas, Islamic Jihad and many other Palestinians to recognize Israel's right to exist.
- Under the current circumstances, where Hamas and other Palestinians continue to dream about the destruction of Israel, any talk about a two-state solution is nothing but a joke....
Tovah Lazaroff
jpost.com, November 10, 2015
US administration rejects possibility of any linkage between continued settlement building and future defense funding for Israel.
Israelis and Palestinians are unlikely to resume negotiations — much less conclude a two-state agreement — during the Obama administration’s remaining 14 months, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington on Monday.
“I think we have been quite candid about the fact that given the dynamic on both sides, it is unlikely that the two-state solution will be reached in the next 14 month,” Earnest said....
Algemeiner Staff, November 09, 2015
The US-Israel defense relationship makes America safer, a US defense official wrote in Defense One on Monday.This, wrote Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy Matt Spence, is because of Israel’s superior Mideast capabilities, which provide the US with critical intelligence and technology, as well as military expertise. Just last week, Reuters reported that Israel and Jordan carried out joint air force exercises in the US.
However, Spence said, the US-Israel relationship should go “beyond dollars for the Israeli defense budget.” The US currently provides Israel with $3.1 billion in “Foreign Military Financing” every year, as part of a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding set to expire in 2018.
Spence said the US and Israel should negotiate a “new Security Memorandum of Understanding,” which is a formal guarantee for “US security assistance to Israel” for at least the next decade....
Raymond Ibrahim
raymondibrahim.com, November 08, 2015
Islam’s Rule of Numbers holds that, wherever and whenever Muslims grow in numbers, the same acts of “anti-infidel” violence that are endemic to the Islamic world grow with them.This has become especially evident in one Western institution that has a disproportionately large number of Muslims: prisons. Several anecdotes just surfaced last month alone.
Consider Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire: it recently became the first Muslim-majority prison in Britain. Between the ages of 22 and 39, Muslims now represent 56 per cent of the population there. “Prisoners and staff found the Muslim presence overwhelming” says a recent report. Non-Muslims “were often bullied into converting to Islam, and those who resisted were too scared to cook pork in communal kitchens in case it caused offence.”
As for those non-Muslim inmates who refuse to convert, they are being pressured to pay a “protection tax”—or in Islamic parlance, jizya—to Muslim gangs. Along with Whitemoor prison, the collection of jizya is taking place in at least three other of Britain’s largest prisons....
MFA Spokesperson
mfa.gov.il, November 10, 2015
Delegates from 41 countries and 10 regional and international organizations will attend. The conference is being hosted in cooperation with the UN Terrorism Prevention Branch and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
MFA Spokesperson announcementAt a time when Israel is forced to deal with a wave of terror attacks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is launching today (Monday 9 November 2015) the International Conference on Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism Leading to Terrorism: The Challenge of Terrorists Acting Alone or in Small Cells. Israel's extensive experience in dealing with terrorism in general and individual terrorists in particular makes Israel a leader in this area.
Delegates from 41 countries and 10 regional and international organizations, as well as representatives from civil society organizations, will be attending the conference. The Conference is being hosted in cooperation with the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and in consultation with the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. The hosting of the conference in Israel highlights the country's important role internationally in the field of counter-terrorism....
Robert Hand
Nov 17, 2015, 12:50:54 AM11/17/15
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Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 23:31:33 -0600
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:01:49 -0600
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:01:49 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday November 16, 2015
ISIS threatens in new video: After Paris, Washington is next
ISIS threatens in new video: After Paris, Washington is next
Three Hours of Terror in Paris, Moment by Moment CLICK HERE for timeline
Wall of Jerusalem's old city lit up in colors of French flag.
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
PM Netanyahu's Statement after the Terrorist Attacks in Paris
Israel stands shoulder-to-shoulder with France in this common battle against militant Islamic terrorism.
Contents: (summaries below)
- Paris mastermind, bombers identified as hunt for suspects ramps up, timesofisrael.com, Agencies and Times of Israel staff
- Three Teams of Coordinated Attackers Carried Out Assault on Paris, Officials Say; Hollande Blames ISIS, nytimes.com, Adam Nossiter, Aurelien Breeden and Katrin Bennhold
- ISIS first - everything else will have to wait, ynetnews.com,
- French launch 'massive' anti-ISIS airstrikes in Syria, cbsnews.com,
- Has France's All-Out War on Terror Really Begun?, Amb. Freddy Eytan,
- Welcome to World War Three, ynetnews.com, Ron Ben-Yishai
Agencies and Times of Israel staff
timesofisrael.com, November 16, 2015
...The attackers inside the Bataclan seemed quite young, according to one survivor, Julien Pearce, a journalist at Europe 1 radio who escaped by crawling onto the stage, and then out an exit door when the shooters paused to reload. Before making his final dash, he got a good look at one of the assailants, he said.
“He seemed very young. That’s what struck me, his childish face, very determined, cold, calm, frightening,” Pearce said.
A woman is being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, Friday November 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)Struggling to keep his country calm and united after an exceptionally violent year, President Francois Hollande met Sunday with opposition leaders — conservative rival and former President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as increasingly popular far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who has used the attacks on Paris to advance her anti-immigrant agenda.
Refugees fleeing war by the tens of thousands fear the Paris attacks could prompt Europe to close its doors, especially after police said a Syrian passport found next to one attacker’s body suggested its owner passed through Greece into the European Union and on through Macedonia and Serbia last month....
Adam Nossiter, Aurelien Breeden and Katrin Bennhold
nytimes.com, November 14, 2015
PARIS — Three teams of Islamic State attackers acting in unison carried out the terrorist assault in Paris on Friday night, officials said Saturday, including one assailant who may have traveled to Europe on a Syrian passport along with the flow of migrants.
“It is an act of war that was committed by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, Daesh, against France,” President François Hollande told the nation from the Élysée Palace, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “It is an act of war that was prepared, organized and planned from abroad, with complicity from the inside, which the investigation will help establish.”
As the death toll rose to 129 — with 352 others wounded, 99 of them critically — a basic timeline of the attacks came into view.
The Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said the attackers were all armed with assault rifles and suicide vests. Their assault began at 9:20 p.m. Friday, when one terrorist detonated a suicide bomb outside the gates of the soccer stadium on the northern outskirts of Paris. It ended at 12:20 a.m. Saturday when the authorities stormed a concert hall, the Bataclan. One attacker there was killed; two others detonated suicide vests. Inside the hall, 89 people, who had been listening to a rock band, had been shot to death.
The man with the Syrian passport — which Greek officials said had been registered at the Aegean island of Leros on Oct. 3 — was 25, and died at the stadium. Another assailant, who died at the concert hall, was 29 and a native of Courcouronnes, about 20 miles south of Paris. He had a criminal record and was known to be involved in extremist Islamic ideology, Mr. Molins said. Officials later identified him as Ismaël Omar Mostefaï and said they had detained several of his relatives for questioning.
The hunt for possible accomplices of the terrorists gained steam on Saturday. Officials in Belgium announced three arrests, one of them linked to a rental car found in Paris. In Germany, the police were exploring whether a man they arrested last week with weapons in his car and his GPS navigator set for Paris was linked to the attacks. But it remained unclear how a plot of such sophistication and lethality could have escaped the notice of intelligence agencies, both in France and abroad.
Mr. Hollande declared three days of national mourning, and said that military troops would patrol the capital. France remained under a nationwide state of emergency....
ynetnews.com, November 15, 2015
PARIS - Saturday evening is usually a pretty busy day at the French capital's cafés and restaurants, but that's not what Paris looked like this Saturday evening. There was a high police presence at street corners in the city center, many of the eateries were closed and others were quite empty. The pedestrian traffic on the streets was very light although the weather was warm and pleasant, as the weather in Paris often is in the fall.
I passed by the Stade de France, one of the centers of the terror attacks. The area was brightly lit up, but completely empty.
My taxi driver, a native Algerian, compared the shock in France to the terror attacks in New York 14 years ago. He spoke painfully about the Muslim community, which on one hand is trying to shake off any responsibility or affiliation with terror, and on the other hand is wondering why France of all places and why now.
He protested the fact that France was bombing in Syria: What does France have to do with Syria? Its army should take care of business much closer to home. He asked why France was investing millions in funding the opposition organizations in the civil war in Syria. Why should it care if Syrian President Bashar Assad remains in power there?
In the slightly longer run, Europe will likely take another step to the right. It will not only label products in supermarkets; it will label populations (Photo: MCT)I asked him if he was scared. He said he wasn't afraid personally. I asked if there was no racism in France, anti-Muslim racism. Of course there is racism, he replied, we are all racists. One hates Muslims, another hates Jews. The question is the level of hatred and why it turns into murderous violence.
The tragedy in Paris is so big, the scale of the killing is so difficult, the ramifications are so wide that we tend to forget that this was first and foremost an act of retaliation. France is the only European country bombing in Syria, apart from Russia. Britain avoided doing it because of the opposition in the British Parliament. Canada stopped bombing after Justin Trudeau replaced Stephen Harper as prime minister....
cbsnews.com, November 15, 2015
PARIS -- Two days after the deadly terror attacks in Paris that left at least 129 people dead and 352 injured, a French defense official says they have conducted "massive" airstrikes that have destroyed two jihadi sites in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group's de facto capital in Syria.
Twelve aircraft including 10 fighter jets dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest air strikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defense Ministry statement said. The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, in coordination with U.S. forces.
The French announced that in coordination with U.S. forces they have conducted "massive" airstrikes that have destroyed two jihadi sites in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group's de facto capital in Syria.French Ministry of Defense
CBS News' David Martin reports that by the U.S. count, there were seven strikes and 30 explosions in Sunday's strikes in Raqqa. On Monday, the French will release video of the Raqqa strikes.
Martin also reports that U.S. and French officials will announce on Monday a new intelligence sharing agreement which gives France access to more sensitive U.S. intelligence to be used in the fight against ISIS. Currently, such intelligence is only shared among the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. France will join that group....
Amb. Freddy Eytan, November 16, 2015
France is shocked and trying to recover from the terror onslaught. The French people are stunned and grieving. The cheerful, lively, cultured City of Light is suddenly sunk in gloom, deep mourning, and memorial gatherings. For the first time since the Second World War, except for a few days during the Algerian War, Paris is under curfew and looks like a city of devastation, a ghost town. In the various quarters of the great city stores are closed, cafes are empty, and schools are locked. Armed police officers, soldiers, and security forces patrol the streets. Ambulances dart in every direction and the sirens shriek and reverberate. The capital of France is paralyzed and almost cut off from the rest of the world. Why did it happen, and why is it happening again?
Israel’s Knesset lit in France’s tricolors in solidarityAlready at the start of this year, on January 7, 2015, terror struck Paris. Jihadists with French citizenship carried out a massacre of the staff of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and against Jews in a kosher supermarket.
Why have effective measures to prevent further attacks not been taken since then? Why has France still not internalized the fact that terror must be fought until it is extirpated?
To understand why we have reached this point and the reasons why France is a primary Western target, the following points are essential:
France is the symbol of liberty, enlightenment, and democratic values, which stand in complete contrast to the dark, barbaric ideology of the global terror organizations....
Ron Ben-Yishai
ynetnews.com, November 14, 2015
...Huge quantities of arms and ammunition arrive in Europe from Libya via Sicily, Malta, Greece and many other places. These Libyan weapons move like a deadly wave through Europe, are available to anyone interested in them and can be moved about without any difficulty, as we have seen in previous attacks, from state to state. The same is true with explosives, although terrorists are able to manufacture explosives from local products - acetone and hydrogen peroxide, for example. The information is available to everyone, and Hamas had already shown during the second intifada how to equip a terrorist with an explosive belt containing homemade explosives which are no less deadly. A similar process took place in Iraq, and now France is taking a hit from it.
Another reason for choosing France is that it is considered the center of and the pinnacle of European culture and it is to a great extent a world city of the first order. Therefore the attack there has the greatest effect on people’s consciousness. Horror is effectively spread. It appears that the attackers were equipped with the pages of messages that declared so that those victims who survive would be able to cite to a media thirsty for every detail. "You bomb us in Syria and we bomb you in Paris,” was heard.
Terror victim in Paris attack (Photo: Reuters)
They also were dressed in frightening clothing, right out of a Hollywood horror movie, but the weapons and explosives were real. ISIS mixes the virtual world with the real world fluidly and this is the secret of its success and its appeal to young Muslims in the West.
A change of perception needed
To carry out terrorist attacks in seven different locations requires lots of time and elaborate organization. One has to plan, to stockpile weapons and explosives, choose targets, collect information about the targets ahead of the attack, recruit attackers some of whom are willing to die in suicide attacks and tour the scene of the attack and prepare nearby before the actual attack. Therefore, it is reasonable to estimate that the attack was planned and prepared months ago and was kept on hold for a strategically opportune moment.
We need to prepare for further attacks not only in France, but throughout Europe. To this end, Europe will need to resume full control of its borders and will have to boldly deal with the dilemma of protecting human and individual rights versus the need to provide security. So far EU countries have preferred, and they can’t be condemned for it, the individual liberty of citizens over the defense against terrorism. Now Europe and especially France will have to reach the conclusion that the most important individual right is the right to life....
Robert Hand
Nov 17, 2015, 12:56:13 PM11/17/15
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Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 11:40:42 -0600
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 10:26:07 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday November 17, 2015
The radical Islamic threat continues to grow. This malignant growth is spreading throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has developed into the most virulent and violent group of Jihad Islamists. They are forming a Caliphate in Syria and Iraq. This group is also threatening Egypt and Jordan. ISIS is becoming an even greater threat than Al-Qaeda. The Paris bombing shows just how dangerous they have become and indicates growth within Europe. Massive immigration also poses a security threat throughout Europe. All of this hostile activity continues as Iran moves closer to an atomic nucle ar weapon.
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How ISIS Expanded Its Threat
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The radical Islamic threat continues to grow. This malignant growth is spreading throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has developed into the most virulent and violent group of Jihad Islamists. They are forming a Caliphate in Syria and Iraq. This group is also threatening Egypt and Jordan. ISIS is becoming an even greater threat than Al-Qaeda. The Paris bombing shows just how dangerous they have become and indicates growth within Europe. Massive immigration also poses a security threat throughout Europe. All of this hostile activity continues as Iran moves closer to an atomic nucle ar weapon.
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How ISIS Expanded Its Threat
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Contents: (summaries below)
- Europe is on fire, Israel National News, Phyllis Chesler
- Paris attackers linked to Belgian suburb where the authorities have 'lost control', telegraph.co.uk, Andrew Gilligan, Gregory Walton and Camilla Turner, in Paris
- What France and Europe Might Learn, gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- Unabashed Hungarian PM: Muslim Refugees a Threat to a Christian Europe, jewishpress.com, JNi.Media
- Growing Number of States Refuse to Accept Syrian Refugees in Wake of Paris Attacks, abcnews.go.com, Esther Castillejo
- Revealed: Two of the Jihadis sneaked into Europe via Greece by posing as refugees and being rescued from a sinking migrant boat - and survivors say one of the attackers was a WOMAN , dailymail.co.uk, Ian Gallagher and Martin Beckford for The Mail on Sunday and Martin Robinson for MailOnline
- PM: In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism, israelhayom.com, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Phyllis Chesler
Israel National News, November 14, 2015
Islamists have just massacred hundreds of civilians in Paris. This horrendous deed is being celebrated by ISIS. The President of France has announced that these six separate but coordinated attacks were perpetrated by ISIS.
Whether it was planned by Al-Bagdadi himself; whether a dozen lone wolf internet junkies decided to act on his behalf; whether these assassins were French citizens trained in the Arab Middle East; whether they belonged to another Jihadist group and "jumped ship" and joined ISIS's march back to the 7th century is irrelevant. These attacks bear ISIS's signature of the cold-blooded execution of captives, one by one. However, the fact that the killers were themselves not masked reminds me of Al-Qaeda and confirms that they were on suicide killer missions.
These are death artists who specialize in simultaneous "blitzkrieg" or killer bee swarm attacks. They are men who live in the shadows until they are all over their targets.
Some of us, myself included, have been warning about the inevitability of just such attacks. We were not heeded by our colleagues or our leaders.
Thus, despite the exceedingly criminal behaviors of Muslims in France, the "city of lights" may not have been prepared for the fifth-column sleeper cells within its midst, the radicalizing effect of hate propaganda via cellphone, satellite, and within French mosques; it may not have comprehended, fully, the grand territorial ambitions of ISIS and the full-force nature of its aggression....
Andrew Gilligan, Gregory Walton and Camilla Turner, in Paris
telegraph.co.uk, November 15, 2015
...“We have here in Brussels as big a concentration of radical Islamists as you have in London,” said Bilal Benyaich, from the Free University of Brussels, an expert on radicalisation in Belgium. “You can call Brussels the capital of political Islam in continental Europe.”
He said the district’s involvement with terrorist plots was at “three levels – as an operational base, a centre for ideological inspiration, and a centre of supply, with items such as weaponry.”
People gather for a national service for the victims of the terror attack at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris (Photo: AP)Unlike in London, however, Mr Benyaich said that the authorities were “not tackling” the problem. “There is still a gap between the rhetor ic and the capacity,” he said. “They can learn a lot from the Americans and the British.”
Mr Benyaich, a Belgian of Moroccan heritage, said Molenbeek had an “enormous black economy” which made it harder for the authorities to enforce the law. “It is not just terrorism, it is drugs, it is weapons,” he said. “If you would come here, you could find a Kalashnikov in 30 minutes. The police find it more difficult to operate here.”...
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, November 15, 2015
- By constantly endorsing pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli policies, France has obviously been seeking to appease Islamic countries. France seems convinced that such policies will keep Muslim terrorists from targeting French nationals and interests. The French are now in grave danger of mistakenly believing that the November 13 attacks occurred because France did not appease the Muslim terrorists enough.
- When the terrorists see that pressure works -- increasing the pressure should work even more!
- The French and Europeans would do well to understand that there is no difference between a young Palestinian who takes a knife and sets out to murder Jews, and an Islamic State terrorist who murders dozens of innocent people in Paris.
- The reason Muslim extremists want to destroy Israel is not because of the settlements or checkpoints it is because they believe that Jews have no right to be in the Middle East whatsoever. And they want to destroy Europe because they believe that Christians -- and everyone -- have no right to be anything other than Muslim.
- The terrorists attacking Jews also seek to destroy France, Germany, Britain and, of course, the United States. These countries need to be reminded that the Islamist terrorists' ultimate goal is to force all non-Muslims to submit to Islam or face death....
JNi.Media
jewishpress.com, September 03, 2015
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
(Photo Credit: Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
(JNi.media) The influx of Muslim refugees into Europe could undermine its Christian roots, and so “Christian” governments must gain control over Europe’s borders, before they can begin to decide how many asylum seekers they should accept, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday wrote in an op-ed for the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung. Orban, who is president of the national conservative ruling party Fidesz, insisted that the people of the majority of European countries disagree with their governments on how to solve the refugee crisis.
“The people want us to master the situation and protect our borders,” Orban wrote, adding that “only when we have protected our borders can questions be asked about the numbers of people we can take in, or whether there should be quotas.”...
Esther Castillejo
abcnews.go.com, November 16, 2015
A growing number of states are refusing to take in Syrian refugees amid heightened security concerns following Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris.
Michigan and Alabama were the first states in the country to refuse relocating Syrian refugees on Sunday, and they have now been joined by Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, North Carolina and Mississippi.
Govs. Rick Snyder of Michigan, Robert Bentley of Alabama, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said in separate statements Sunday and today that their states would not be relocating refugees from the war-torn country until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fully reviewed its screening procedures.
"Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration," Snyder said. "But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents."...
Ian Gallagher and Martin Beckford for The Mail on Sunday and Martin Robinson for MailOnline
dailymail.co.uk, November 16, 2015
- Ahmed Almuhamed, 25, believed to have been in terror squad at the Bataclan concert hall before blowing himself up
- French police revealed his Syrian passport was found on a bomber's body who registered as a refugee in Greece
- Ferry tickets from October 3 reveal he travelled to Europe with a Mohammed Almuhamed, who may be a relation
- Authorities believe at least two of the terror cell traveled from Syria, through Turkey and into Greece since summer
- Homegrown terrorist Omar Ismaël Mostefai, 29, identified as a gig bomber by fingerprint from severed digit
- Seven terrorists killed themselves using suicide belts while another was shot dead by police at the Bataclan gig
- Paris attacks have left 129 dead and 349 injured - 96 of which are in a critical condition. 30 of dead not yet identified...
Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, November 16, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday (Photo credit: AP)
At the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris and called for a united global campaign against terrorism.
"In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism, and standing behind it is radical Islam and its desire to destroy its victims," Netanyahu said. "The time has come for the world to wake up and unite in order to defeat terrorism. The time has come for countries to condemn terrorism against us to the same degree that they condemn terrorism everywhere else in the world. It would be proper for Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas], who condemned the attack in France yesterday, to condemn ruthless te rrorism against innocent people in Israel and fight the incitement that motivates it....
Robert Hand
Nov 20, 2015, 12:30:22 PM11/20/15
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Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2015 23:28:56 -0600
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2015 13:45:46 -0600
Editor's Note: Thursday November 19, 2015
In the end, the ultimate solution to this crisis is a strategy to defeat ISIS. This is not about politics. This is about national security. YouTube video - 01:27 (Nov 17, 2015) JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
URGENT ACTION ALERT!!! To entrust Obama’s team to allow SYRIAN REFUGEES TO ENTER THE U.S. is to invite a Paris-style jihad attack in an American city, courtesy of one or more of his “vetted” refugees. It’s only a matter of time. TAKE ACTION! CLICK HERE to SEND YOUR EMAIL to President Obama and FAX to your Congressional Representatives TODAY! See article #1 and #2 for more details. SUSPECTED ARCHITECT of Paris attacks is dead |
| MUST SEE VIDEO!!! Robert Spencer - Hillary Clinton's Record Very informative video on Islamic Jihad and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution YouTube video - 58:34 (Sep 2, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Robert Spencer in Front Page: Post-Paris, Obama Doubles Down: More Refugees Coming, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Over 20 percent of asylum seekers arriving in Europe may have ties with IS-affiliated groups, the Syrian ambassador to India told Sputnik Monday., sputniknews.com,
- Forget Paris, washingtontimes.com, Clifford D. May
- Intel changes, public awareness needed to prevent Paris-like attack in US, jta.org, Ron Kampeas
- Will the West now adopt Israel's anti-terror strategies?, timesofisrael.com, David Horovitz
- SHOCK: Obama Travels to Muslim Nation Hours After Paris Attack, Makes STUNNING Announcement, conservativetribune.com,
- It's time for Obama to make a choice: Lead us or resign, nypost.com, Michael Goodwin
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, November 17, 2015
...Obama has never acknowledged any of those facts. Robert Bentley, the Governor of Alabama, was more realistic, explaining that he did not want any of the refugees in Alabama because “I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way.” The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, noted that “a Syrian ‘refugee’ appears to have been part of the Paris terror attack. American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose Americans to similar deadly danger.” Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson stated that taking Syrian refugees at this time “is not the right strategy.” Even the Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, came out against Obama’s plan: “No, I’m not interested in accepting refugees from Syria,” he said. “My view on this is the safety and security of the people of the Commonwealth of Mass. is my highest priority. So I would set the bar very high on this. ”
Obama brushed all such concerns aside: “The people who are fleeing Syria,” he asserted, “are the most harmed by terrorism…It is very important…that we do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism.” He didn’t address the possibility that jihadis might be among the refugees, but deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes attempted to reassure the American people by claiming that the Obama Administration had “very extensive screening procedures” to weed out jihadis from among the refugees. Former NATO supreme commanded James Stavridis also claimed that U.S. officials would be able to vet the refugees “safely and appropriately.” He added: “We should continue to take a substantial number of Syrian refugees because it is the right thing to do for the international community and because over time they will pr ove to be citizens of real capability and true grit, like many who immigrated before them in troubled times. The key is serious vetting using all the tools at our disposal.”
Yet FBI director James Comey was not so sanguine about the possibility of vetting the refugees: “If we have no information on someone, they’ve never crossed our radar screen…it will be challenging,” he said – and most jihadis from Syria have not crossed the U.S. radar screen, as the U.S. has not had a military presence there comparable to that in Iraq.
What’s more, the Obama Administration’s ability to distinguish “moderates” from “extremists” has already been tested and found wanting. Former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn recently confirmed that while it was claiming to be supporting “vetted moderates” in Syria, the Administration was actually supporting al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherh ood, and directly enabled the rise of the Islamic State. This is also the Administration that spent $500 million to find and train “moderates” in Syria, and could only come up with fifty trainees – all of whom immediately melted away after being let loose in Syria.
Now the same Administration is going to vet the refugees? To entrust Obama’s team with such a task is to invite a Paris-style jihad attack in an American city, courtesy of one or more of his “vetted” refugees. It’s only a matter of time.
sputniknews.com, November 16, 2015
Police officers guard the street around the Noerrebro train station in Copenhagen on February 15, 2015 after a man has been shot in a police action following two fatal attacks in the Danish capital.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) – In early September, media reported, citing an unnamed ISIL operative, that an estimated 4,000 covert ISIL terrorists had arrived to Europe disguised as refugees."Among the refugees, who went to Europe, maybe more than 20 percent belong to ISIL groups. Now Europe has received bad element into their ground. They will face further problems in future," Riad Abbas said, commenting on recent deadly terrorist acts in Paris on November 13.
Accordin g to the diplomat, terrorism has penetrated everywhere in Europe.
"Now Europe is under the pressure. Although Syrian peoples are suffering, the fact is that since terrorism has no boundaries it can reach any country," he said, adding that all the countries must unite to combat extreme violence against civilians....
Clifford D. May
washingtontimes.com, November 17, 2015
Alternatively, finally learn the lessons such attacks teach
For almost two generations, since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, self-proclaimed jihadis have been fighting to re-establish Islamic supremacy and domination in the world. Leaders of the nations they have been targeting have regarded them as a problem — but mostly not as dangerous enemies who must be decisively defeated. And so their numbers have grown and their ability to project power has increased.
The Islamic State, an al Qaeda splinter that arose after America’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, was quick to take responsibility for last week’s carnage in Paris. This follows by less than a year its attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a French Jewish supermarket. Also attributed to the Islamic State: a double suicide-bombing in Beirut on Thursday and, in October, a bombing in Ankara and the blowing up of a Russian passenger jet.
The Islamic State’s rival i s the Islamic Republic of Iran, which prefers to pretend it was not behind such attacks as those in Beirut in 1983, Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994, Berlin in 1992, and Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012; not to mention the failed plots to bomb New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2007 and a restaurant in Washington, D.C., in 2011.
Also alive and well and lethal: Nigeria-based Boko Haram, Somalia-based al Shabaab, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. I could go on....
Ron Kampeas
jta.org, November 17, 2015
A police officer patrolling the Times Square subway stop in New York City the day after a series of terrorist attacks in Paris, Nov. 14, 2015. (Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The series of terrorist attacks that killed at least 129 in Paris pose a couple of major challenges for the United States, Jewish officials and security experts said.
The challenges: security threats from the the 200 or so Islamic State fighters who have returned to the United States, and moral questions surrounding America’s absorption of Syrian war refugees.
The key takeaway from Friday’s attacks, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility, is that the plotters managed to organize the terror wave in the French capital undetected by Western intelligence, said John Cohen, who until 2014 was a top intelligence official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“We need to come to the realization that as robust as they are, our intelligence community is not picking up on threats,” said Cohen, now the senior adviser at the Rutgers University Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security.
John Brennan, the CIA director, said that backlash over the scope of intelligence gathering after the 9/11 attacks had eroded the intelligence community’s surveillance capabilities, with rollbacks in eavesdropping coming as a result of revelations by former National Security Agency contractor and whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
“In the past several years, because of a number of unauthorized disclosures and a lot of hand wringing over the government’s role in the effort to try to uncover these terrorists, there have been some policy and legal and other actions that are taken that make our ability — collective ly, internationally — to find these terrorists much more challenging,” Brennan told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank on Monday....
David Horovitz
timesofisrael.com, November 17, 2015
Islamic State terrorists released a new propaganda video on November 16, 2015, promising attacks on countries involved in airstrikes across Syria(screenshot: YouTube)
I’m watching TV on Monday afternoon in an America that sounds distinctly rattled, a few hours after an Islamic State thug has threatened to strike at the US as a follow-up to the massacre of innocents in Paris. And like I always do when I’m away from home, I’m thinking a lot about my vibrant, embattled and demonized Israel.
The CNN screen blares “US cities step up security after Paris attack,” and “New ISIS threat of attacks includes Washington,” and the network is showing and interviewing a stream of politicians and military chiefs and security experts. They tell viewers that protecting every cafe a nd concert hall from potential terror attack is just impossible. They describe Islamic State as the worst terrorist scourge they can recall. They argue about whether President Barack Obama is right to insist that he will not be putting boots on the ground to tackle IS in Syria and Iraq.
The talking heads, from the president on down, it seems to me, are rather lost. Dianne Feinstein, a senator for more than 20 years who has sat on powerful foreign affairs and intelligence committees, has just mumbled something incoherent about the need to “get the Western world together” to “provide some elements of safety.” A succession of Republican would-be presidents are urging the tough-sounding but thoroughly generalized smashing of IS on the ground. “We should destroy them,” declares Jeb Bush. “I want to fight them in their backyard, so we don’t fight them in our backyard,” barks Lindsey Graham. The president has just slapped dow n his critics at a press conference, dismissing their suggestions in much the same way he used to brush off Benjamin Netanyahu’s objections to his Iran-empowering nuclear deal: “Folks want to pop off and have opinions about what they think they would do? Present a specific plan,” snaps the president. (Netanyahu did precisely that on Iran, of course, not that it helped.)...
conservativetribune.com, November 16, 2015
President Barack Obama’s reaction to the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 129 innocent civilians has been less than stellar. First, he refused to call the acts Islamic terrorism during his remarks shortly after they occurred.
Now, he’s spending time in Europe’s biggest Muslim nation — Turkey. While there, the president said that he remains committed to helping nations take in Syrian refugees even as investigators in France consider the fact that Islamic State members may have posed as “refugees” and aided in the attack.
“The United States is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to displaced persons and refugees,” Obama said at the G20 conference in Antalya, Turkey, according to Breitbart.
“(It) stands shoulder to shoulder with Turkey, Europe and others in trying to help those who need help right now, even as we hope to reduce the flow of migrants because of the situation inside Syria.”
So as far at the White House is concerned, the Paris attacks and civilian deaths changed nothing. While Obama said he would continue to import Syrian refugees — the United States has pledged at least 10,000 will come in, and likely more — others in Congress have moved to stop the influx....
Michael Goodwin
nypost.com, November 14, 2015
In any time and place, war is fiendishly simple. It is the ultimate zero-sum contest — you win or you lose.That eternal truth is so obvious that it should not need to be said. Yet even after the horrific slaughter in Paris, there remains a distressing doubt about whether America’s commander in chief gets it.
President Obama has spent the last seven years trying to avoid the world as it is. He has put his intellect and rhetorical skills into the dishonorable service of assigning blame and fudging failure. If nuances were bombs, the Islamic State would have been destroyed years ago.
He refuses to say “Islamic terrorism,” as if that would offend the peaceful Muslims who make up the vast bulk of victims. He rejects the word “ war,” even as jihadists carry out bloodthirsty attacks against Americans and innocent peoples around the world.
He shuns the mantle of global leadership that comes with the Oval Office, with an aide advancing the preposterous concept that Obama is “leading from behind.” He snubs important partners like Egypt, showers concessions on the apocalyptic mullahs of Iran, and called the Islamic State the “jayvee team” even as it was beginning to create a caliphate.
Having long ago identified American power as a problem, he continues to slash the military as the enemy expands its reach. In a globalized era, the Obama doctrine smacks of cowardly retreat and fanciful isolation....
Robert Hand
Nov 20, 2015, 10:48:34 PM11/20/15
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Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 21:34:16 -0600
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 14:05:14 -0600
Editor's Note: Friday November 20, 2015
| Muslims in Turkey Celebrate Paris Attack YouTube video - 00:41 (Nov 15, 2015) Robert Spencer on the Hannity Show on the REFUGEE CRISIS YouTube video - 03:16 (Nov 17, 2015) Paris Bloodshed May Be the Latest of Many ISIS ATTACKS Around the World CLICK HERE for maps, article, chart and timeline |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Montage: OBAMA PRAISES ISLAM YouTube video - 04:00 (Nov 17, 2015) OBAMA'S ACTIONS 'remarkably unpresidential' YouTube video - 10:16 (Nov 18, 2015) SORRY OBAMA: House Easily Passes Syrian Refugee Bill With A Veto-Proof Majority CLICK HERE for articleSyria's war: A 5-minute historyEXCELLENT Facebook video - 05:21 |
| The radical Islamic threat continues to grow. |
This malignant growth is spreading throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. The Paris bombing shows just how dangerous Radical Islamists have become and indicates growth within Europe. Massive immigration also poses a security threat throughout Europe. All of this hostile activity continues as Iran moves closer to an atomic nuclear weapon. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TOD AY to support our ongoing education and activism efforts. CLICK HERE to make a paypal donation or send a check payable to UCI to 3965 W 87th St., 292, Shawnee Mission, KS 66208. THANKS! |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Terrorists Take 170 Hostages at Hotel in Mali, a Center of War Between France and ISIS, unitedwithisrael.org, AP and United with Israel Staff
- A staggering 70% of Jewish students experienced anti-Semitism at UC, blogs.timesofisrael.com, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
- Paris' Bataclan Theater was BDS and terrorist target for years, legalinsurrection.com, William A. Jacobson
- Limbaugh: Obama not interested in winning against ISIS, wnd.com, Joe Kovacs
- 80% of French Jews considering aliyah, israelnationalnews.com, Shimon Cohen
- Poland's new government rejects migrant quotas after Paris jihad attacks, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Egypt, Russia sign deal to build a nuclear power plant, reuters.com,
- Jonathan Pollard, American Who Spied for Israel, Released After 30 Years, nytimes.com, Peter Baker and Jodi Rudoren
AP and United with Israel Staff
unitedwithisrael.org, November 20, 2015
An upscale hotel in Mali, a center of conflict between France and Islamic terrorists, was the site of a terror attack on Friday. Details are not yet clear, but reports indicate there are 170 hostages.
Islamic terrorists attacked a popular hotel in Mali’s capital on Friday with guns and grenades, authorities and a witness said.
A staffer at the Radisson Blu hotel, who gave his name as Tamba Diarra, said over the phone that the attackers used grenades in the assault. He did not have information on casualties or the number of assailants involved, but said he was not aware of hostages having been taken at the hotel.
The hotel’s owners said that two attackers had locked in 140 guests and 30 employees, AFP reported....
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
blogs.timesofisrael.com, November 17, 2015
...Most troubling of all were the dozens of comments that students shared describing anti-Semitic incidents that they had experienced or witnessed, including rhetoric and behavior that go far beyond political or scholarly debate. For example:
- A student at UCSC wrote: “One of my friends wearing a yarmulke was walking into the library and had a member of Students for Justice in Palestine wearing a border patrol uniform say Hitler was right.”
- A student at UCI wrote: “I was called a “kike” on campus by Students for Justice in Palestine and my two female friends and I was shoved to the ground and physically assaulted…I am afraid to be on this campus.”
- A student at UCSB wrote: “My friend was out at night and a student from Students for Justice in Palestine called her demeaning names and spat at her.”...
William A. Jacobson
legalinsurrection.com, November 14, 2015
...In a series of arrests in May 2009, Egyptian State Security arrested seven suspects in connection with the attack on the French teens, one of whom justified possible attacks on the Bataclan on the grounds that “the owners are Jews.”
Needless to say, BDS supporters are uncomfortable with this history.
But as we know from the Paris riots in the summer of 2014 directed at the Jewish community, and subsequent violence connected to BDS, there is a connection between the frenzy directed at Israel, and violence against Jewish institutions and Jews. See several of my posts:
- Paris Synagogue attacked by Pro-Palestinian crowd carrying boycott message
- France’s Jews Fled As Rioters Burned Shops To Chants Of ‘Gas The Jews’
- Just more “pro-Palestinian” protests: Nazi salutes in Paris, “death to all Jews” in the Hague
- Boycott Movement Gang Attacks Two Jews on Paris Street
But it’s still part of the ugly history of anti-Semitic violence in France, and needs to be discussed as France and Europe decide what types of societies they will have. And whether there is a place for Jews.
Joe Kovacs
wnd.com, November 17, 2015
President Obama (White House photo) In the wake of the Paris terror attacks last week, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh says President Obama has no interest in winning against the Islamic terror group ISIS.
At a news conference Monday, Obama was asked if his “reluctance to enter another Middle East war and [his] preference of diplomacy over using the military makes the U.S. weaker and emboldens our enemies.”
Obama responded: “Some of [my critics] seem to think that if I were just more bellicose in expressing what we’re doing, that that would make a difference, because that seems to be the only thing that they’re doing is talking as if they’re tough. Folks want to pop off and have opinions about what they think they would do, present a specific plan. What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning or whatever other slogans they come up with that has no relationship to what is actually gonna work to protect the American people and to protect people in the region.”
That comment set Limbaugh off, who asked, “Did I just hear what I just heard?”
“If America winning doesn’t have any relationship to what’s gonna work, then what the hell are we working on? What’s the point?”
“He really makes the case here,” Limbaugh continued, “that this is bitter clinger rabble-rousing. It’s just insignificant. This idea of America winning, it’s so backward. We intellectuals are so far beyond the concept of America winning. That’s not what this is about. We’re not in this to win. That’s not why we’re doing what we’re doing. That’s his point of view here.&nb sp; American leadership, America winning, other slogans we can come up with. I’m not interested in that. That has no relationship to what’s actually gonna work to protect the American people. America winning has no relationship to protecting the American people?...
Shimon Cohen
israelnationalnews.com, November 16, 2015
Dr. Michael Bensaadon, director of the "Klita" umbrella organization for NGOs working to help French Jews immigrate to Israel, is calling on the government of Israel to prepare for a massive wave of aliyah from France following the Paris attacks on Saturday.
Bensaadon told Arutz Sheva about a report his group is preparing regarding the unique needs of French olim immigrating to Israel, and the anticipated increase in their numbers.
The upcoming escalation in aliyah can be predicting from the rise in immigration seen until now and the deteriorating situation in France, as well as from telling opinion polls among French Jewry.
No less than 7,000 French immigrants arrived in 2014, and "this wave will yet strengthen" he says, noting on the number of requests to make aliyah being received....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, November 14, 2015
A dawning of common sense in besieged Europe?
Konrad Szymanski“Poland’s new government rejects migrant quotas after Paris attacks,” RT, November 14, 2015:
Poland’s future minister for European affairs said his government will not accept EU-mandate quotas for refugees following the terrorist attacks in France.
Konrad Szymanski, who will take the office on Monday as part of the country’s new conservative government, said his cabinet didn’t agree with their predecessors’ commitment to take a share in the refugee burden.
Now, “in the face of the tragic acts in Paris, we do not see the political possibilities to implement” the plan, he told the right-leaning news portal wPolityce.pl....
reuters.com, November 19, 2015
Moscow and Cairo signed an agreement on Thursday for Russia to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, with Russia extending a loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction.
A spokesman for Russia's state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom said the plant, Egypt's first, would be built at Dabaa in the north of the country and was expected to be completed by 2022.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, speaking on state TV, gave few details but said the project would involve the building of a 'third-generation' plant with four reactors.
It is not clear how much the deal is worth but Sisi said the loan from Russia would be paid off over 35 years....
Peter Baker and Jodi Rudoren
nytimes.com, November 20, 2015
A rally in Jerusalem in 2005 in support of Jonathan J. Pollard. (Credit Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
WASHINGTON — Jonathan J. Pollard, the American convicted of spying on behalf of Israel, walked out of prison early on Friday after 30 years, the Israeli prime minister said, but the Obama administration had no plans to let him leave the country and move to Israel as he requested.
Mr. Pollard, who as a Navy intelligence analyst passed classified documents to Israeli handlers, was released from a federal prison in Butner, N.C., after receiving parole on a life sentence, ending a long imprisonment that has been a constant irritant in relations between the United States and Israel.
The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement that the people of his nation &ld quo;welcome the release” and that he, personally, “had long hoped this day would come.”...
Robert Hand
Nov 24, 2015, 1:46:38 AM11/24/15
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Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:03:29 -0600
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2015 14:19:01 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday November 23, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Faithkeepers the Movie (2016) Promo Faithkeepers is an upcoming documentary film about the violent persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. YouTube video - 04:10 (Nov 9, 2015) Mass Yazidi grave in Iraq tells horror story (Part 1) YouTube video - 00:57 (Nov 18, 2015) How to purify wastewater using just plants Israel’s Ayala Water & Ecology has an all-natural, maintenance-free system for water cleansing and reuse at farms, homes, factories and public parks. CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Op-Ed by Speaker Ryan on CNN.com: 'On refugees, balance compassion and safety', CNN, Paul Ryan
- Voters to Obama: Yes, We Are at War with Radical Islam, rasmussenreports.com,
- Islamic State presence in the U.S. is 'the new normal,' FBI director says, latimes.com, Tina Susman
- Are There Any Moderate Rebels in Syria?, jpa.org, Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah
- France: Only 30 Muslims show up for rally against Paris jihad attacks, pamelageller.com, Pamela Geller
- Praying for Israel, New Harvest Christian Fellowship, Pastor Richard Salazar
Paul Ryan
CNN, November 23, 2015
The terrorist attacks in Paris showed the world just how vulnerable a free society can be. They're also a reminder that this administration's attempt to contain the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has failed. That is why the House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would pause the Syrian refugee program until we can be certain no one coming here is a threat to our country.
Right now, thousands of families continue to pour out of Iraq and Syria to avoid civil war and the horrors of ISIS. Innocent men, women and children of all faiths and backgrounds are seeking asylum in Western countries, including the United States. And America has a long history of helping people in need.
The sad truth, though, is that there are many people who would like to take advantage of our compassion. Terrorists have made it clear that they intend to infiltrate this refugee population to reach the West and carry out other attacks. Most refugees pose absolutely no threat to us, but we simply don't have a sufficient process for figuring out who each person is and verifying his or her background.
So the federal government must balance our compassion and our safety. Here's the situation: Every year, the administration sets the maximum number of refugees the program will accept from each region of the world. And this year, the Obama administration announced we would accept at least 10,000 refugees from Syria.
After a refugee applies, the Department of Homeland Security determines whether he or she is admissible. The State Department says "refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States."
That may be true, but here's the problem: We just don't have all that much information to check about Syrian refugees. Many high-ranking administration officials have said as much....
rasmussenreports.com, November 20, 2015
President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other senior Democrats refuse to say America is at war with “radical Islamic terrorism” for fear of insulting all Muslims, but voters beg to disagree.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism. Just 24% share the president’s position and disagree. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Even 56% of Democrats believe America is at war with radical Islamic terrorism, a view shared by 70% of Republicans and 54% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
A staggering 92% of all voters now regard radical Islamic terrorism as a serious threat to the United States. This includes 73% w ho say it is a Very Serious one, up 23 points from 50% in October of last year....
Tina Susman
latimes.com, November 23, 2015
New York police officers guard a subway entrance at Times Square on Wednesday, five days after the Paris attacks. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
When a Brooklyn man pleaded guilty to plotting to join Islamic State and to bomb Coney Island, it drew little attention outside of New York City despite the spectacular image his confession conjured of a fiery blast ripping through a seaside amusement park.
It was, after all, one of hundreds of such plots that the FBI said it had been tracking since long before last week's Paris attacks, which were a stark reminder of Islamic State's global reach.
Nowhere was that reminder as chilling as in the United States, where neither Al Qaeda nor Islamic State has pulled off a major strike since Sept. 11, 2001. D espite the track record, FBI director James B. Comey has warned that Islamic State, an organization that was added to the agency's list of foreign terrorist groups only last year, is now in virtually every state.
"This is sort of the new normal," Comey said in July after announcing the arrests of 10 people believed linked to Islamic State plots, including some suspected of planning attacks to coincide with the July 4 holiday....
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah
jpa.org, November 22, 2015
- Since the beginning of its bombings in August 2014 the U.S.-led coalition in Syria hits targets that are "only" Islamic State’s and avoids the Syrian regime and other "moderate opposition" targets. The Russians do not face this dilemma: Indeed, since the beginning of the Russian military intervention in October 2015, the targets are very clear: all those who are against the Syrian Assad regime and its allies.
- The CIA assisted those it considered "moderate rebels." It appears that the choice fell on the Syrian Free Army. The Free Syrian Army has worked with hard-line, anti-Western Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in the fighting against Assad’s forces and their allies, despite the non-jihadi inclinations of part of the FSA.
- We see an unfolding of a process in the Syrian civil war in which the Free Syrian Army has gradually vacated its leading role in some regions in the battle against the Alawite regime, replaced by the followers of the jihadist forces.
- Many of the different Islamist coalitions present on the ground today can hardly be defined as being "a moderate opposition."
- The United States stands at a crucial policy juncture that could lead in the long run either to a repeat of the Taliban experience in Afghanistan after the Soviet retreat or to the chaotic state created in Iraq in the aftermath of the American withdrawal and the replacement of its minority Sunni ruling class by a Shiite regime which has since partitioned Iraq....
Pamela Geller
pamelageller.com, November 18, 2015
This is typical. Despite the tens of thousands of deadly Islamic attacks since 9/11, never has there been a rally or movement against jihad that ever garnered more than a handful of Muslims. I remember heading down to DC in 2005 for a “major Muslims rally against terror” and no one showed up.
Instead we have come to expect wails of “fear of reprisals” and bogus “Islamophobia”claims after every Islamic jihad terror attack. Conversely, according to the FBI “hate crimes” against Muslims has decreased. And while Muslims in the US condemn the Islamic State, where are they teaching against the ideology that gave rise to it?
Right now, nothing is being done to stop jihad recruiting in US mosques, even as several hundred young Muslims from the US have gone to wage jihad for the Islamic State....
reuters.com, November 19, 2015
Moscow and Cairo signed an agreement on Thursday for Russia to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, with Russia extending a loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction.
A spokesman for Russia's state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom said the plant, Egypt's first, would be built at Dabaa in the north of the country and was expected to be completed by 2022.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, speaking on state TV, gave few details but said the project would involve the building of a 'third-generation' plant with four reactors.
It is not clear how much the deal is worth but Sisi said the loan from Russia would be paid off over 35 years....
Pastor Richard Salazar
New Harvest Christian Fellowship, May 04, 2015
I recently read a story about Queen Victoria and her Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. It took place during the late 19th century. Queen Victoria asked Prime Minister Disraeli the following question:
"Mr. Prime Minister, what evidence can you give me of the existence of God?"
Disraeli thought for a moment and then replied, "The Jew, your majesty."
Think of it, according to Disraeli, the primary evidence that God exists is the existence of the Jewish people. It makes perfect sense.
The survival of the Jewish people is a miracle of God. The return of the Jewish people to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a miracle of God. A new nation began in that land in 1948. It was named after their ancestor Jacob, whose divinely appointed name “Israel” means "Prince with God", is a miracle of God.
We should pray for and support Israel because we believe that the words of Moses and the prophets of Israel were i nspired by God. We believe that the birth of a Jewish state in the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was ordained by God....
Robert Hand
Nov 25, 2015, 1:40:46 AM11/25/15
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Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 00:06:40 -0600
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:59:59 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday November 24, 2015
DIFFERENT CONTINENTS -- SAME TERROR
The Al-Mourabitoun terrorist group carried out a heinous attack in Mali over the weekend • In France, people are beginning to realize that terrorism has one goal: to destroy us • It's time for Israelis to understand this as well. CLICK HERE for article and video
EXCELLENT VIDEO
The Glazov Gang-The Real Meaning of "Allahu Akbar".
Daniel Greenfield (Shillman Fellow, Freedom Center) YouTube video - 36:43 (Mar 26, 2015)
PLEASE HELP UCI TO CONTINUE TO HELP ISRAEL
DIFFERENT CONTINENTS -- SAME TERROR
The Al-Mourabitoun terrorist group carried out a heinous attack in Mali over the weekend • In France, people are beginning to realize that terrorism has one goal: to destroy us • It's time for Israelis to understand this as well. CLICK HERE for article and video
EXCELLENT VIDEO
The Glazov Gang-The Real Meaning of "Allahu Akbar".
Daniel Greenfield (Shillman Fellow, Freedom Center) YouTube video - 36:43 (Mar 26, 2015)
PLEASE HELP UCI TO CONTINUE TO HELP ISRAEL
The radical Islamic threat continues to grow. This malignant growth is spreading throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. The Paris bombing shows just how dangerous Radical Islamists have become and indicates growth within Europe. Massive immigration also poses a security threat throughout Europe. All of this hostile activity continues as Iran moves closer to an atomic nuclear weapon.
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Contents: (summaries below)
- Islamic State's structure grows more complex as it strikes the West, Kansaas City Star, Eric Schmitt
- How to Beat ISIS: The President Is Partly Right , the-american-interest.com, Walter Russell Mead
- 900 'homegrown' ISIS cases being investigated in US: FBI, nypost.com, Paul Sperry
- Exposed: Obama's Love for Jihadis and Hate for Christians, raymondibrahim.com, Raymond Ibrahim
- Huckabee: 'Democrats seem determined to defend Islam more than America', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Iran's Guard simulates capture of Al-Aqsa Mosque, washingtonpost.com, Ali Akbar Dareini
- Terror Is Terror Is Terror, jcpa.org, Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
Eric Schmitt
Kansaas City Star, November 22, 2015
The recent attacks in Paris and Beirut and the downing of a Russian airliner in Egypt were the first results of a centrally planned terrorism campaign by a wing of the Islamic State leadership that oversees “external” targets, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials.The Islamic State’s overseas operations planning cell offers strategic guidance, training and funding for actions aimed at inflicting the maximum possible civilian casualties but leaves the task of picking the time, place and manner of the attacks largely to trusted operatives on the ground, the officials said.
Carrying out attacks far from the Islamic State’s base in Iraq and Syria represents an evolution of the group’s previous model o f exhorting followers to take up arms wherever they live — but without significant help from the group. And it upends the view held by the United States and its allies of the Islamic State as a regional threat, with a new assessment that the group poses a whole new sets of risks.
“Once the Islamic State possessed territory that provided them sanctuary and allowed them to act with impunity, they like other jihadist groups inevitably turned to external attacks,” said William Wechsler, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and until last January a top counterterrorism official at the Pentagon....
Walter Russell Mead
the-american-interest.com, November 16, 2015
To cut the flow of recruits and funds to ISIS, we must make ISIS look unattractive and weak—drab. This is what we have to teach our enemies and those tempted to join them: disenchantment.
In a contentious press conference, President Obama vowed to stay the course regarding his ISIS policy in the wake of the Paris attacks. The AP reports:
President Barack Obama on Monday conceded that the Paris terror attacks were a “terrible and sickening setback” in the fight against the Islamic State, but forcefully dismissed critics who have called for the U.S. to change or expand its military campaign against the extremists.
“The strategy that we are putting forward is the strategy that is ultimately going to work,” Obama said during a news conference at the close of two days of talks with world leaders. “It’s going to take time.”
Both in the United States and abroad, the reaction to the President&rs quo;s statement has been largely negative. There is a very widespread view that President Obama’s own dilatory leadership style and his refusal to engage seriously in Syria gave ISIS the room it needed to take root and grow. It’s likely that future historians will agree; this president is unlikely to be hailed as a strategic genius by anybody not on his payroll....
Paul Sperry
nypost.com, November 22, 2015
FBI Director James Comey (Photo AP)President Obama boasts he’s “made some progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters” traveling from America to Iraq and Syria. He cites this as a key success in his much-maligned Islamic State strategy.
While it’s true fewer American Muslims are joining ISIS abroad, hold the applause. More are staying at home and plotting terrorist attacks here.
Since July, the FBI has seen just a half-dozen US travelers trying to reach ISIS’ caliphate, a trickle compared with the dozens the agency was detecting in the preceding months. All told, more than 250 Americans have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS.
At the same time, investigators have seen a spike in the number of homegrown ISIS cases.
FBI Director James Comey recently warned that his caseload of ISIS suspects has exploded to more than 900 in all 50 states, with hotspots in the New York-New Jersey area, as well as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis....
Raymond Ibrahim
raymondibrahim.com, November 19, 2015
...Obama should further prioritize Christian refugees simply because his own policies in the Middle East have directly exacerbated their plight. Christians and other religions minorities did not flee from Bashar Assad’s Syria, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, or Muamar Gaddafi’s Libya. Their systematic persecution began only after the U.S. interfered in those nations in the name of “democracy” but succeeding in only uncorking the jihadi terrorists that the dictators had long kept suppressed.
Incidentally, prioritizing Christian refugees would not merely be an altruistic gesture or the U.S. government’s way of righting its wrongs: rather it brings many benefits to America’s security. (Unlike Muslims or even Yazidis, Christians are easily assimilated into Western nations due to the shared Christian heritage, and they bring trustworthy language and cultural skills that are beneficial to the “war on terror.”)
< br />Finally, no one should be shocked by these recent revelations of the Obama administration’s pro-Muslim and anti-Christian policies. They fit a clear and established pattern of religious bias within his administration. For example:
- When inviting scores of Muslim representatives, the State Department is in the habit of denying visas to solitary Christian representatives.
- When a few persecuted Iraqi Christians crossed the border into the U.S., they were thrown in prison for several months and then sent back to the lion’s den to be enslaved, raped, or murdered.
- When the Nigerian government waged a strong offensive against Boko Haram, killing some of its terrorists, Secretary of State John Kerry fumed and called for the “human rights” of the jihadis (who regularly slaughter and rape Christians and burn their churches). More recently, Kerry “urged Tajikistan not to go overboard in its crackdown on Islam.”
- When persecuted Coptic Christians planned on joining Egypt’s anti-Muslim Brotherhood revolution of 2013, the U.S. said no.
- When persecuted Iraqi and Syrian Christians asked for arms to join the opposition fighting ISIS, D.C. refused.
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, November 22, 2015
...After radical Islamists carried out deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, the [Democratic National Committee] DNC released an ad hitting Republicans from George W. Bush to Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for even using the word “Islam” while talking about terrorism.
The GOP is outraged.
“Democrats seem determined to defend Islam more than America,” Gov. Mike Huckabee told Breitbart News. “No one in the GOP blames all Muslims but no one in the DNC blames any Muslims, even the ones who shout Allah Akbar just before cutting off the head of a person who professes being a Christian.”
“You can’t defeat the enemy if you are unwilling to even call it by name,” Jeb Bush campaign spokesman Tim Miller told Breitbart News.
“The Democrat ad is a poignant reminder of why the world has become less safe under an Obama administration: denial and political correctness have become the def ault strategies. That’s not how you lead, that’s not how you win and that’s not how we are going to keep America free and safe,” said Ben Carson spokesman Doug Watts….
Ali Akbar Dareini
washingtonpost.com, November 21, 2015
In this Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 photo released by the Tasnim News Agency, members of the Basij, the paramilitary unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, gather around a replica of Jerusalem’s gold-topped Dome of the Rock mosque as one of them waves an Iranian flag from on top of the dome during a military exercise. Thousands of paramilitary forces from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard have held a war game simulating the capture of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli control, state media reported Saturday. (Tasnim News, Mahmoud Hosseini/AP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Paramilitary forces from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard have held a war game simulating the capture of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israe li control, state media reported Saturday.
It said forces stormed and “liberated” a replica of the mosque in the exercise. They say thousands of members of the Basij, the paramilitary unit of the Guard, participated in Friday’s exercise outside the holy city of Qom in central Iran....
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
jcpa.org, November 23, 2015
- Iran keeps promoting its long-term strategic policy in Syria; it views the country as an integral component of its national security.
- Russia, which has moved urgently to help Assad’s regime survive, has paid a heavy price with the downing of a Russian passenger plane by the Islamic State.
- Iran is encouraged by several key regional and international developments, including Russia’s involvement in Syria, the beginning of the JCPOA nuclear agreement’s implementation, the first breaches in the sanctions, and by being cast as a regional actor that can help settle the region’s problems.
- Iran is exploiting the West’s weakness, especially the United States’ fecklessness and lack of a clear policy on the Middle East’s future in general and on Assad’s in particular.
- If terror is to be fought and soundly defeated, the struggle must be waged against all the terror organizations and the states that support them. Iran has already headed the list of terror-supporting states for years. It is now awarded the status of a partner in trying to settle the Syrian crisis....
Robert Hand
Nov 30, 2015, 1:27:36 PM11/30/15
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Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 12:21:45 -0600
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 11:38:13 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday November 30, 2015
On 29 November 1947 the UN General Assembly voted on the partition plan, adopted by 33 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions. The Jewish side accepted the UN plan for the establishment of two states. The Arabs rejected it and launched a war of annihilation against the Jewish state.
UN Partition Plan: Resolution 181 - November 29, 1947
Following Britain's announcement in February 1947 of its intention to terminate its Mandate government, the UN General Assembly appointed a special committee - the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine - to make recommendations on the land's future government. UNSCOP recommended the establishment of two separate states, Jewish and Arab, to be joined by economic union, with the Jerusalem-Bethlehem region as an enclave under international administration.On 29 November 1947 the UN General Assembly voted on the partition plan, adopted by 33 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions. The Jewish side accepted the UN plan for the establishment of two states. The Arabs rejected it and launched a war of annihilation against the Jewish state.
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UN Resolution 181 - The Partition Plan
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- 10 Things to Know about the UN Partition Vote of November 1947, JerusalemCenterforPublicAffairs, Amb. Alan Baker
- Netanyahu: We Will Not Hand Over Even 'one meter' of Land, APwire, Tova Lazaroff
- BDS Activists in Germany Inspect Stores to Force Labeling of Israeli Products, JPost, Herb Keinon
- Netanyahu Orders: 'Break contact' with European Union over BDS, Reuters, Jason Mitchell
- CNN Map Replaces 'Israel' with 'Palestina', Ynetnews, Josh Solow
- Israel and The Blessing of Insecurity, Cardozoacademy.org, Victor Sharpe
- Thousands of Israeli Arabs Protest Ban of Islamic Movement, Haaretz, Jack Khoury
- MK: Deport families of terrorists as 'more powerful deterrence', IsraelHayom.com, Lilach Shoval
Amb. Alan Baker
JerusalemCenterforPublicAffairs, November 30, 2015
On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution1 which adopted the plan for the partition of Palestine recommended by the majority of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). 33 states voted in favor of the resolution and 13 voted against. 10 states abstained.1. It was a historic resolution that expressed the then-prevailing view of most of the major states of the United Nations, which voted in favor of it.
2. It established the principle of two states for two peoples.
3. It recognized the uniqueness of Jerusalem and the Jewish people’s bond to the city.
4. Had the Arabs agreed to live with the resolution as the Israelis did, despite its drawbacks from the standpoint of both sides, we would be in a different situation today with far fewer bereaved families on both sides.
5. Because of the Arabs’ rejection of it and in light of their decision to fight its implementation, the resolution has not assumed any validity except for the historical symbolism of its basic content.
6. The significance of its nonimplementation is that all the previously existing historical and legal rights as recognized by the Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate, and the San Remo Resolution have remained in force.
7. From that time to the present, negotiation mechanisms prescribed by Resolution 242 (1967), the Camp David accords (1979), and the Oslo agreements (1993-1999) have not been completed and no solution has been agreed upon.
8. Therefore, all the claims about Israel’s rights (and also, of course, about the Arabs’ rights) are still valid and remain unchanged until agreement on a permanent settlement is reached.
9. Therefore, any assertion by the United Nations and the Europeans about the territory belonging to the Palestinians in fact contravenes the symbolic basis of the partition resolution.
10. The time has come for the states to recognize this and stop contravening that symbolic basis.
Tova Lazaroff
APwire, November 30, 2015
Israel is not planning to unilaterally hand over portions of Area C in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Sunday.“There won’t be any transfer of territory to the Palestinians, not 40,000 [dunams or 10,000 acres], not 10,000 and not even one meter,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.
He spoke after Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan publicly charged that the Office of the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories and the Civil Administration is continuing work on a plan to transfer 10,000 dunams of territory in Area C to the Palestinian Authority.
But Netanyahu told the Likud ministers that he would not execute any such plan. Likud ministers Ophir Akunis, Ze’ev Elkin, Haim Katz, Israel Katz and Miri Regev raised the issue with Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting. “It’s a delusional idea,” said Akunis.
“Together with the international community, we have to demand that the Palestinians fight terrorism and stop the incitement against our forces and our citizens. That is what is required and not the transfer of territory,” Akunis said after the meeting.
The West Bank is divided into three areas: Areas A and B are under the PA’s civil control, and Area C, which makes up 60 percent of the West Bank, not including east Jerusalem, is under Israeli military and civil control. It is presumed that any final-status agreement for a two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict would involve the transfer of portions of Area C to the Palestinians. ...
Herb Keinon
JPost, November 30, 2015
A group of anti-Israel activists in the northern German city of Bremen on Saturday visited stores to ensure they marked their products as originating from Israeli settlements.The Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment (BDS) group stated in a press release: "With an 'inspection tour' on November 28 we want to examine which businesses are selling products 'from Israel' and to call upon them to comply with the EU labeling obligation."
German journalist Jan-Philipp Hein reported on the BDS group in stores on his twitter feed, posting photographs of the activists wearing signs on their backs reading: "Inspection: Label obligation for products from the illegal Israeli settlements."
A separate BDS protest on Saturday occurred in Berlin in front of the GALERIA Kaufhof department store on Alexander square. A photo can be seen of the activists holding a large BDS poster. GALERIA Kaufhof rejects product labels. A spokesperson said the chain's policy is not to be influenced by religion or politics when purchasing products. GALERIA Kaufhof sells products made in the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
The EU issued guidelines in November stating that Israeli settlement products should not be labeled as made in Israel. EU member states and businesses have the latitude to decide whether they wish to identify products from the disputed territories. The protests in Berlin and Bremen come on the heels of ...
Jason Mitchell
Reuters, November 30, 2015
Following decision to label Israeli goods, Prime Minister suspends talks with EU institutions, representatives. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli Foreign Ministry to reassess its involvement with European Union (EU) institutions regarding the political process with the Palestinians.Until the assessment is completed, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the suspension of all political contact with EU institutions and representatives on the issue.
This directive was made in response to the EU decision to label products from Judea and Samaria. The Foreign Ministry has clarified that Israel is still dealing with individual nations within Europe, including Germany, the UK and France, but not with European Union institutions.
Josh Solow
Ynetnews, November 29, 2015
The map, which omitted Israel altogether, was replaced after swift public outcry, but the incident is not CNN's first run in with Israel.A recent CNN money article titled "Beyond ISIS: 2015's scariest Geopolitical hot spots" drew swift and widespread criticism after a map featured in the article omitted the word "Israel," and replaced it with "Palestina" (the Spanish name for Palestine.)
The case was first reported by media watchdog Honest Reporting, whose managing editor, Simon Plosker, said, "At a time when the state’s very legitimacy is being called into question by vicious anti-Israel extremists, any message that Israel does not belong in the Middle East plays into this false narrative and feeds those like the Iranian ayatollahs who wish to see Israel The map, which omitted Israel altogether, was replaced after swift public outcry, but the incident is not CNN's first run in with Israel.
According to Honest Reporting, CNN has since removed the map in question and replaced it with an image of the aftermath of a Syrian airstrike in Aleppo. Veteran CNN anchor Jim Clancy was forced to resign in January of this year after a series of anti-Israel tweets. Clancy posted a tweet claiming that the caricature of Muhammad published by the French magazine Charlie Hebdo did not mock the Muslim prophet. "They mocked how the COWARDS tried to distort his word. Pay attention,” he wrote. ...
Victor Sharpe
Cardozoacademy.org, November 30, 2015
Israel's leaders must realize that any attempt to “normalize” the State of Israel will threaten its very existence.Throughout the centuries, historians, philosophers and anthropologists have struggled with the concept called “Israel.” Attempting to place Israel within the confines of conventional history, they experienced constant academic and philosophical frustration.
Suggested definitions broke down due to serious inconsistencies. Was Israel a nation, a religion, or perhaps a mysterious entity that would forever remain inexplicable?
It was clear that Israel did not conform to any framework. It resisted historical concepts and generalities. Its uniqueness thwarted definition, since that implies arrangement in categories. Anything that flies in the face of categorization is alarming and disturbing.
This became more pronounced after Bar Kochba’s rebellion was crushed by Roman emperor Hadrian and the general Julius Severus, who forced the Jews out of their country. It was then that the Jew was hurled into the abyss of the world’s nations and confronted with a new condition – ongoing insecurity – which continues to today. While mankind has always faced moments of uncertainty, the Jews have been denied even the smallest share of the dubious security that others possess. Aware of it or not, Jews have always lived on ground that could, at any moment, give way beneath their feet.
In 1948 Israel once again became a country. But not only a country. All of its other dimensions, such as nationhood, religion, mystery, insecurity and lack of definition continued to exist. Jews today do not find themselves exclusively in the State of Israel, and instead of one Israel the world now has two. But the second, new Israel has until now been seen as ...
Jack Khoury
Haaretz, November 29, 2015
Thousands of Israeli Arabs protested Saturday evening in northern Israel over a government decision declaring the northern branch of the Islamic Movement an illegal organization. The demonstration, which was organized by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee and took place in the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm, included Israeli Arab lawmakers as well as the movement's leadership, which vowed to continue its activities despite the ban.
"The Islamic Movement is a movement well rooted within the Arab community and it cannot be outlawed with an arbitrary decision," said Sheikh Ra’ad Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Move ment, adding that the thousands of protesters proved that the movement has now been "born again."
"Anyone with eyes in their head knows that this is anti-democratic political persecution," said Israeli Arab MK Yousef Jabareen. "This is just another chapter in the delegitimization campaign against the Arab public," he said, claiming the move was part of what he described as the government's ongoing discrimination against Israeli Arabs.
MK Jamal Zahalka said that the Israeli Arab leadership was united in its opposition to the outlawing of the movement: "An attack on the Islamic Movement is an attack on the entire Arab public and a provocation. Instead of being grateful that our struggle is conducted in a lawful and non-violent manner, they ban and push parts of our public outside the borders of legality, and the ramifications can be dangerous. It's not just evil, but also stupi d," he said.
Arab Monitoring Committee chair Mohammad Barakeh also said that the protest was a message to the government that the Israeli Arab community is unified in its objection the decision and that it would continue to struggle against it.
Earlier this month, the security cabinet declared the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel to be an unlawful organization. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon signed the declaration under the authority given him by the 1945 [British Mandate-era] Emergency Rules. ...
Lilach Shoval
IsraelHayom.com, November 30, 2015
Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee head Nissan Slomiansky also suggests stripping citizenship, residency rights from families of terrorists • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon back deportation as deterrent.The chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee has proposed legislating a clause that would allow the state to deport the families of terrorists for the duration of half of the terrorist’s prison sentence.
Nissan Slomiansky (Habayit Hayehudi) has also suggested stripping Israeli citizenship or residency status from family members of terrorists who commit murder.
“Unfortunately, there is not enough of a deterrent in the existing law,” MK Slomiansky said. “I believe that this step would introduce much more powerful deterrence than taking action against the terrorist alone.”
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Slomiansky surmised that when potential terrorists realize that not only will their homes be demolished if they commit an act of terrorism but their family will be deported as well, it could deter them from acting on their impulses.
In recent weeks, the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee has been focused on completing the 100-page legislation designed to combat terrorism ahead of a Knesset vote. Slomiansky believes that this law will dramatically reduce the scope of terrorist attacks against Israelis, and he is eager to pass the law by the end of January.
“I say this with complete confidence, because after the legislation is approved, we will wage a battle not only against lone terrorists but also against all the surrounding mechanisms like Islamic Movement charities, which raise money for the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel,” he said. ...
Robert Hand
Dec 1, 2015, 5:59:19 PM12/1/15
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Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 16:29:50 -0600
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 11:31:59 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday December 01, 2015
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Hanukkah 2015 Hanukkah 2015 begins at sunset on Sunday, December 6, and ends on Monday, December 14. What is Hanukkah? Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights. It commemorates the victory of the ancient Israelites over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of restoring the menorah in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days. How Do You Celebrate Hanukkah? We celebrate Hanukkah at home by lighting the menorah (each night we light one additional candle to the number from the previous night), playing dreidel, and eating special foods unique to Hanukkah. Some people also sing Hanukkah songs or exchange gifts after lighting the menorah. What are Hanukkah Foods? Many Hanukkah foods are deep-fried in oil, symbolizing the oil from the menorah used in the Temple. These include latkes, or potato pancakes, and jelly doughnuts. Many also make the Sephardic delicacy bimuelos and use, of course, applesauce as a topping. |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The UN Can't Support Israel's Fight on Terrorism Since it Considers Israel the Terrorists, JewishPress.com, Paul Gherkin
- The Palestinians and Their Real Goal of the Intifada, GatestoneInstitute, Bassam Tawil
- PM Netanyahu Meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin, imra.org.il, MediaAdviser
- Despite UNRWA Promises PA Teachers Inciting to Violence, IBTN.com, Steffer Kislev
- Syrians are a Terror Threat and Here are the Numbers, Freedom Center, Daniel Greenfield
- PM Wants to Allow Israeli Citizens Abroad to Vote, INN.com, Gil Ronen
- Iran Threatening to Cancel Nuclear Deal Amid Probe, Reuters, Lea Speyer
Paul Gherkin
JewishPress.com, December 01, 2015
On November 19, 2015, Palestinian Arab terrorists attacked Israelis which resulted in the death of five people. On the same day, terrorists in Mali attacked a hotel and killed 20.November 30, 2015 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commented on both terrorist attacks. His approach to each incident was quite different. The UN placed significant weight on its comments towards the Government of Mali. It extended condolences and offered “full support” to fight terrorists and extremists.
However, all such language and sentiment was absent for Israel over its wave of terrorism. This has been true for every announcement made about deliberate murders committed by Palestinian Arabs against Israelis, whether the killing of the Henkins in front of their children (October 2015) or the slaughter of the Fogel family in their beds (March 2011).
The reason becomes clear when reviewing the various UN statements. The November 19 attack was the first time that Ban Ki-Moon actually used the word “terror” about Israel. The reason? Because a Palestinian was listed among those killed. The language of the press release could lead a reader to conclude that the terrorism was CAUSED by Israel, rather than Arab murderers.That was the reason that the UN did not extend condolences to, or express support for the Government of Israel. For the UN Secretary-General, it seems in his mind Israel is as much part of the terrorist infrastructure as the jihadists.
Bassam Tawil
GatestoneInstitute, December 01, 2015
As the current Palestinian campaign of terrorism against Israel is about to enter its third month, it is still not clear to many what the Palestinians are trying to achieve. The Palestinians cannot even agree on a name for their campaign. Some are referring to it as an “intifada,” while others are describing it as a “Habba Jamahiriya” [“popular puff,” or “flurry”].The Palestinians also have not been able to agree on the motives behind the stabbing, shooting, firebombing and car-ramming attacks. Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly claimed during the past few weeks that the terrorists are setting out to kill Jews out of “despair and frustration” and the lack of a “political horizon.” But Abbas seems intentionally to be ignoring that it is he and his Palestinian Authority who are responsible — together with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions — for the violence, as a result of their daily incitement against Israel.
This is yet another instance in which anyone could have predicted what was going to happen. Throughout the past year, Abbas has been telling his people that Israel was planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and “change the Arab and Islamic character and identity” of Jerusalem. He condemned Jews for ...
MediaAdviser
imra.org.il, December 01, 2015
(Issued by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Climate Conference in Paris on Monday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Mr. President. It’s good to see you again. This is our second meeting after our meeting in Moscow, and we also use the telephone to communicate.
I think that, as you say, the events of recent days prove the importance of our coordination, our de-confliction mechanisms, our attempts to cooperate with each other to prevent unnecessary accidents and tragedies and I believe that we’ve been successful. It’s important.
Secondly, I think we are engaged in a big battle against militant Islam, the terrorism it spews forward, the savagery, the barbarism. And this is another point of contact in addition to many others that we’re engaged in.
I hope that Israel and Russia can see eye to eye on all the strategic matters, but I want to assure you that we believe that it’s within our powers to have very good coordination on the ground and in the air so that we do not create the kind of problems that we’ve been experiencing. I’m very satisfied by the fact that our militaries have been very careful to coordinate with one another and will continue to do so. I think this is an indication of the openness and the success of the relationship between Israel and Russia, our relationship. It’s good to see you again."
Russian President Putin: "Distinguished Prime Minister, it’s my pleasure to have a meeting with you on the sidelines of today’s event. I remember our detailed talk when you visited me in Moscow.
Very many dramatic developments, including dramatic ones have been happening globally. But let me start with congratulations on the coming Chanukah holiday. It’s a very good and bright holiday that symbolizes the victory, the triumph of light over dark. And I really hope that in international affairs we’ll have it this way as well.
We are satisfied with the progress of bilateral relations. And let me note that the mechanism that has been promoted by you and proposed by you presupposes contacts between the militaries to prevent incidents due to the dramatic developments in the region has been efficient. And we also have advances in other spheres as well."
Steffer Kislev
IBTN.com, December 01, 2015
Image on the left: UNRWA’s “Certificate of Ethics” for teachers who posts on Facebookthat “Zionists and Jews” are “sons of apes and pigs.”
GENEVA, November 30, 2015 – Despite prior promises by UNRWA, the Palestinian relief agency, to put an end to online incitement by its teachers, numerous UNRWA teachers are still inciting to Palestinian knife attacks against what they describe as “Jewish apes and pigs,” and should be fired, according to a new report issued today by UN Watch, the Geneva-based watchdog group. See full report below.
“UNRWA’s reported temporary suspensions of offenders are clearly not working. Giving a slap on the wrist sends the message that it’s business as usual. Instead, those who incite to racism or murder should be fired, under a zero tolerance policy, just as the UK government recently banned a teacher from the classroom for life over an anti-Semitic Facebook post,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
UN Watch submitted the report today to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl — as well as to EU foreign affairs commissioner Federica Mogherini, and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, whose governments are the top funders of UNRWA, for a combined total of almost $1 billion U.S. last year.
Today’s report, coming after previous UN Watch reports this year on 22 other individuals, documents yet another 10 UN teachers, principals and other staffers who use the imprimatur of their official positions to incite Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks against Israeli Jews.
Daniel Greenfield
Freedom Center, December 01, 2015
Syria is a terror state. It didn’t become that way overnight because of the Arab Spring or the Iraq War. Its people are not the victims of American foreign policy, Islamic militancy or any of the other fashionable excuses. They supported Islamic terrorism. Millions of them still do.They are not the Jews fleeing a Nazi Holocaust. They are the Nazis trying to relocate from a bombed out Berlin.
These are the cold hard facts. ISIS took over parts of Syria because its government willingly allied with it to help its terrorists kill Americans in Iraq. That support for Al Qaeda helped lead to the civil war tearing the country apart.
The Syrians were not helpless, apathetic pawns in this fight. They supported Islamic terrorism.
A 2007 poll showed that 77% of Syrians supported financing Islamic terrorists including Hamas and the Iraqi fighters who evolved into ISIS. Less than 10% of Syrians opposed their terrorism.
Why did Syrians support Islamic terrorism? Because they hated America.
Sixty-three percent wanted to refuse medical and humanitarian assistance from the United States. An equal number didn’t want any American help caring for Iraqi refugees in Syria.The vast majority of Syrians turned down any form of assistance from the United States because they hated us. They still do. Just because they’re willing to accept it now, doesn’t mean they like us.
If we bring Syrian Muslims to America, we will be importing a population that hates us.
The terrorism poll numbers are still ugly. A poll this summer found that 1 in 5 Syrians supports ISIS. A third of Syrians support the Al Nusra Front, which is affiliated with Al Qaeda. Since Sunnis are 3/4rs of the population and Shiites and Christians aren’t likely to support either group, this really means that Sunni Muslim support for both terror groups is even higher than these numbers make it seem. ....
Gil Ronen
INN.com, December 01, 2015
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seeks to pass a bill that will allow Israelis abroad to vote in national elections. A second planned bill will take away the President’s role in deciding whom to task with forming government, following national elections.Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) was appointed Sunday to chair two teams of Coalition members that will agree upon the two bills’ formulations.
The bill relating to presidential powers will state that the leader of the largest party in the Knesset will automatically have authority to create the next government. At the same time, the Knesset majority required for toppling a serving government will be increased to a number much greater than the current simple majority of 61.
Netanyahu believes that this will make it possible for future governments to serve for four straight years instead of falling apart after two or three years, as usually happened in the last two decades.
By making the largest party the automatic winner of the elections, Netanyahu will probably be pushing voters to cast their ballot for one of the large parties and reducing their motivation to vote for smaller ones. Under the present system, the president tasks the party head who enjoys the support of the most MKs with the job of forming a government. If he fails, the president can task another party head with the job. ...
Lea Speyer
Reuters, December 01, 2015
Iran has threatened to cancel the nuclear deal with world powers unless an investigation in the country’s alleged nuclear related weapons research is canceled, AFP reported.A top Iranian security official made the announcement on Sunday after the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that a probe into Iran’s military nuclear activities would not be “black and white.”
Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said anything short of completely closing the investigation would force the Iranian government to reconsider its participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The IAEA investigation includes allegations that up until 2003, the Islamic Republic conducted research into how to compile materials for and build a nuclear weapon. Iran has denied the claims.
According to the UN watchdog agency, a recent report has confirmed that Iran did violate several terms of the nuclear agreement with world powers by increasing its uranium stockpile by 460.2 kilograms over the last three months. Under the terms of the deal, Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium cannot reach more than 300 kilograms. A senior western diplomat commenting on the report told Reuters that the increase is a result of normal fluctuation and “there is nothing special in that.”
Robert Hand
Dec 4, 2015, 12:52:10 AM12/4/15
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Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 23:35:48 -0600
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 13:06:56 -0600
Editor's Note: Thursday December 03, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| New Glazov Gang: Robert Spencer on plan to flood US with Muslim refugees CLICK HERE for video Britain launches airstrikes hours after Parliament backs ISIS bombings CLICK HERE for video and article WATCH: Police release footage of terrorist's home bein g blown up CLICK HERE for video and article Beijing hosting major China-Israel investment event The summit, organized by Israel’s Ministry of the Economy and the Infinity Fund, will be held on 4-6 January 2016. CLICK HERE for more information. |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- California Shooting: The Debate Starts Here, clarionproject.org, Meira Svirsky
- Jihadists Crippling the West from Within, americanthinker.com, Steven Emerson and Pete Hoekstra
- Why Syrian Refugees Are Not Like Jewish Refugees in WWII, breitbart.com, Joel B. Pollak
- It's the Israel model: living under siege, Il Giornale, Fiamma Nirenstein
- Misreading the Middle East, Again, usnews.com, Dennis Ross
- US adjusting tactics to intensify air war against Islamic State, Stars and Stripes, Tara Copp
- Russia adding 2nd airbase in Syria, pursuing 'expansion' in military campaign, FoxNews.com, Lucas Tomlinson
- Why It Matters That Iran Lied, commentarymagazine.com, Jonathan S. Tobin
Meira Svirsky
clarionproject.org, December 03, 2015
Officers in San Bernadino, California on a man hunt after the shooting. (Photo: © Reuters)
With the investigation of the California shooting in its primary stages, what we do know about this horrific attack is that it was highly planned. The shooters were prepared: in dress -- they donned “assault-style clothing” (described as dark, tactical garments) and body armor; with weapons -- they chose AK-47 Kalashnikov semi-automatic rifles (or the equivalent) plus pistols; and with ammo – they were carrying multiple magazines and had planted explosive devices resembling pipe bombs.
Without ruling out other motives, law-enforcement officers say the facts of this case point to a terrorist attack. What we do know is that Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters, & ldquo;was very religious,” according to his father.
He had travelled to Saudi Arabia and returned with his wife, who he had reportedly met online....
Steven Emerson and Pete Hoekstra
americanthinker.com, November 17, 2015
The success of a small group of terrorists in essentially taking down the third most powerful military in the world on Friday is a milestone in the history of Islamic terrorism being celebrated by jihadists around the world.
More than 14 years ago, they succeeded in killing nearly 3,000 Americans in a plot carried out right under our noses. In those intervening years, billions of dollars were spent on creating and connecting massive databases between countries to share intelligence, new counterterrorism intelligence units were formed, tens of thousands of jihadists around the world were placed under surveillance, entire militaries were transformed to fight the new type of asymmetrical war, and government leaders vowed to wipe out the nest of terrorist vipers wherever they were.
Yet, the jihadists still succeeded in carrying out the single largest attack in Europe since World War II, slaughtering more than 120 innocent men, women and children. If there is any lesson that can be drawn, it is that the jihadists are now coming for us.
The highly coordinated attack on the French was an attack on the Dutch, British, Germans, Swedes, and the U.S. It was an attack on all Western liberal democracies based upon basic Judeo-Christian values....
Joel B. Pollak
breitbart.com, November 17, 2015
...But there are several reasons the Jewish and Syrian crises have little in common, and why opposition is different in the two cases.
1. Jews were not a terror threat; there is evidence terrorists are hiding among Syrian refugees. Jewish refugees were not a threat to the countries where they sought asylum. In the early 1920s, fears of communist activism among Jewish immigrants had helped drive restrictive immigration laws, but that threat–and the over-reaction to it–had long passed. In contrast, at least one, and as many as three, of the terrorists in the recent Paris attacks allegedly hid among Syrian refugees, prompting legitimate fears.
2. Jews were singled out for persecution by the Nazis, not (initially) fleeing an ongoing war. If anyone has a unique moral claim that parallels the Jews of Europe, it is the Syrian Christians, Iraqi Yazidis, and other minorities being persecuted by radical Islamist forces in the Middle East. But that is not true of the broader wave of Syrian refugees. That is not to blame them for the war, but it does suggest there is a good moral case for distinguishing among refugees, rather than admitting all who wish to come.
3. Jews had nowhere to go; Syrian refugees should have many places to go. When Nazi Germany began persecuting Jews, the Jewish population had few–and dwindling–alternatives. The State of Israel did not exist, and Britain, to appease Arab leaders, tried to keep Jewish refugees out of Palestine. Syrian refugees, however, theoretically have many options. There are 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, for example; some, unconscionably, are refusing so far to admit any refugees....
Fiamma Nirenstein
Il Giornale, November 15, 2015
Beating terrorism is a sentiment, a deep-set decision, is faith in your battle and in your right to life. It is also the determination to fight the battle without violating, indeed by defending, one’s values. It is waking up in the morning knowing that one must also live together with the horrible beast still honouring one’s daily life.
Once, during the Second Intifada, while I was working out in the YWCA gym with the usual group of women, the news arrived that a bus had blown up at the corner. In gym suit and sneakers, we all ran out to the corner of the street where the explosion had occurred. Insidewe could glimpse the body of a person still seated, the head bent down. They didn’t let us cross the police line. After a while we returned in a group to the gym and went back to our lesson with as heavy a heart as you can imagine.
"Well done" the trainer said at the endof the lesson, "you made it". It's normal in Israel if during a wave of terror you decide to sit at the café with your friends as soon as it is rebuilt after an attack with dozens of victims, or if you go to see a movie anyway and you sit in the seats closest to the exit just in case the need arises to evacuate the cinema in a hurry, if you take your children to school by car in case you can avoid using the bus … the life of the Israeli is all resistance, an exaltation of normal life, of managing to uphold the rights of whoever will visit Jerusalem to do it in peace, no matter what religion or nationality he belongs to. To fight terrorism is foremost a moral rather than a practical obligation, because terrorism is defeated when one manages to live without fear in a town that has be tormented hundreds of times; to remain in the kibbutz continuously attacked by Hamas on the Gaza border, leaving them only for the holidays with your stressed children because they need it and you love them, but then taking up one’s position again; or to shop at the supermarket during this Intifada of knives and decide, after a day at home, to take the children to school or to dance or swimming lessons....
Dennis Ross
usnews.com, December 01, 2015
It seems that in the Middle East everywhere one looks there is conflict and turmoil. The Arab state system itself is under assault. Islamic State group challenges every Arab regime and rejects all Shia. For its part, Iran and its Shia proxies threaten the authority of Sunni-dominated Arab countries. Understanding the nature of the threats and what is, in truth, a struggle over who will define and shape the identity of the region is the first requirement for fashioning a successful strategy.Interestingly, given the circumstances in the area, Israel will stand in stark contrast to the rest of the Middle East, and continue to be a natural partner for the United States. It is not just that Israel is the only democrac y in the region. It is that Israel is the only country whose institutions and rule of law – with elections where the loser accepts the outcome – permits it to cope with its problems. Those problems, ranging from the conflict with the Palestinians to its Arab minority and secular-religious divide, are real. But because it is a genuine democracy, Israel has the wherewithal to adjust – even if the adjustment often proves difficult to make.
It is harder to say that about other countries in the region. The American track-record in understanding the region – and the countries in it – is not great. In looking at the U.S.-Israeli relationship under presidents Harry Truman through Barack Obama in my new book, "Doomed to Succeed," it became apparent that in every administration three interrelated assumptions were embedded in the national security apparatus. First, if we distanced from Israel we would gain with the Arabs. Second, if we cooperated with I srael, we would lose with the Arabs. And third, if we wanted to transform our position in the region – and transform the region itself, we needed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All three of these assumptions were fundamentally flawed....
Tara Copp
Stars and Stripes, December 01, 2015
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. listens to opening statements during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Dec. 1, 2015. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON – The United States will adjust its tactics and risk more civilian casualties when launching airstrikes against high-value targets in Syria and Iraq as part of an effort to increase pressure on Islamic State militants.
The tactical adjustments reflect an intensified effort to cut off Islamic State militants from their ability to fund attacks or move fighters across the battlefield, Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers on Tuesday.
“Our threshold for collateral damage increases with the value of the ta rget,” he said....
Lucas Tomlinson
FoxNews.com, December 01, 2015
Russia has expanded its military operations in Syria to include a second airbase as well as other posts, according to a U.S. official briefed on the latest intelligence from the region – even as President Obama expresses muted optimism that Russian President Vladimir Putin eventually will “shift” his strategy and work with the West.
Moscow’s presence has grown to a total of four forward operating bases, including recently added bases in Hama and Tiyas. But the most concerning to the Pentagon is the second airbase in Shayrat which can support fixed-wing aircraft, greatly expanding Russia’s capability for airstrikes, which began on Sept. 30.
“The Russians are operating helicopters out of Shayrat airport, but they are making [preparations] to land fixed-wing aircraft,” another U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.
Shayrat is located 25 miles outside of the Syrian city of Homs, an hour drive from neighboring Lebanon.
Since September, Russia has based its warplanes and helicopters at Basel al-Assad airbase in Latakia, one of the last remaining Assad strongholds along the Mediterranean coast. While the Pentagon cannot confirm any Russian military jets have landed at Shayrat, there are reports Russia has landed aircraft in the past few hours.
Russia’s two other forward operating bases are used to land its attack helicopters employed to defend the Assad regime against Syrian rebels....
Jonathan S. Tobin
commentarymagazine.com, December 02, 2015
(AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)With the leak of an International Atomic Energy Agency report about Iran’s work on military research to the Associated Press, the last obstacle to implementation of the nuclear deal struck by the West with Tehran has been removed. The good news for the deal’s advocates is that the IAEA says there is no proof that Iran worked on creating a nuclear explosive device after 2009, although it admits its work is inconclusive. There are reasons to doubt that Iran stopped working on nukes at sites that we don’t know about. But even if we accept the notion that they did stop at face value the UN agency’s work gives us plenty of reasons to worry. After a decade of denying that it had ever worked on a nuclear weapon, the IAEA’s conclusions about the pre-2009 period are def initive. There is no longer the slightest doubt that Iran was working to create a nuclear weapon before 2009. In other words, the Iranian government lied. And it continued to lie throughout the negotiations with Obama administration and Western allies. The question the president and others who actually think the nuclear deal is a reasonable solution to the problem of the nuclear threat must answer is if Iran lied for so long, what makes them think the Islamist regime is willing or even capable of telling the truth and abiding by the terms of the pact they’ve signed with it?
There are two big problems with the IAEA report.
One is that we know that the IAEA’s access to the one Iranian site where work on “possible military dimensions” — PMD — of their nuclear program was limited due to the terms of a side deal struck with Iran. As we learned over the summer while the debate over the deal was going on, the IAEA agreed to serious restrictions on its access to the Parchin military site. Even more troubling, when the IAEA did their best under the circumstances to find out what had happened at Parchin, they discovered that new construction had taken place at a place that apologists for the agreement claimed had long been moribund. Just as bad was the fact that during the course of their investigation, the IAEA discovered that some important equipment known to have been at the site was now missing. That makes it more than obvious that Iran was making efforts to sanitize the site and make it difficult if not impossible for the UN to test the site for activity. Yet it doesn’t appear that the new report will solve either of these mysteries. It seems that the nuclear watchdogs have simply thrown up their hands....
Robert Hand
Dec 4, 2015, 9:50:56 PM12/4/15
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Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2015 20:41:57 -0600
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2015 13:38:55 -0600
Editor's Note: Friday December 04, 2015
Bibi Just Went Off On France And It Was EPIC CLICK HERE for video
AP Source: Woman in shooting pledged allegiance to IS CLICK HERE for video and article
See articles #1 and #2 for more details
Please consider a financial gift to UCI as part of your holiday giving. Your donation will help us to continue to fight the battle for truth on behalf of Israel through our Newsletters, Action Alerts and Press Releases. Please help us to continue our education and activism efforts with a donation today. CLICK HERE and scroll down to make a secure Paypal donation or send a check made payable to UCI to 3965 W. 83rd St., 292, Sha wnee Mission, KS 66208. Thanks for your financial support!
Bibi Just Went Off On France And It Was EPIC CLICK HERE for video
AP Source: Woman in shooting pledged allegiance to IS CLICK HERE for video and article
See articles #1 and #2 for more details
Please consider a financial gift to UCI as part of your holiday giving. Your donation will help us to continue to fight the battle for truth on behalf of Israel through our Newsletters, Action Alerts and Press Releases. Please help us to continue our education and activism efforts with a donation today. CLICK HERE and scroll down to make a secure Paypal donation or send a check made payable to UCI to 3965 W. 83rd St., 292, Sha wnee Mission, KS 66208. Thanks for your financial support!
Contents: (summaries below)
- SB shooter in touch with people being investigated for jihad terror, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- San Bernardino Murders Expose Failure to Address Radical Islam, IPT News, Pete Hoekstra
- Israel extremely nervous over Russian operations on its Golan border, thejerusalemconnection.us, DebkaFILE
- Expert: Iran has made "no serious military effort" against ISIS, theisraelproject.org,
- Two Basic Truths to Stop the New Intifada, jewishleadership.blogspot.co.il, Moshe Feiglin
- ISIS in Libya Train to Fly Planes, english.aawsat.com, Abdul Sattar Hatita
- Russia Starts Delivering S-300 Air Defense Systems to Iran, en.farsnews.com,
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 03, 2015
“Syed Rizwan Farook — who along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino shooting massacre — was apparently radicalized and in touch with people being investigated by the FBI for international terrorism.” Was he in touch with people being investigated by the FBI for workplace violence?
“Officials: San Bernardino shooter apparently radicalized, in touch with terror subjects,” by Greg Botelho, CNN, December 3, 2015:
(CNN)Syed Rizwan Farook — who along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino shooting massacre — was apparently radicalized and in touch with people being investigated by the FBI for international terrorism, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
Farook’s apparent radicalization contributed to his role in the mass shooting of 14 people Wednesday during a holiday party for the San Bernardino County health department, where Farook worked, sources said....
Pete Hoekstra
IPT News, December 04, 2015
Law enforcement and intelligence officials continue to gather evidence on the motivation Wednesday's mass murder in San Bernardino, Calif., but nearly all indications thus far suggest Islamist radicalization was a significant factor.
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at an office party for county workers, Farook's colleagues, and later were killed in a shootout with law enforcement officers. Preliminary investigative work already has found that Farook was radicalized and communicated with extremists.
It should not surprise anyone as Steve Emerson and the Investigative Project on Terrorism have been sounding the alarm on the manifestations of radical Islam in the West for two decades.
There are consequences to discounting weak immigration controls, < /span>caliphates in the Middle East and Libya and Muslim Brotherhood front organizations such as the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) which have access to loud microphones which are used routinely try to divide law enforcement and American Muslims.
They all create abundant space and time for Islamist terrorism to emerge in the West. Missing documents in failed states facilitate the nearly unrestricted movement of jihadists under the guise of refugees across borders. Wholly owned murderous jihadist states provide the freedom to prepare and instigate attacks, as well as write and disseminate ideology through sophisticated propaganda measures....
DebkaFILE
thejerusalemconnection.us, December 03, 2015
On the outside, Israel is all smiles and full of praise for the way the coordination with Moscow is working for averting clashes between its air force and Russian warplanes over Syria. This goodwill was conspicuous in the compliments Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin traded when they met on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit Monday, Nov. 30.But the first disquieting sign appeared Tuesday, Dec. 1. Senior Russian and Israeli officers were due to meet in Tel Aviv to discuss strengthening the cooperation between the two army commands. But no word from Moscow or Jerusalem indicated whether the meeting had taken place.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that this week, the show of optimism is giving way to an uneasy sensation in the offices of the prime minister, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and the IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott. They suspect an ulterior motive behind Russia’s military movements in southern Syria, especially its air strikes against Syrian rebels, just across from Israel’s Golan border.
In particular, Moscow may be giving Hizballah and Iran an umbrella for achieving their longstanding design to displace the Syrian rebels with Revolutionary Guards and Hizballah forces and deploy them along Israel’s Golan border....
theisraelproject.org, December 04, 2015
At a hearing on Capitol Hill about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) role in fueling terrorism and instability, Iran expert and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Ali Alfoneh claimed that the Iranian regime has made “no serious military effort against the Islamic State” in Syria, as evidence builds that Iran and the Assad regime have actually strengthened the terrorist group. Alfoneh emphasized that the US and Iran drastically differ in their goals in the Middle East. While the US aims to defeat ISIS and facilitate a political transition in Syria, Alfoneh notes that for the IRGC, which seeks to preserve Assad’s rule, “it is fine that there is an enemy called the Islamic State that is not really threatening the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran” because it allows Iran to present the Bashar al-Assad regime as a better alternative to and even a bulwark against ISIS. Meanwhile, Iran and the Assad regime have been targeting the moderate opposition to Assad which the West and its Arab allies hope will replace him....
Moshe Feiglin
jewishleadership.blogspot.co.il, December 02, 2015
...What is important is to understand that no solution will succeed when it is built on the false premise that we set here 20 years ago with the Oslo Accords.
We will afford the human rights so easily negated from our brothers in Gush Katif (for the sake of the ‘peace’) to anybody who recognizes Israeli sovereignty. But no solution for the Stabbing Intifada will succeed as long as we do not reaffirm the two basic truths that we uprooted in Oslo:
One, that the Land of Israel is the Land of the Jewish Nation – exclusively.
Second, that the State of Israel is the state of the Jewish Nation – exclusively.
It is not a state of all its citizens. It is not the Two State Solution.
It is one state for one nation in this Land.
As long as we do not internalize this…
We will have to keep adapting.Abdul Sattar Hatita
english.aawsat.com, December 02, 2015
Members of ISIS in Libya burn musical instruments
ISIS terrorists in the city of Sirte, northern Libya, are training to fly planes using at least one flight simulator according to military sources in the North African state. The sources added that there is a prevailing belief amongst investigators that the device was seized from the training departments of Gaddafi’s looted airports. Other sources stated that “It’s a modern simulator, which may have arrived from abroad”, noting that it was roughly the size of a small car. The simulator is complete with a steering wheel to practice take-off and landing, a radar screen, and a communications device to contact the control tower....
en.farsnews.com, December 03, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Moscow started the first phase of S-300 Air Defense deliveries to Iran on Thursday, Russian media outlets reported.
Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported minutes ago that Moscow has started delivering the systems to Iran in practice.
Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanayee had informed FNA in mid November that Moscow had adopted practical measures to start deliveries of the sophisticated air defense shield to Iran.
On November 9, Russia signed a new contract with Iran on the delivery of "about 300" S-300 air defenсe systems, according to Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec....
Robert Hand
Dec 9, 2015, 1:33:53 AM12/9/15
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 00:32:23 -0600
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 12:44:26 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday December 08, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| ISIS army of scientists set to wage chemical and biological war on West: Experts warn weapons of mass destruction 'have been carried undetected' into European Union CLICK HERE for article, photos and video Robert Spencer on Hannity: the San Bernardino jihad attack and jihad denial Y ouTube video - 06:16 (Dec 4, 2015) The Glazov Gang-Jamie Glazov Discusses His Battle on Hannity Against the Unholy Alliance YouTube video - 38:34 (July 4, 2014) Hamas-linked CAIR official giving active shooter training in Florida mosques CLICK HERE for article and video |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- One-pager: A global strategy for combating al Qaeda and the Islamic State, aei.org,
- San Bernardino Terrorist's Father: My Son Was 'Obsessed' With Israel, breitbart.com, Aaron Klein
- San Bernardino: Aftermath of a Failed Political Strategy, clarionproject.org, Meira Svirsky
- Egypt finds Gaza's first iron attack tunnel, israelnationalnews.com, Ari Yashar
- Responding to Kerry Remark, Netanyahu Says 'Israel Will Not be a Bi-National State', unitedwithisrael.org, Max Gelber
- Russia brings over heavy T-90 tanks to boost three Syrian warfronts, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
- Watchdog: Atomic Agency Report Verifies Existence of Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program, algemeiner.com, Ruthie Blum
aei.org, December 07, 2015
...Success demands a new strategy: a coordinated series of regional counterinsurgency campaigns. Airstrikes and attrition alone will never defeat al Qaeda and ISIS. We need a population-centric and phased approach that combines diplomatic, political, security, and informational tools at a national and subnational level. These campaigns must be nested in a global framework and tailored for each specific fight according to a variety of factors, including the nature and strength of the enemy, the attitudes of the local population, and the capacity of the host government in the particular area of concern.
The United States’ first option cannot be large-scale invasions in places where al Qaeda and its affiliates operate. That approach would allow the enemy to impose high costs on the US and its allies in return for only partial successes in individual theaters. The best military course of action to pursue against the extremists is a counterinsurgency. This strategy depends heavily on supporting efforts from our partners and allies, which will in most cases make the deployment of large numbers of American military forces into combat both unnecessary and inadvisable.
The US will need to develop strong local partnerships with governments across the Muslim-majority world to put the region on the path toward stability. The US must train and equip its partners and allies for counterinsurgency, not just counterterrorism, and fight alongside them to establish strong, stable, legitimate forms of governance that can prevent al Qaeda and ISIS from reemerging after they are defeated. As the United States undertakes this strategy, our leaders also need to clearly recognize the positions of key players in the Muslim-majority world. Russia, for instance, is deploying forces pursuant to its interests, which include driving the US from the Middle East and reversing the outcome of the Cold War.
The center of gravity for both al Qaeda and ISIS is ideology. The extremists’ ideology feeds on success and withers on failure. If the US and its partners can deny and reverse ISIS’s and al Qaeda’s battlefield victories in places such as Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, the US will not only decisively undermine the enemies’ arguments and appeal but also set the conditions for advancing legitimate, responsive, and capable governments throughout the region....
Aaron Klein
breitbart.com, December 06, 2015
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesTEL AVIV – A window into the extremist mindset of San Bernardino jihadist Syed Rizwan Farook was provided by his father Syed Farook, who described his son as supporting the Islamic State’s ideology and being “obsessed with Israel.”
Syed Farook provided an interview to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, where he said:
My son said that he shared [IS leader Abu Bakr] Al Baghdadi’s ideology and supported the creation of the Islamic State. He was also obsessed with Israel.
I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore. Geopolitics is changing: Russia, China and America don’t want Jews there any more. They are going to bring the Jews back to Ukraine. What is the point of fight ing? We have already done it and we lost. Israel is not to be fought with weapons, but with politics. But he did not listen to me, he was obsessed.”
Asked if he knew whether Syed Rizwan Farook had contacts with terrorist organizations, the father replied, “I do not know. But these days, who knows, with the internet and all that technology. ”...
Meira Svirsky
clarionproject.org, December 06, 2015
...Bloomberg journalist Eli Lake, who wrote, "The long war against radical Islamic terrorists requires at least the tacit support of many radical Muslims. Sadly, large pluralities of Muslims in countries allied with the U.S. in the war on terror disavow the tactics of terrorism but endorse the aims of radical Islam."
Meaning, if we called out Islamist extremism for what it is, our radical Islamist “friends” (i.e., allied countries) would stop cooperating with us which would lead to "a world in which the U.S. stopped waging a global war on terror."
The major countries Lake is most likely referring to are Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey – all Islamist entities that have aided and abetted these self-same radical Islamists. At a glance, let us consider
- Saudi Arabia’s determined spread of extremist Wahhabist Islamist ideology to the farthest corners of the world (spending an estimated $100 billion over the past 30 years to build mosques and supply them with radical preachers, and to endow universities with Middle Eastern study programs) as well as their involvement in 9/11;
- Pakistan’s harboring of the Afghani Taliban before the American invasion as well as Osama Bin Laden and its prosecution of the Pakistani doctor who helped America to find him; and
- Turkey, which likely serves as the Islamic State’s de facto tactical base.
However, it is a strategy based on the illusion we are working for the same side. We are clearly not....
Ari Yashar
israelnationalnews.com, November 27, 2015
Gaza tunnel flooded by Egypt (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90)
Egyptian security sources revealed on Friday that they found an iron underground attack tunnel leading from Gaza into Sinai, marking the first time that such a tunnel has been unearthed.
The find came as part of Egypt's long-standing operation that began in October 2014 to create a massive buffer zone in southern Gaza. The operation has involved occupying a large swath of land at least one kilometer deep (over half a mile) along the 14-kilometer (9-mile) border, evicting thousands of Gazans, destroying their homes and mosques, and recently even creating a border moat.
Now as part of its work destroying hundreds of smuggling tunnels, the Egyptian army came across the first iron one, which lay at a depth of ten meters (33 fee t) according to Egyptian sources quoted by the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency....
Max Gelber
unitedwithisrael.org, December 06, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s policies, which are dictated by reality, and refuted misguided statements made by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom.Prime Minister Benjamin rebuffed an attack by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Israeli policies regarding the peace process, saying that while Israel sought peace, it had no partner.
“I would like to make it clear – Israel will not be a bi-national state,” said Netanyahu during the weekly Cabinet meeting, responding to a warning by Kerry that Israel was on its way to losing its Jewish and democratic identity because of the stalwart peace process....
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
DEBKAfile, December 06, 2015
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Russia started transferring dozens of advanced T-90 tanks to Syria, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report. They were moved immediately to two Syrian army fronts fighting rebel forces at the two most important cities, Aleppo and Damascus, and are expected to be sent to beef up the combined Syria, Iranian, Hizballah army poised to recover Palmyra from the Islamic State.The shipment to the capital was delivered into the hands of the 4th armored division, Syria’s republican guard commanded by Gen. Ali Maher Assad, the younger brother of President Bashar Assad.
The attack on Palmyra in a country infested by ISIS forces was scheduled to have begun two weeks ago but was delayed for the arrival of the heavy Russian tanks, among other reasons....
Ruthie Blum
algemeiner.com, December 06, 2015
The existence of Iran’s nuclear weapons program was verified last week, according to a statement issued Friday by the New York-based watchdog United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI).The statement, signed by UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace and Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, was a response to the Dec. 2 release of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on the possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program.
“The IAEA report is disturbing as it reveals that Iran continues to act as a nuclear weapons outlaw,” the statement began. “It exposes that, at minimum, Iran continued nuclear weapons development through 2009. Notably, the IAEA could not describe the extent of Iran’s nuclear weapons program after 2009 because Iran failed to answer basic questions and provide requested information.”
It goes on: “Iran’s intractable refusal to offer transparency regarding its illegal nuclear weapons program is the latest wakeup call regarding the dangerous nature of the Iranian regime. Iran’s defiance regarding its nuclear weapons program is yet another grave risk factor for countries, businesses and persons who would seek to renew business ties to Iran. No responsible country, business or person should risk renewed business with Iran.”...
Robert Hand
Dec 11, 2015, 1:14:40 AM12/11/15
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Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 23:59:09 -0600
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:42:58 -0600
Editor's Note: Thursday December 10, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Robert Spencer on Hannity on ISIS' plan to bring about collapse of US YouTube video - 05:22 (Dec 7, 2015) Daniel Greenfield Moment: Migration is the Greatest Threat to National Security YouTube video - 10:27 (Dec 7, 2015) ISIS attack in Israel is just a matter of time |
| Looks are deceiving - Sugar and spice and not so nice. Video on Palestinian Facebook page - Little girl encourages stabbing Jews YouTube video - 01:04 (Dec 9, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Neighbor of SB jihadis attended same mosque, got them military-grade rifles, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- The President Still Doesn't Have a Plan, speaker.gov, Speaker Ryan Press Office
- Contained? New Report Says There's 'Unprecedented' ISIS Mobilization In The U.S., townhall.com, Matt Vespa
- Six steps to defeat ISIS, fathomjournal.org, Giora Eiland
- Proposed law would have social media companies report 'terrorist activity' to law enforcement, Associated Press, Tami Abdollah
- 1 Christian: 236 of 237 Syrian Refugees Admitted Since Paris Attacks Are Muslims, cnsnews.com, Patrick Goodenough
- Muslim Reform Movement, gatestoneinstitute.org, M. Zuhdi Jasser and Raheel Raza
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 08, 2015
Yet another convert to Islam somehow gets the idea that his new religion requires treason and mass murder. Authorities remain incurious about this phenomenon.
SanBernardino-AP
“Both San Bernardino attackers pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, officials say,” by Missy Ryan, Adam Goldman, Abby Phillip and Julie Tate, Washington Post, December 8, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
…The FBI remains keenly interested in a former neighbor who provided the military-grade rifles used by Syed Rizwan Farook, the 28-year-old county health inspector, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, during the massacre that killed 14 people and injured 21 others.
The neighbor, Enrique Marquez, legally purchased the rifles — semiautomatic AR-15s manufactured by DPMS and Smith & Wes son — in California, officials say. The FBI is still investigating whether Marquez sold these rifles to Farook, his former neighbor, according to the officials.
Reports on Monday suggested that Marquez and Farook might have other connections in addition to being neighbors. An official with the Islamic Center of Corona-Norco, in Corona, Calif., the mosque Syed Farook’s brother Raheel regularly attended, said he believed that Marquez had periodically attended the center. Yousuf Bhaghani, a senior official at the center, said in an interview Tuesday that he had not interacted with Marquez but that other members he had spoken with said they recalled him occasionally praying at the mosque four or five years ago. Those who interacted with Marquez described him as a “decent person,” Bhaghani said. “They didn’t see anything which caused alarm.”...
Speaker Ryan Press Office
speaker.gov, December 07, 2015
...Obama’s not-so-peppy pep talk
“President Barack Obama wanted to show he was so serious about the threat posed by ISIL that he gave a speech from the Oval Office about it—standing up. But afterwards, America knows just about as much what he's doing and what's going on as it did before he scrambled Sunday's prime time schedule with the ultimate presidential prop. From the spot where George W. Bush spoke the night of Sept. 11, Richard Nixon resigned and John F. Kennedy talked civil rights and the Cuban Missile Crisis (all seated, behind where he stood), Obama looked firmly into the camera and gave America a not-so-peppy pep talk.” (Politico)
Obama tries to ease anxiety over terror attacks with Oval Office address
“Obama’s address amounted to a reassertion of his counterterrorism strategy with the public, more than a year since the Islamic State seized control of large swaths o f territory in Iraq and Syria. The president, who in 2014 referred to the organization as a junior-varsity squad, has been accused of underestimating the group; the attacks in France and the United States have ramped up pressure on the administration to clarify its strategy.” (Chicago Tribune)
Obama seeks to calm Americans on terror threat, but speech underscores challenges
“He described [ISIS] as ‘thugs and killers, part of a cult of death.' He urged Muslims 'to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology.’ But he didn't assign new resources to address that challenge. He instead offered a defense of his current strategy, suggested modest adjustments to existing programs and called on Congress to pass laws it is unlikely to approve.” (LA Times)...
Matt Vespa
townhall.com, December 01, 2015
...Leah wrote yesterday about ISIS planning on having Sirte, Libya as their fallback capital, given that al-Raqqa, Syria, their current base of operations, is being pummeled by Russia and France. Libya was destabilized when the Obama administration decided to assist rebel forces in their effort to oust Muammar Gaddafi, which was ultimately successful in 2011; another testament to the success* of smart power.
ISIS being “contained?” We probably better add that to the long list in which the president has been wrong, beginning when he mocked Gov. Mitt Romney that Russia isn’t our biggest geopolitical foe during the 2012 election. Romney was right–Russia has been allowed to invade Ukraine, annex Crimea, and intervene in the Middle East, where the U.S. has made it a priority to keep them out of this region for the pa st 50 years. As former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton noted in October, our decision to even entertain de-confliction talks regarding our air forces in Syria legitimizes their presence there....l
Giora Eiland
fathomjournal.org, September 01, 2015
From a purely military point of view, ISIS is very weak. They do not have an air-force, long-range missiles, or sophisticated weapons. However, in spite of this, ISIS is a very dangerous organisation. Their totalitarian ideology speaks to the hearts and the minds of so many Muslims, not just in Iraq and Syria, but in many other countries, especially in the West. And while they have used only conventional weapons so far, if they were to acquire unconventional weapons, especially chemical or biological weapons, they would be happy to use them. ISIS will also try to use cyber-terrorism to collapse technological infrastructure. We should not underestimate ISIS.
The West seems unwilling to take six necessary steps needed to defeat ISIS: cooperating with Russia, persuading Turkey to play a constructive role, supporting the Kurdish forces on the ground, ensuring a flow of actionable intelligence that can be translated into timely and effective strikes to destroy ISIS, passi ng a UN resolution making it clear that any state, company or individual that trades with ISIS will face very painful sanctions, and waging a real battle of ideas....
Tami Abdollah
Associated Press, December 08, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to the San Bernadino shootings, lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday to require social media companies to report any online terrorist activity they become aware of to law enforcement.
The bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., matches language that was dropped from the Senate's annual intelligence authorization bill earlier this year.
Companies would be required to report to law enforcement if they became aware of terrorist activity such as attack planning, recruiting or distribution of terrorist material....
Patrick Goodenough
cnsnews.com, December 07, 2015
Syrian refugees at the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan in April 2015. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File)
(CNSNews.com) – Since the Paris terror attacks on November 13, the State Department has admitted 237 Syrian refugees into the United States – 236 Sunni Muslims and one Christian (0.4 percent), according to data from the State Department Refugee Processing Center.
The Christian, a Greek Orthodox individual, is the sole non-Sunni Muslim admitted to the U.S. since the attack, which fueled concerns that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) may move terrorists into Western nations under the cover of refugee resettlement programs.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Christians accounted for an estimated 10 percent of the Syrian population and Sunni Muslim s for an estimated 74 percent when the conflict began in early 2011....
M. Zuhdi Jasser and Raheel Raza
gatestoneinstitute.org, December 06, 2015
- We reject interpretations of Islam that call for any violence, social injustice and politicized Islam. We invite our fellow Muslims and neighbors to join us.
- We reject bigotry, oppression and violence against all people based on any prejudice, including ethnicity, gender, language, belief, religion, sexual orientation and gender expression.
- We are for secular governance, democracy and liberty.
- Every individual has the right to publicly express criticism of Islam. Ideas do not have rights. Human beings have rights.
- We stand for peace, human rights and secular governance. Please stand with us!...
Robert Hand
Dec 11, 2015, 11:26:03 PM12/11/15
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Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 22:11:02 -0600
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 12:40:08 -0600
Editor's Note: Friday December 11, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Ryan Mauro on Fox & Friends: Radical Islamic Mosques in America YouTube video - 04:13 (Nov 26, 2015) Speaker Paul Ryan Freedom of Religion Is a Fundamental Constitutional Principle YouTube video - 03:11 (Dec 8, 2015) We hope you find our newsletter helpful in keeping you informed of Israel and Middle East news. If you can, please make a contribution to support our efforts. CLICK HERE to make a paypal donation or send a check payable to UCI to 3965 W. 83rd St., 292, Shawnee Mission, KS 66208. Thank you so much for your financial gift! |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The US needs an anti-IS playbook, jpost.com, Harold Rhode, Joseph Raskas
- What the US can learn from Israel on facing domestic terror, nypost.com, Danny Danon
- The E.U.'s Targeting of Israel Awakens a Tragic Anti-Semitic Past, newsweek.com, Michael Oren
- 'Hamas planned massive attack on Sderot during Protective Edge', israelhayom.com, Israel Hayom Staff
- Expelled Shalit deal prisoners forming independent militant cells in West Bank, ynetnews.com , Elior Levy
- Hamas adopts revolving-door policy on IS members in Gaza jails, timesofisrael.com, Avi Issacharoff
Harold Rhode, Joseph Raskas
jpost.com, December 09, 2015
Smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike. (photo credit:REUTERS)
It would appear the Islamic State (IS) has set its sights on the United States. But still, the Obama administration remains shrouded in denial about the roots of radical Islamism.
Unfortunately, the contemporary intellectual climate has blinded policymakers to the reality that the marauding Sunni militia is but the latest chapter in a longer saga of cataclysmic violence – uniquely Islamic.
Those seeking to understand IS’s beastliness need to look no further than the Koran – which provides emphasis, symbolism and the process of law to IS’s proceedings. Yet it is precisely this kind of religious paradigm that policymakers, by no means lacking in enthusiasm, have roundly refused to consider.
From an Islamist perspective, waging war to end the sovereignty and supremacy of the unbelievers is ultimately necessary and just. Far from abjuring violence, the Koran mandates religious wrath, jihad, as noble sentiment. Drawing swords is not religious fanaticism; it is, rather, a mode of faith believed to hasten the demise of infidels....
Danny Danon
nypost.com, December 10, 2015
Paris terror attack mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud (Photo: ZUMA Wire)Like all democracies, we stand with our friends in America and France during these tragic times. Israel owes a special debt of gratitude to these great countries, which were our earliest supporters from the moment that we declared our independence in 1948.
After the tragic attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, we are fully committed to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies in this common battle against Islamic terrorism. Israel’s security and intelligence forces are already working closely with their US and French counterparts in a variety of ways, and we fully support President Obama and President François Hollande in the military action against ISIS targets.
But this isn’t enough. It’s time for liberal democracies to learn from Israel’s proven track record and implement anti-terror policies that succeed in keeping innocent civilians safe.
First, intelligence capabilities must be improved. Attacks like these cannot be allowed to take place in major Western cities. No country should be waiting for an attack, but rather ensuring that eyes and ears on the ground enable security services to apprehend potential terrorists before they attack.
Good intelligence allows the authorities not to focus only on the terrorists who perpetrate the attack. By diligently mapping out the many tentacles of these organizations’ security, police and legal authorities can provide long-lasting blows to the terrorists.
This means cutting off funding to terrorists, apprehending the heads of the organizations instead of lowly foot soldiers and stopping hateful incitement breeding another generation of terror ists....
Michael Oren
newsweek.com, December 04, 2015
A Palestinian works alongside an Israeli at a textile factory in the Industrial Park of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Barkan, southwest of Nablus, November 8. (Reuters/Baz Ratner)
European shoppers will not see Tibetan products labeled “Made in Chinese-Occupied Tibet” or certain Cypriot goods marked “Made in Turkish-Occupied Cyprus.” Nor will they see tags on items imported from the more than 200 disputed territories worldwide. From this month on, only one country will be branded on European grocery shelves: Israel.
The decision of the European Union (E.U.) to mark all Israeli products from Judea and Samaria—the West Bank—and the Golan Heights represents a return to the darkest chapters in the continent’s history. The move hurts most the very people it is intended to help. And it will cost the E.U. the key diplomatic role long sought by its leaders.
By singling out the Jewish State, the E.U. evokes its 2,000-year history of anti-Semitism, which was often characterized by the labeling of Jewish goods. For Israelis, at least, European labels immediately recall the word Jude painted on Jewish stores by the Nazis. But Israelis also know that the marking of Israeli products from the West Bank means they will be boycotted—what market will even stock them?—and opens the door to the embargo of anything made-in-Israel....
Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, December 08, 2015
IDF's Southern Brigade commander Col. Dado Bar-Kalifa reveals deadly clash between Israeli troops and terrorists near Kibbutz Nir Am in southern Israel prevented the intercepted cell from unleashing some 60 terrorists in southern Israeli community.
A Hamas terror tunnel discovered near the Israel-Gaza Strip border [Archive]
(Photo credit: Reuters)
The Israel Defense Forces was able to thwart a major Hamas terrorist attack in the southern town of Sderot last summer, Southern Brigade commander Col. Dado Bar-Kalifa revealed Monday.
Speaking of Operation Protective Edge with bereaved families at a Hanukkah candlelighting ceremony, Bar-Kalifa said the military had indication that a clash between IDF soldiers and Hamas terrorists emerging out of a tunnel dug near Kibbutz Nir Am had effectively prevented a terrorist attack in Sderot....
Elior Levy
ynetnews.com , December 10, 2015
Palestinian security prisoners that were released as part of the Shalit deal and expelled to Gaza, Qatar and Turkey, have reportedly been working to form their own militant cells in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in order to launch attacks against Israel, Hamas sources told Ynet on Thursday.
To that end, the expelled prisoners, members of Hamas' military wing, are using the connections they made in the villages and cities of the West Bank and East Jerusalem before they were arrested.
They each operate separately, working with a contact in the territories, each in a different area. The expelled prisoners provide their contacts in the territories with funding and guidance, while the contacts form the cells. The fact the communication between the expelled prisoners and their contact in the West Bank is done directly, makes these military cells decentralized and compartmentalized....
Avi Issacharoff
timesofisrael.com, December 08, 2015
In a never-ending cycle, Hamas is catching and releasing Islamic State operatives in the Gaza Strip who fire rockets at Israel, Palestinian sources say.Just two weeks after being let out of prison, some IS terrorists were already back to their old habits, shooting Kassams at Israel’s southern communities. Mahmoud Talb, Muhammad Baras and Ahmad Musallam, all known supporters of the Islamic State and global jihad movement in the Gaza Strip, were among those released by Hamas only to later take part in attacks.
Talb has been arrested by Hamas, the ruling party in the Gaza Strip, more than ten times for his actions, according to Palestinian sources.
This only continues Hamas’s unspoken and contradictory policy towards the Islamic State and the global jihadi movement. On one h and, Hamas works against these operatives and prevents their actions, while on the other hand, they often work side-by-side and even assist one another....
Robert Hand
Dec 14, 2015, 10:24:07 PM12/14/15
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Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 21:13:48 -0600
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 15:00:23 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday December 14, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| BREAKING: Russia's Huge Announcement That Will Change The War YouTube video – 09:36 (Dec 2, 2015) "The Settlers" YouTube video - 02:58 (Dec 8, 2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvfZu9y-Elg From TVs to tablets, ‘Dojo’ keeps connected devices secure An Israeli start-up called Dojo Labs, which, with a stylish stone-like device, will monitor all data sent by anything connected to the Internet to determine whether they are sending out data in amounts or in ways that do not fit their profile. CLICK HERE for more information. |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Deobandi Butchery in San Bernardino: 1977 Roots of the Jihad Carnage, pjmedia.com, Andrew G. Bostom
- IDF strikes two Hamas military targets in response to Gaza rocket fire, jpost.com, Yaakov Lappin
- Surprise: Released Gitmo Detainee Now an Al Qaeda Leader in Yemen, townhall.com, Guy Benson
- No Change in US Visa Waiver Program without Prior Consultations with EU, en.farsnews.com,
- Khamenei's Counterrevolution Is Underway, foreignpolicy.com, Foreign Correspondent
- Western Officials: Iran Retreating From Syria Fight, bloombergview.com, Eli Lake
- Saudi Women are Victorious in the First Municipal Elections They Participate in, english.aawsat.com,
- One Christian Slaughtered Every Five Minutes, gatestoneinstitute.org, Raymond Ibrahim
Andrew G. Bostom
pjmedia.com, December 13, 2015
...Haney’s fastidious investigations raised serious concerns about the San Bernardino Deobandi movement-affiliated Darul-Uloom al-Islamia mosque—attended by jihad-waging killer Syed Farook. In addition, Farook’s jihadist accomplice wife, Tashfeen Malik, attended a traditionalist Islamic education center in Pakistan, also connected with the Deobandi movement. Notwithstanding his patriotic, yeoman efforts, DHS shut down Haney’s probe, and revoked both his security clearance and access to the databases he compiled. Retributive investigations against Haney by DHS and the Obama Justice Department, however, revealed no wrongdoing on his part. Tragically, as Haney explained, had his probe not been terminated for alleged “civil rights violations” of jihad-indoctrinated Muslim followers of the Deobandi movement:
Either Syed would have been put on the no-fly list because association with that mosque, and/or the K-1 visa that his wife was giv en may have been denied because of his association with a known organization.
The Deobandi-linked jihad carnage that transpired in San Bernardino has much deeper roots, not only on the Indian subcontinent, but dating from at least 1977, within North America, as well....
Yaakov Lappin
jpost.com, December 14, 2015
IDF retaliation hits two Hamas targets - one in northern strip and second in center.
IAF war drill.
(photo credit: IDF Spokesman's unit)
The Israel Air Force (IAF) struck two Hamas terrorist sites overnight between Sunday and Monday, hitting targets in central and northern Gaza, following a Gazan rocket attack on Southern Israel that occurred on Sunday night. There were no injuries reported in the rocket strike.
The IDF Spokesman Unit said the airstrikes were a response to the rocket attack a few hours earlier.
On Sunday night, a projectile fired from Gaza exploded in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev Council, triggering warning sirens in Sderot and in the surrounding areas. There were no injuries or damage in the attack....
Guy Benson
townhall.com, December 10, 2015
...He was released and promptly returned to jihad, as predicted by our analysts. Recidivism among ex-Gitmo detainees is an ongoing, bipartisan problem. It was revealed that one of the suspected Benghazi attack ringleaders was once held at the US military facility in Cuba. He was freed by the Bush administration. (To this day, only one Benghazi attacker has been taken into American custody; he's being tried as a civilian). Having been repeatedly thwarted by strong Congressional majorities -- from the Reid/Pelosi era, all the way up through last month -- the Obama administration is reportedly still mulling options to disregard both Congress' will and the law by closing Gitmo down anyway. The American people have adamantly and consistently opposed Obama's reckless, obsessive "I'm not Bush" legacy project:
In order to grease the skids for this potential last-minute, lame duck gambit, the Obama administration has transferred and released dozens of detainees across the world -- including several men US officials have deemed to be recidivism risks. This includes the so-called 'Taliban Five,' who were traded for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, an illegal episode in which the Obama administration negotiated with terrorists.
en.farsnews.com, December 14, 2015
"The Commission is currently examining the measures announced by the Obama Administration as well as proposals presented in the Congress to enhance the Visa Waiver Program," the source told FNA.Noting that the meetings are taking place at all appropriate levels in Brussels and Washington DC on the issue, the source said, "The Commission will continue these discussions with the US authorities in the days to come and will also contact the EU Member States."
"We are confident that the US, as a strategic partner, will decide in consultation with the EU on the way forward," the source underlined.
As it currently stands, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows citizens of 38 countries — namely European states, Australia, Japan and South Korea — to travel to the United State s without having to obtain a visa. However, the US House of Representatives passed a bill (H. R. 158) on Dec. 8 that aims to exclude from this program all dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and anyone else who has traveled to those countries in the past five years....
Foreign Correspondent
foreignpolicy.com, December 11, 2015
...Khamenei went further, suggesting foreign investment and cultural influences would be the first way the West would try to bring down Iran’s Islamic system. “The most important means are two things: One is money and another is sexual attraction,” he said, warning that Iran’s “decision-makers and decision-builders” would be targeted by foreigners who want to change the beliefs and lifestyle of Iran’s people.
The comments are a world away from the pragmatism Khamenei showed in agreeing to the nuclear deal just months ago. While the supreme leader seemingly wanted a deal to end sanctions so that Iran could rejoin the global economy, his actions since suggest he doesn’t want to upset loyal elites who have been enriched in the past decade.
Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi wasted little time in following the supreme leader’s cue. Two days after Khamenei’s remarks, he claimed the United States had allocated $2 billion to depose the regime in Tehran. He explicitly placed Secretary of State John Kerry, the man with whom Iranian diplomats negotiated the nuclear deal, at the center of the conspiracy. “Some $200 million out of this sum was given personally to John Kerry,” he said. “Kerry has so far headed 34 projects to depose the Islamic regime.”...
Eli Lake
bloombergview.com, December 10, 2015
Backing down?
(Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
Iran is beginning to withdraw its elite fighters from the Russian-led military campaign in Syria, according to U.S. and other Western military officials, suggesting a fissure in what President Barack Obama derided last month as a "coalition of two."
U.S. officials tell me they are seeing significant numbers of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps troops retreat from the Syrian combat zone in recent weeks, following the deaths and wounding of some of top officers in a campaign to retake Idlib Province and other areas lost this year to opposition forces supported by the West and Gulf Arab States. As a result, the Russian-initiated offensive that was launched in September seems to be losing an important ally....
english.aawsat.com, December 14, 2015
20 women win municipal council seats, and the minister of municipalities says that the councillors have strong opportunities to succeed
Saudi women leaving a polling station in Riyadh after casting their votes in the municipal council elections (EPA)The results of municipal elections held in Saudi Arabia on Saturday in which women voted and participated as candidates for the first time have been announced. 20 women won seats in the municipal councils alongside 2086 men. 4 women were elected in Riyadh, making it the city with the highest number of female seats won.
The Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and President of the General Committee for Municipal Elections Abdullatif bin Abdulmalik bin Omar Al-Ashaikh announced yesterday that 2106 individuals, of them 20 women, were elected to be membe rs of the municipal councils. He added that the voter turnout was 47.4% (702,542 voters)....
Raymond Ibrahim
gatestoneinstitute.org, December 14, 2015
Muslim Persecution of Christians: September, 2015
- "I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality." — Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III.
- The White House said it was preparing to accuse the Islamic State of genocide against religious minorities, recognizing various groups, such as the Yazidis, as victims. However, Christians are apparently not going to be included.
- An NGO report states that one Christian is slaughtered every five minutes in Iraq, and that, "Islamic State Militants in Iraq are using Christian churches as torture chambers where they force Christians to either convert to Islam or die."
- When Pope Francis stood before the world at the UN, his energy was, once again, spent on defending the environment. In his nearly 50-minute speech, only once did Francis make reference to persecuted Christians -- and their sufferings were merged in the same sentence with the supposedly equal sufferings of "members of the majority religion," that is, Sunni Muslims. Sunnis are not being slaughtered, beheaded, and raped for their faith; are not having their mosques bombed and burned; are not being jailed or killed for apostasy, blasphemy, or proselytization.
- "What is happening in Lebanon is an attempt to replace the people with [Muslim] Syrians and Palestinians." — Gebran Bassil, Foreign Minister of Lebanon....
Robert Hand
Dec 16, 2015, 1:29:28 AM12/16/15
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Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2015 23:54:15 -0600
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2015 14:25:22 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday December 15, 2015
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| BY THE NUMBERS The Untold Story of Muslim Opinions and Demographics CLICK HERE for video - 14:34 ( Dec 10, 2015) OBAMA: After SB attacks, we must affirm that we love our Muslim neighbors CLICK HERE for article and video LA Schools Closed Over Credible Terro r Threat CLICK HERE for article |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- A nightmare scenario in the Middle East, washingtonpost.com, Jackson Diehl
- ISIS Forging Syrian Passports in Attempt to Infiltrate West, breakingisraelnews.com, Lea Speyer
- IPT White Paper - Our Refugee, Asylum, and Visa Waiver Programs: A Broken System, IPT News,
- BREAKING: FBI Official Just Issued TERRIFYING Warning For Those Who Live Near 'Peaceful' Mosques, americasfreedomfighters.com, Dean James
- Russia Digging In for Long Haul in Syria, defensenews.com, Matthew Bodner
- Moderation and Radicalization in Lebanon, INSS, INSS Insight No. 778
- Another Way of Viewing the Conflict with Islam, Exclusive to UCI, Prof. Paul Eidelberg
- Watchdog names 10 US colleges 'most friendly to terrorists', israelhayom.com, Yael Branovsky and Israel Hayom Staff
Jackson Diehl
washingtonpost.com, December 13, 2015
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Nov. 24. (Atef Safadi/Associated Press)
The wars in Syria and Iraq and jihadist attacks in the West have obscured yet another Middle East threat: the possibility that slowly escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis will destroy one of the few remaining zones of relative tranquility between Morocco and Iran, along with one of the last secular and moderate Sunni governments.
Attacks on Israelis by Palestinians, which began in Jerusalem in September, have turned into a steady drumbeat. There were five in the first four days of last week alone; 13 Israelis were shot, stabbed or deliberately hit by c ars, while three of their Palestinian attackers were shot and killed. The Israeli army reports 90 stabbings, 33 shootings and 15 car rammings between Sept. 13 and Dec. 9. The Associated Press says at least 19 Israelis and 112 Palestinians have been killed, including Arabs killed in clashes with security forces.
The modest scale of this bloodshed compared with that in Syria or even Egypt is magnified by the potential consequences. For senior U.S. officials, foremost among these is the potential collapse of the West Bank’s Palestinian Authority and its U.S.-trained security forces, which have cooperated closely with Israel against jihadist groups in recent years. In the worst case, that could open the way for the Islamic State to move into the Palestinian territories and launch a direct assault against Israel — a nightmare scenario for Sunni states in the region as well as Israel itself....
Lea Speyer
breakingisraelnews.com, December 13, 2015
With the Syrian refugee crisis raising concerns among Western officials of the possibility of ISIS capitalizing on the chaos to infiltrate the West, a new report reveals that the jihadist terror organization may have the ability to print legitimate Syrian passports.According to an intelligence report obtained by ABC News, US officials are concerned that ISIS may have possession of a passport printing machine, issuing forged passports and documents to its operatives. Officials believe that jihadists may have already entered the US using the falsified documents.
Officials believe that the passport machine was seized when ISIS took control of the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour last year. The local passport office was stocked with “dozens of blank passports” and a printing machin e. Additional passports could also have been made in Raqqa, an ISIS controlled city....
IPT News, December 07, 2015
Foreigners, including refugees, have no basic or universal right to enter the United States; that entry is granted as a privilege. In today's complex and dangerous environment, and in light of the growing worldwide terror threat, entry into this country is a matter of national security.In a new white paper, the Investigative Project on Terrorism examines gaps in the immigration system which could allow terrorists to enter the United States as refugees, to apply for asylum once in the U.S., or to simply enter as passport holders from the 38 countries in the Visa Waiver Program.
The U.S. Hou se is expected to vote this week on legislation to tighten the Visa Waiver Program's conditions, but the white paper makes it clear that such action is one small step in a long journey toward buttressing the system against abuse by terrorists.
Read the white paper in its entirety here....
Dean James
americasfreedomfighters.com, December 12, 2015
...Guandolo said that the San Bernardino terrorists attended the Islamic Center of Riverside, which he said was a “a Muslim Brotherhood Center.” He noted that the Boston Bombers attended the Islamic Society of Boston, which he said was a subsidiary of the Islamic Society of North America that was founded by an al-Qaeda guy who used to advise former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore and is now in prison.
(Distribution of Mosques in USA 2015 – Via Islamthreat.com)
The map above shows the current distribution of Mosques in the United States as of April 2015, which totals 3, 186.
Guandolo even set up training courses to educate FBI agents and government officials but those were squashed by Hussein Obama, of course....
Matthew Bodner
defensenews.com, December 14, 2015
(Photo: AFP)MOSCOW — Russia is digging in for the long haul in Syria. Whereas two months ago Russian officials insisted the Kremlin's military adventure in the shattered Arab republic would last no longer than a few months, the Defense Ministry is gradually surging its force strength in the country.
Analysts told Defense News that the gradual expansion of Russia's air contingent reflects that Russia's ultimate goal in Syria — to forestall the demise of President Bashar Assad, or at least his Alawite government — is proving harder to reach than initially anticipated.
“Some kind of enlargement of the Russian contingent was almost inevitable from the beginning, but the pace of enlargement is a matter of interpretation … many experts said that from the beginning it was not enough,” said Ruslan Pukhov, a member of the Defense Ministry's public advisory board....
INSS Insight No. 778
INSS, December 13, 2015
The balance between the contradictory trends of moderation and radicalization currently underway in Lebanon will dictate the direction of the country for the near future. On the one hand, Lebanon has witnessed positive developments, which were made possible by a degree of apparently obligatory cooperation between the rivals from the two sides of the political map. On the other hand, it has also seen an intensification of the threat posed by the Islamic State, reflecting developments on the battlefield in Syria. The unfolding positive trend serves national interests, primarily the preservation of internal stability and movement away from the traumatic scenarios associated with the years of the Lebanese civil war. At the same time, however, this trend plays into the hands of Hezbollah, whose chief interest is drawing Lebanese attention to the two struggles it regards as truly important: the struggle against takfiris (infidels to Islam, such as the Islamic State and other Salafi j ihadist movements), and the resistance, i.e., the struggle against Israel. Israel must recognize that internal stability within Lebanon could provide Hezbollah with greater confidence in its struggle against its enemies.
After a long period of relative deadlock, Lebanon has recently witnessed a number of political and security-related developments that are likely to have substantive implications for the future of the country. In contrast to 2014 – when Lebanon experienced a number of formative events, most notably the non-election of a new president, increased Hezbollah involvement in the war in Syria alongside the Assad regime and Iran, and the abduction of Lebanese soldiers by the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in the border town of Arsal – 2015 was relatively uneventful. The most important event of the year was actually the civil protest that emerged surrounding the issue of trash collection in the Beirut area and ultimately evolved into a fierce prot est against the establishment. However, the end of the year brought with it significant developments that, taken together, comprise a fascinating state of affairs: a terrorist attack on November 12, 2015 by the Islamic State in the Beirut neighborhood of Dahiya, which resulted in the death of more than 40 civilians; the release of the security forces who had been held prisoner by the al-Nusra Front since August 2014 as part of a deal between Lebanon and the al-Qaeda branch in Syria; and possible progress in the process of electing a president to enter the Presidential Palace in Baabda, which has stood empty since May 2014....
Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Exclusive to UCI, December 12, 2015
Islam has never overcome its adolescent origin. G. E. Von Grunebaum put it differently. In Modern Islam (1962), he says, “Islam is inherently unprogressive.” “Islam,” he explains, “is not vitally interested in analytical self-understanding.” This describes an adolescent mentality.
More recently, Bernard Lewis, in "The Roots of Muslim Rage" (1990), portrays Islam's overweening arrogance and utter contempt for Western civilization.
Ethnocentrism goes well with adolescence: Muslims are not interested in what a non-Muslim says about mankind and the universe.
Contrast Maimonides: “The identity of an author, be he a prophet or a gentile, is of no concern [to us]. We don’t rely on [the personal authority of] the individual who made [such and such] statements … but on the proofs he presented and the reasons he made known.”
Islam is not really interested in truth, which is why th e Taliban says “reason stinks of corruption.” Islam knows only “Islamic” truths. Hence, Grunebaum and Lewis say that any intelligent Western statesman will understand why Muslims, steeped in the mentality of the Qur’an, lack the ability to moderate their demands in disputes with non-Muslims....
Yael Branovsky and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, December 14, 2015
Report warns terrorist groups' sinister campus activities are a danger to Israel and the US alike [Illustrative] (Photo credit: Reuters)
Harvard, Columbia, and Brandeis are among 10 leading American universities named by the David Horowitz Freedom Center as being the "most friendly" to radical Islamic propaganda and anti-Israel incitement.
Analyzing hundreds of examples from the past decade, the center asserts that "there are organizations on American campuses that support the agendas of terrorists groups [Hamas, al-Qaida and Islamic State] and spread their propaganda and lies with the financial and institutional support of university administrations."
The report lists the 10 worst offenders alphabetically: Brandeis University; Columbia University; Harvard University; Rutgers University-New Brunswick; San Francisco State University; the University of California, Irvine; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, San Diego; the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; and the University of New Mexico....
Robert Hand
Dec 18, 2015, 12:46:16 AM12/18/15
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Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 23:30:42 -0600
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 14:40:53 -0600
ISRAEL AND SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID
Israel is being labeled by its most radical detractors as an apartheid state.
Israel Collective finds out how South Africans feel about this accusation.
YouTube video - 06:24 (Dec 14, 2015)
PENTAGON awards Israeli defense firms with GPS-guided mortar contract CLICK HERE for article
APNewsBreak: TEXAS A&M to open $6M research center in Israel
CLICK HERE for article
Hefty Roaming Charges? Simg o’s Virtual SIM Could Cut Rates By 90%
CLICK HERE for more information
Contents: (summaries below)
- Saudi Arabia forms alliance of 34 Muslim nations to fight ISIS and tackle 'the Islamic world's problem with terrorism', dailymail.co.uk, Julian Robinson
- Analysis: Saudi Arabian-led efforts on terror are all talk, no action, jpost.com, Ariel Ben Solomon
- House clears bill imposing sanctions on Hezbollah, thehill.com, Cristina Marcos
- San Bernardino jihad murderer was vetted by FIVE different government agencies, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- People Saw This Plane Circling Over Calif. Shooting, Now We Know Alarming Thing It Was Doing, conservativetribune.com,
- Sweden: Shambles in Asylum Heaven, gatestoneinstitute.org, Ingrid Carlqvist
- Roman Polanski, 10 other Hollywood Jews open up about surviving Holocaust, jta.org, Gabe Friedman
Julian Robinson
dailymail.co.uk, December 15, 2015
- Coalition to include members from across the Middle East, Africa and Asia
- Saudi Arabia has called it a bid to 'save international peace and security'
- The group includes powerful gulf states Egypt and Turkey - but not Iran
The Saudi-led coalition, which will be based in Riyadh, includes powerful gulf states Egypt and Turkey but excludes Iran.
Alliance members from the Middle East, Africa and Asia will work from the capital 'to coordinate and support military operations to fight terrorism', according to the SPA state news agency....
Ariel Ben Solomon
jpost.com, December 16, 2015
"The regime continues to embrace clerics who propagate open hatred toward Shi’ites, Christians, Jews, women, homosexuals and the West," says Gulf expert.
Members of Saudi security forces take part in a military parade. (photo credit: Reuters)The greatly hyped new Saudi-led Islamic coalition against terrorism is meant more for Western ears rather than actual action on the ground against Sunni jihadist groups Islamic State and al-Qaida.
The expectation that Sunni Saudi Arabia is going to lead a 34-state coalition against fellow radical Sunni groups when it sees them as a bulwark against advancing Iranian and Shi’ite allies across the region, should not be great.
Predictably, Shi’ite-ruled Iran and Iraq were not part of the new alliance, and of course Syria was a lso absent.
The centuries-deep Sunni-Shi’ite divide is raging across the region and is much more important than any intra-Sunni rivalries or threats....
Cristina Marcos
thehill.com, December 16, 2015
The House cleared legislation on Wednesday to enhance sanctions against Hezbollah and its supporters.
In a 425-0 vote, the House approved slapping mandatory sanctions on banks found to be knowingly handling transactions with Hezbollah. The Senate passed a companion bill authored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) by unanimous consent last month.
“We need to send a clear message to companies getting tangled up with this terrorist group. And that message is: Walk away, or face the consequences of the United States of America,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The measure would direct the Obama administration to report on the Lebanon-based terror group’s drug trafficking and organized crime activities, as well as outline its global support networks.
It would also require the administration to determine any telecommunications companies that co ntract with Al-Manar, a TV station affiliated with Hezbollah.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said the measure would further send a message to the Iranian government, which has been accused of ties to Hezbollah.
“This legislation represents an important first step in pushing back against Iran and Hezbollah and repairing the damage that the administration’s sanctions relief for Iran has done to our national security,” Royce said....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 14, 2015
It just keeps getting worse. At first we were told that she had been vetted by two agencies. Apparently Obama Administration officials were hoping to cover up the magnitude of this failure. In any case, Tashfeen Malik stands as a witness to the impossibility of vetting for jihadis.
“U.S. missed ‘red flags’ with San Bernardino shooter,” CBS News, December 14, 2015:As investigators focus on what or who motivated San Bernardino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, to open fire at the Inland Regional Center, a report about Malik’s comments on social media before she moved to the U.S. is raising questions about how thoroughly she was vetted.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News that Malik made radical postings on Facebook as far back as 2012 — the year before she married Farook and moved to the U.S., reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.
According to a report in the New York Times, Malik spoke openly on social media about her support for violent jihad and said she wanted to be a part of it. But none of these postings were discovered when Malik applied for a U.S. K-1 fiancé visa....
conservativetribune.com, December 16, 2015
...
The plane, a Pilatus PC-12 equipped with “Dirtbox” technology that allows it to scan phone calls without a warrant, was ordered by DHS to circle in the skies over the San Bernardino area.
The incident called into question whether there were accomplices in the terror attack, in addition to raising serious concerns over warrantless surveillance.
The “Dirtbox” device is a two-foot wide box that acts as a cell phone tower. Since cell phones automatically lock on to the nearest possible tower, by flying overhead it would be able to detect the location of anyone using a cellular phone and track their movements.
It would not, however, be able to pick up the contents of the calls made from the phone or data usage, if any took place.
Sofrep, which first reported the use of the PC-12 equipped with Dirtbox, said that it showed the DHS was “actively searching for other members of a terrorist cell.”
A Pilatus PC-12, shown here in a hangar:
An entry on plane tracking site FlightRadar24 also showed the plane’s activities during the manhunt....
Ingrid Carlqvist
gatestoneinstitute.org, December 13, 2015
Translations of this item:
- In Sweden, only the people who say they are not applying for asylum are checked.
- To avoid having to show any papers, a terrorist going to Sweden to commit acts of terror only has to tell the border police that he is seeking asylum. He will immediately be driven to the closest Immigration Service facility. And while the Immigration Service tries to figure out who he is, he can plan his attacks in the peace and quiet of the Swedish countryside.
- "The truth is that persons with evil intent know exactly what to do when they come here. That information spreads like wildfire. These new border controls are there for the sole purpose of reassuring the public. They have absolutely no effect on the influx of migrants." — Border policeman at the Öresund Bridge (between Denmark and Sweden).
- Despite many Swedes drawing a sigh of relief when the government announced that immigration was to be limited, the new policy does not really entail any difference at all....
Gabe Friedman
jta.org, December 16, 2015
French-Polish film director Roman Polanski is seen during a press conference at the Bonarowski Palace Hotel in Krakow, Poland, Oct. 30, 2015. (Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images)
The Hollywood Reporter is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust with a feature on 11 survivors who went on to careers in American entertainment. The project, released Wednesday morning online and in print, includes emotional, revealing video interviews with all the subjects, including director Roman Polanski and sex therapist Ruth Westheimer.
Director Steven Spielberg, the founder of the USC Shoah Foundation, wrote an essay for the feature. Below is a look at each subject’s testimony....
Robert Hand
Dec 18, 2015, 11:06:08 PM12/18/15
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Subject: FW: Today's News Summaries
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 21:34:39 -0600
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 13:44:42 -0600
Editor's Note: Friday December 18, 2015
MAP OF ISIS: Growing reach... but a complex picture
EXCLUSIVE: SARIN MATERIALS brought via Turkey & mixed in Syrian ISIS camps - Turkish MP to RT CLICK HERE for videos, article and pictures
EXCELLENT VIDEO - We Want The Truth
Pat Condell on Donald Trump's position on Muslim Immigration
YouTube video - 05:05 (Dec 14, 2015)
CELEBRATING ISRAEL
In large part due to slanted media reports, propaganda and downright lies, impres
sions of Israel worldwide tend to be negative - particularly among those who have never visited the country.
But according to the UN Human Development Index released this week, things in the Jewish state are not so bad. In fact, they are pretty good. The index, which takes into consideration income, life expectancy and education for a combined development score, ranks Israel 18 out of 188 countries in human development.
VA to Provide Israeli ReWalk Robotic Legs to Paralyzed U.S. Vets
CLICK HERE for article
Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama: No 'specific and credible information about an attack on our homeland', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- ISIS Carries Out First 'Serious' Attack in Northern Iraq in Months, U.S. Says, nytimes.com, Michael R. Gordon
- Will The West Ease The Sanctions Even Though Iran Is Not Meeting Its JCPOA Obligations?, MEMRI, Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.1213, A. Savyon and Y. Carmon
- Israeli security in a second Cold War, thehill.com, Louis René Beres, contributor
- Israel's newest submarine leaves Germany, bound for Haifa, timesofisrael.com, Judah Ari Gross
- US bows to Russian demand to keep Assad in office. Israel follows suit, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Special Report
- India Clears Purchase of S-400 AD System For $4.5 Billion, Vivek Raghuvanshi ,
- Missouri: FBI alerted after Muslims buy large quantities of cellphones at rural Walmart at 4AM, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 17, 2015
Watch out for those right-wing extremists, but otherwise relax. Jihad? Pah! It's a Religion of Peace!
In September 2014, the Islamic State issued a lengthy communiqué calling upon Muslims in the West to murder non-Muslims. It included the exhortation to "strive to your best and kill any disbeliever, whether he be French, American, or from any of their allies." It followed this up with a quotation from the Qur'an: "O you who have believed, take your precaution and [either] go forth in companies or go forth all together" (4:71).
The Islamic State exhortation continued:
If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him. Do not lack. Do not be contemptible. Let your slogan be, &ld quo;May I not be saved if the cross worshipper and taghūt (ruler ruling by manmade laws) patron survives."
"Obama: No specific, credible threat against the US," by Jordan Fabian, The Hill, December 17, 2015 (thanks to Steve):President Obama said during a high-profile visit to the National Counterterrorism Center on Thursday that there is no specific or credible terrorist threat against the U.S.
"At this moment, our intelligence and counterterrorism do not have any specific and credible information about an attack on our homeland," Obama said after receiving an update on terror threats from more than two dozen top national security officials....
Michael R. Gordon
nytimes.com, December 17, 2015
ERBIL, Iraq - Islamic State fighters conducted their most significant military operation in northern Iraq in more than five months when they mounted a three-pronged attack on Wednesday night north and east of Mosul, American officials said Thursday.
The attack appeared to have been intended to show that the group is still a potent fighting force despite setbacks in Sinjar, Iraq, and in northern Syria. It may have also been intended to disrupt efforts by the American-led coalition to prepare for the eventual battle to retake Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, which was captured by the Islamic State in June 2014.
The assault, which took place on the eve of a visit here by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter on Thursday, was beaten back by American and allied airstrikes and fierce fighting by pesh merga fighters, as the Kurdish forces are known. Dozens of the Kurdish fighters were killed, according to Kurdish officials.
"I think th eir principal objective was probably to conduct a spoiling attack," said Brig. Gen. Mark Odom, the senior American officer in northern Iraq, referring to the possibility that the attack may have been intended to disrupt moves to encircle and eventually capture Mosul....
A. Savyon and Y. Carmon
MEMRI, Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.1213, December 17, 2015
IntroductionWith the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors' closure, on December 15, 2015, of Iran's PMD (Possible Military Dimensions) dossier, the JCPOA is now back on track for the implementation that began on Adoption Day, October 18, 2015.
It is now Iran's turn to meet its JCPOA obligations, which include removing nine tons of low-level enriched uranium from the country, dismantling centrifuges so that only 6,000 active ones remain, pouring concrete into the core of the nuclear reactor at Arak in a way that will prevent it from being used for producing plutonium, adopting the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and more.
Once the IAEA confirms that Iran has done this, Implementation Day will be declared; under it, the lifting of some of the sanction s on Iran and the suspension of others will take place, as promised by the U.S. and European countries on October 19, 2015....
Louis René Beres, contributor
thehill.com, December 16, 2015
To be sure, although the Soviet Union is long gone, a new Cold War is steadily emerging between the United States and Russia. For Israel, a beleaguered mini-state now seeking to survive amid unprecedented regional chaos, this return of superpower rivalry could signal either a substantial crisis of instability, or an opportunity for enhanced national security.
"Which will it be? How, precisely, should this newly revived era of bipolarity best be deciphered and understood in Jerusalem? What might its successful "decoding" mean for the Jewish State's critical military policies, and also for its derivative operational postures?
To answer these nuanced and generally difficult questions, Israeli analysts should first recall the primacy of context. Always, in seeking appropriate answers, the world must first be understood and examined as a system. Most importantly, in this metaphor, whatever happens in any one part of this system, will affect what happens in all o r several of its other parts.
When a particular deterioration is marked, and begins to spread from one country to another, the effects can quickly undermine regional and global stability. When a deterioration is sudden and catastrophic, as it would be following the onset of unconventional war or unconventional terrorism, the effects could be prompt, and also potentially irremediable.
In the fashion of every other state in world politics, Israel will exist more or less precariously amid the hardening animosities of Cold War II. One way or another, any significant transformations of the larger international system, whether slow and piecemeal, or sudden and calamitous, will inevitably impact the much smaller Israeli system. In the most blatantly obvious manifestation of this expected impact, Israel will have to reorient its core strategic planning, perhaps even toward informed contemplations of utterly worst-case scenarios.
Plausibly, the country's altering analytic focus here will need to be directed more toward a bewilderingly wide range of self-help security options, than on the more conspicuously favored kinds of international cooperation. Alternatively, however, depending upon exactly how any tightening bipolarity will compel Russia and the United States to reinvigorate their respective alliance commitments, Israel could wind up relying less upon self-help, and more upon newly expanded U.S., or even Russian, security guarantees....
Judah Ari Gross
timesofisrael.com, December 17, 2015
The INS Rahav, Israel's newest submarine, sets off from the German port of Kiel towards Haifa, where it is set to arrive next month, on December 17, 2015. (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)The latest and one of the most expensive weapons in the IDF's arsenal, the Dolphin-class submarine INS Rahav, set out for Haifa from the German port of Kiel on Thursday, according to a senior naval official.
Ordered a decade ago, the Rahav will be Israel's fifth Dolphin-class submarine, joining the INS Tanin, Tekuma, Leviathan and Dolphin at the Haifa naval base when it arrives next month....
DEBKAfile Special Report
DEBKAfile, December 16, 2015
...In a single day, the Obama administration handed out certificates of legitimacy to the Syrian dictator, who is responsible for more than a quarter of a million deaths, and to Iran's advances toward a nuclear weapon.
These epic US policy reversals carried three major messages:
1. The Obama administration has lined up behind Putin's Middle East objectives which hinge on keeping Bashar Assad in power.
2. Washington endorses Russia's massive military intervention in Syria, although as recently as last month Obama condemned it as doomed to failure.
3. The US now stands behind Iran - not just on the Syrian question - but also on the exitence of an Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah alliance, based on a solid land bridge from Iran and the Gulf up to the Mediterranean coast under Russian military and political protection and influence....
Vivek Raghuvanshi , December 17, 2015
(Photo: Wikipedia)NEW DELHI - India has cleared the purchase of five units of Russian-made S-400 Triumf (AD) advanced Air Defence Systems [with Indian specifications] at a cost of about $4.5 billion. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the highest body under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which decides weapons purchases, cleared the purchase of S-400 AD systems at its meeting here December 17.
An advanced team is leaving for Moscow on Dec. 17 to negotiate the purchase of the S-400 systems, said a MoD official.
Sources in MoD, however, said it is not certain if the deal for the S-400 will be inked during the upcoming Dec. 24-25 visit by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow.
While India is keen on acquiring the S-400 systems, the response from Moscow is "lukewarm," the MoD source added....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 16, 2015
Muslims buy cellphones in large quantities in the middle of the night at a rural Walmart. The FBI was alerted, but people are worried that their concern was "racist." Sheriff Merritt said: "You're not being racist or anything like that you're just protecting yourself." Why shouldn't people have been concerned? Cellphones have been used by jihad terrorists to detonate bombs. Noticing that and being vigilant against it happening again is "racist"? This is the number that Islamic advocacy groups such as the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has done on the American people.
The steady battering of stories like Clock Boy Ahmed Mohamed has intimidated Americans into thinking that resisting jihad is somehow wrong and "racist."
The Muslims buying these cellphones may not have been up to anything wrong. But investigating them isn't wrong, either, and is no evidence of & ldquo;Islamophobia."
"Large quantity of cellphones bought raises red flags," by Paula Morehouse and Tom Schultheis, KY3.com, December 9, 2015 (thanks to Gateway Pundit):LEBANON, Mo. - In the early morning hours on Saturday-around 3:50-two men buying a large number of cellphones at the Walmart in Lebanon set off some concern.
Local authorities were alerted.
"Somebody went in and bought 60 cellphones from Walmart that's not normal for this area," explained Laclede County sheriff Wayne Merritt.
After talking with the men, officers didn't have a legal reason to detain them so the men were allowed to leave, according to a Lebanon Police Department incident report.
Local authorities, though, did notify the FBI.
Sheriff Merritt said calling law enforcers was the right move....
This email was sent to pvprea...@webtv.net by voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org..
Robert Hand
Dec 21, 2015, 9:45:51 PM12/21/15
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Subject: FW: Today's News Summaries
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2015 19:42:08 -0600
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:32:39 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday December 21, 2015
High-Priority THREATS TO AMERICA
High-Priority THREATS TO AMERICA
See article #1 for more information
ISIS Sets Its SIGHTS ON THE EAST
In 2014, this photo of Muslim ISIS supporters in India'sTamil Nadu state went viral on Twitter.
See article #2 for more information
Feds don’t know whereabouts of 9,500 with VISAS REVOKED OVER TERRORISM
CLICK HERE for article
In 2014, this photo of Muslim ISIS supporters in India'sTamil Nadu state went viral on Twitter.
See article #2 for more information
Feds don’t know whereabouts of 9,500 with VISAS REVOKED OVER TERRORISM
CLICK HERE for article
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The Global Conflicts to Watch in 2016, defenseone.com, Uri Friedman
- ISIS Sets Its Sights on the East, gatestoneinstitute.org, Vijeta Uniyal
- Samir Kuntar Assassination: The Fallout, , honestreporting.com
- IDF shells South Lebanon after rocket fire on Western Galilee, timesofisrael.com, Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross
- Netanyahu to Albanian PM: Our friendship goes back to Albania protecting Jews from Nazis, jpost.com, Herb Keinon
- Pentagon prepares malware to cyberattack Islamic State, kansascity.com, Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau
- Iran Warns Turkey to Avoid Warming up Relations with Israel, en.farsnews.com,
Uri Friedman
defenseone.com, December 18, 2015
Concerns about the Middle East, and especially Syria, have displaced other threats.
In the summer of 2012—around the time that the Islamic State’s inchoate plans for a caliphate merited a mere footnote in a U.S. congressional report on the year-old Syrian conflict—Robert Satloff argued that a civil war was taking shape in Syria, and that its terrible consequences would extend far beyond Syrians; Americans, too, would soon be acquainted with the horror.
Among the plausible scenarios, he reasoned in the New Republic, were a revived Kurdish insurgency in Turkey and thousands of jihadists “descending on Syria to fight the apostate Alawite regime, transforming this large Eastern Mediterranean country into the global nexus of violent Islamist terrorists.”
“None of this is fa ntasy,” Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, assured his readers.
Today, they need no convincing. In the three years since Satloff issued his warning, the Syrian Civil War has steadily metastasized as a perceived threat to U.S. national security, nurturing ISIS, bludgeoning Iraq, and radiating refugees in the Middle East and Europe. Consider, for example, the results of a new survey of American foreign-policy experts and practitioners by the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action. Nearly 500 respondents estimated the likelihood and impact on U.S. interests of 30 potential conflicts in 2016. These conflicts were then sorted into three tiers of risk to America.
A deepening of the Syrian conflict “resulting from increased external support for warring parties, including military intervention by outside powers” was rated both highly likely and high-impact—the only “c ontingency” in the study to be ranked so gravely....
Vijeta Uniyal
gatestoneinstitute.org, December 20, 2015
- This month's ISIS manifesto claims India as part of Islamic Caliphate and, referring to the recent resurgence of Hindus in the country, states: "a movement of Hindus is growing who kill Muslims who eat beef."
- ISIS flags and insignia are regularly displayed at protest rallies and religious gatherings in the Muslim-majority province of Kashmir.
- Indian officials seem just as afraid of calling Islamist terror by its rightful name as their Western counterparts. Instead, they appear to be trying to distract the public by throwing money at ineffective social welfare programs. Perhaps these officials hope the public will think that at least "something" is being done.
honestreporting.com
, December 21, 2015
Israeli media reports, Samir Kuntar was assassinated because of a major terror attack he was planning, not revenge for previous dirty deeds. According to YNet, Israel viewed Kuntar as a “ticking bomb,” and even Hezbollah viewed him as dangerous freelancer, keeping the arch-terrorist at arm’s length.
Western sources believe Kuntar was in the final stages of planning and carrying out another attack against Israel, which senior Hezbollah officials apparently did not know about. These sources believe that Hezbollah viewed Kuntar as a symbol of Israel’s humiliation because of the circumstances of his release from prison in 2008 and hence did not reject him, even when his operations in 2013 and 2014 were unsuccessful.
Recently, Hezbollah officials began to reject his independent activities that were not to their liking. They feared Kuntar would get them involved in a confrontation with Israel by carrying out an attack in the Golan Heights . A successful attack and Israeli intervention would hurt the interests of the Syrian regime, those of Hezbollah, and of course Iran’s strategic interests.
Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross
timesofisrael.com, December 20, 2015
Illustrative photo of Israeli artillery on the Lebanese border, January 28, 2015 (IDF Spokesperson)
Israel Defense Forces artillery units shelled targets in South Lebanon Sunday evening, shortly after at least three rockets were fired from across the border into Israeli territory.
“The Israel Defense Forces have responded with targeted artillery fire following the rockets that hit Israel earlier today from southern Lebanon,” a statement from the army said.
“The IDF considers the Lebanese Army as solely responsible for what is happening in the territory and will continue to act against any attempt to harm the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the security of its citizens,” the statement continued....
Herb Keinon
jpost.com, December 21, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Monday morning upon his arrival for a two-day visit to Israel.
The leaders signed on a friendship agreement and a mutual cooperation agreement between Israel and Albania.
Netanyahu noted that while the signing of the agreements marked 25 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the friendship between Albania and the Jewish people goes back much farther. During the Holocaust Albania stood by the Jews and refused to turn them over to the Nazis, said Netanyahu.
"We never forget our friends," Netanyahu said, noting that Albania was the only country to have more Jews after World War II than before.
During the Holocaust, Albanians, who are mostly Muslims, had risked their lives to save Jews, including Jews who had fled from other countries. Yad Vashem has so far recognized 73 Albanian Muslims as Righteous among the Nations.
Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau
kansascity.com, December 21, 2015
Military hackers and coders have malware to sabotage militants’ propaganda
But others warn that cutting off their social media could shut a critical window into militants’ locations, plans
)
In Garland, Texas, in May, two gunmen opened fire outside a contest for cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad. The gunmen were then killed. FBI investigators on the scene looked for evidence. The FBI says that one of the gunmen exchanged 109 messages “with an overseas terrorist” on the morning of the attack.The Pentagon is considering increasing the pace and scope of cyberattacks against Islamic State, arguing that more aggressive efforts to disable the extremist group’s computers, servers and cellphones could help curtail its appeal and disrupt potential terrorist attacks.
Military hackers and coders at Cyber Command, based at Fort Meade, Md., have developed an array of malware that could be used to sabotage the militants’ propaganda and recruitment capabilities, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
But closing off the extremists’ communications faces resistance from the FBI and intelligence officials. They warn that too sweeping an effort to constrict Internet, social media and cellphone access in Syria and Iraq would shut a critical window into the militants’ locations, leadership and intentions....
en.farsnews.com, December 21, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian foreign ministry asked the Turkish government to rethink its policy of gradual resumption of ties with Israel.Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Monday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari referred to the May 2010 killing of 10 Turkish activists on board the Mavi Marmara ship by an Israeli raid on the six-ship flotilla and the darkening of bilateral ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv at the time, and said despite the incident, ties between the two sides still continued.
He warned Turkey about attempts to resume relations with Israel, and said, "The Muslim governments should adopt policies which meet their and the Islamic Ummah's interests as well as the rights of the Palestinian nation."
"The Turkish government shouldn’t pursue a d ifferent path (in relations) with the Quds Occupying regime under such conditions that its relations with the neighboring governments have gone under certain developments," Jaber Ansari said.
He expressed the hope that the Turkish government would provide the ground for resolving the existing problems given Iran's resolve to manage and settle the regional crises....
Robert Hand
Dec 23, 2015, 1:18:23 AM12/23/15
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Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 00:16:50 -0600
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 13:20:34 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday December 22, 2015
IS SUSPECTS
The America Federal prosecutors have charged 73 men and women around the country in connection with the Islamic State. So far, 22 have been convicted. Men outnumber women in those cases by about 6 to 1. The average age of the individuals is 26. One is a minor. The FBI says that, in a handful of cases, it has disrupted plots targeting U.S. military or law enforcement personnel.
CLICK HERE to see list of those charged by State.
Watch: After Obama Uttered These 6 Words, Fox News Put Him Through The Wringer
IS SUSPECTSThe America Federal prosecutors have charged 73 men and women around the country in connection with the Islamic State. So far, 22 have been convicted. Men outnumber women in those cases by about 6 to 1. The average age of the individuals is 26. One is a minor. The FBI says that, in a handful of cases, it has disrupted plots targeting U.S. military or law enforcement personnel.
CLICK HERE to see list of those charged by State.
Watch: After Obama Uttered These 6 Words, Fox News Put Him Through The Wringer
Bullring 'bomb plot': New image found on Paris jihadi's phone points to plan by terror cell to target Birmingham shopping centre CLICK HERE for article, pictures and video<
/a>
Robert Spencer Moment: The Criminalization of Dissent. YouTube video - 12:07 (Dec 18, 2015)
US, Israel to co-develop technologies for first responders
Robert Spencer Moment: The Criminalization of Dissent. YouTube video - 12:07 (Dec 18, 2015)
US, Israel to co-develop technologies for first responders
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- The United States and Islam: What Is Going On?, gatestoneinstitute.org, Amir Taheri
- Iraqi troops storm centre of Islamic State-held Ramadi, smh.com.au, Reuters
- Jihadist who fled Syria: IS is planning 'mega attack' in Europe, timesofisrael.com, Times of Israel staff
- Pakistan - The Quiet Nuclear Threat, israeldefense.co.il, Ami Rojkes Dombe
- 2/3 of Palestinians support stabbings, palwatch.org, Nan Jacques Zilberdik
- Bernard-Henri Lévy: Palestinian Stabbings a 'Cousin' of ISIS Beheadings, thetower.org, David Hazony
- BDS and Campus Politics: A Bad Romance, insidehighered.com, Mark Yudof
Amir Taheri
gatestoneinstitute.org, December 22, 2015
- The irony is that no major power in recent history has gone out of its way as has the United States to help, respect, please and, yes, appease Islam. And, yet, no other nation has been a victim of vilification, demonization, and violence on the part of the Islamists as has the U.S.
- The politically correct crowd has turned Islam into a new taboo. They brand any criticism of Islam as racist, ethnocentrist or simply vile, all crammed together in the new category of "Islamophobia." Is it Islamophobia to question a religion whose Middle East leaders often preach "Death to America" and hatred for Western values?
- More prevalent than Islamophobia is Islamophilia, as leftists treat Muslims as children whose feathers should not be ruffled. The Islamophilia crowd invites Americans and Europeans to sacrifice part of their own freedom in atonement of largely imaginary sins against Muslims in the colonial and imperialist era.
- Many Muslims resent the kind of flattery that takes them for idiots at a time that Islam and Muslims badly need to be criticized. The world needs to wake up and ask: What is going on?
Reuters
smh.com.au, December 22, 2015
...
Progress has been slow because the government wants to rely entirely on its own troops and not use Shi'ite militias in order to avoid rights abuses such as those that occurred after the recapture of the city of Tikrit from the militants in April.
The Iraqi military has made significant gains against Islamic State fighters in and around Ramadi. Iraqi security forces display confiscated weapons and ammunition. (Photo: Osama Sami)US officials have also cautioned against the use of Iran-backed Shi'ite militias in retaking Ramadi from the hardline Sunni militants to avoid fanning sectarian tensions.
The Baghdad government has said it also wanted to spare civilians and give them the opportunity to leave the city.
"Our forces a re advancing toward the government complex in the centre of Ramadi," the counter-terrorism units' spokesman Sabah al-Numani said. "The fighting is in the neighbourhoods around the complex, with support from the air force."...
Times of Israel staff
timesofisrael.com, December 18, 2015
Illustrative photo of Islamic State militants, with an IS fighter waving the group flag in Fallujah, Iraq, west of Baghdad, June 28, 2015. (Militant website of IS, via AP)
An Islamic State activist from Germany who succeeded in fleeing the group says the terror organization is planning a massive Europe-wide terror attack, according to a report in the Independent on Friday.
Named by the paper as “Harry S.”, the 27-year-old said he and other jihadists from European countries were asked in Syria whether they would be willing to “bring jihad to their homeland.”
“They want something that happens everywhere at the same time,” he said. The man is now incarcerated in a German prison, having been arrested upon his return from Syria....
Ami Rojkes Dombe
israeldefense.co.il, December 17, 2015
"The Pakistani nuclear program is rapidly growing… along with an unusual problem: Pakistan is not a rogue state that might go nuclear, but rather a nuclear state that might go rogue. Such a situation presents an almost endless stream of nightmare scenarios for U.S. policymakers,” wrote Kevin Hulbert, a former CIA Station Chief, in an opinion column on “The Cipher Brief” website in early October.
“While Pakistan is not the most dangerous country in the world, it is probably the most dangerous country for the world, and as such, a serious case for close and continued U.S. engagement with Pakistan can be made. As a country ripe with the triple threat of terrorism, a failing economy and the fastest growing nuclear arsenal, Pakistan has the potential to create more nightmare scenarios for U.S. policymakers than any other country.”
Pakistan is a nuclear state possessing the largest arsenal in the Muslim world: about 120 warhe ads and the capacity to manufacture 20 warheads per year, according to The Washington Post. Other experts claim that the aforesaid number of warheads is overrated, and that in fact the number is a double-figure one, but much smaller. Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test in 1998 (“Chagai-I”) before joining the NPT. That is the reason why it is not currently a part of the Treaty.
Pakistan’s nuclear history began in 1965, with a reactor supplied by the USA in the context of the “Atoms for Peace” program. That PARR-I reactor was activated in 1974. Alongside the official program, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (who subsequently became President of Pakistan), initiated a military nuclear program in 1972. The reason was the defeat of Eastern Pakistan (currently Bangladesh) in the war against India a year previously. In 1974, Pakistan tested a first device – but not yet a bomb. In 1975, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan entered the picture. Khan had been educate d in Germany, and he brought along his knowledge of gas centrifuges that he had acquired at a plant of the Urenco Company in Holland. He also brought along uranium enriching technologies stolen from Europe.
Khan assumed responsibility for the establishment of the Kahuta uranium enrichment facility in 1976. Under his leadership, Pakistan developed a global network of smuggling operations, through which it obtained the necessary materials and technologies. By 1986, Pakistan had already produced a sufficient amount of nuclear material for a bomb. A year later, it acquired the knowledge required in order to perform a nuclear explosion....
Nan Jacques Zilberdik
palwatch.org, December 22, 2015
...The poll found that almost 2/3 (60%) are in favor of an "armed intifada" and more than 1/3 (37%) of Palestinians believe that "the current confrontations" will develop into such. Two thirds (66%) believe that a "new armed intifada" "would serve Palestinian national interests in ways that negotiations could not."
Other aspects of the poll also reflect that Palestinians believe PA libels, especially the false claim that Israel seeks to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque - the allegation used by the PA to spark the current wave of violence as well as previous waves of terror attacks:
"An overwhelming majority believes that al Haram al Sharif is in grave danger: 51% believe that Israel intends to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and replace them with a Jewish temple; 17% believe that it intends to divide the plateau on which the two mosques sit so that Jews would have a synagogue alongside the Muslim holy places; and 9% believe that Israel inte nds to change the status quo prevailing in the plateau since 1967 by allowing Jews to pray there. Only 11% believe that Israel is interested in maintaining the status quo without change."
View the complete PSR poll here
David Hazony
thetower.org, December 18, 2015
(Photo: 92Y/FOLCS)In a packed event at New York’s 92d Street Y on Thursday, Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of France’s top public intellectuals, called for forces of the liberal Left to unite in confronting the growing threat of violent jihad. In particular, he criticized those who have abandoned internationalist liberalism in favor of opposition to America and Israel, or who draw a distinction between ISIS’s attacks in France and Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
Daily stabbings are a form, or cousin, of beheadings. Beheading without the big weapon. Beheading with the weapon you find. But it is the same thing. Those who stab in Tel Aviv have seen, definitely, the propaganda of ISIS, praising beheading, praising the spilling of blood of Jews because they are Jews. And they have read how the propaganda of ISIS declares a total war on the spirit of cities. And Tel Aviv is like New York, like Paris....
Mark Yudof
insidehighered.com, December 14, 2015
George Orwell remarked in 1984 that “if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” Orwell’s aphorism describes the strategy of today’s proponents of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement on college campuses against Israel. They see their movement as a way of protesting Israel’s alleged mistreatment of Palestinians, its efforts to defend itself in a dangerous neighborhood and its purported colonialism. Yet their rhetoric corrupts the language of human rights and expropriates the words historically used to demean the Jew, focusing instead on the Jewish state. The strategy, as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has stated, is to accuse “Israel of the five cardinal post-Holocaust sins: racism, apartheid, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and attempted genocide.”
Part of that strategy -- though apparently not the goal, which is to delegitimize Israel -- is to root BDS on campuses in a progressive coalition. If you are opposed to homophobia, if you are concerned about events in Ferguson and Staten Island, if you favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the party line is that you also should perceive Israel as an illegitimate colonial-settler nation. If, in the endless student government debates over BDS, the occasional 19th-century blood libel surfaces, those calumnies are ignored for the cause is just. For example, at the University of California at Berkeley, a professor who attended the BDS debate reported to me that Israeli soldiers were accused of deliberately killing women and poisoning wells. In age of exquisite sensitivity on some campuses to microaggression, or language that subtly offends underrepresented groups, the ironic toleration of microaggression against Jews often goes unnoted.
The fact is that, despite the hallowed traditions of academic freedom and freedom of inquiry, many campuses today are hostile to genuine conversation and debate. Freedo m of expression is viewed by a vocal minority as a ploy to preserve privilege. There is a fear of listening to those with whom one disagrees. Campuses are viewed as “safe” only if they are ideologically pure. In the words of Santa Barbara Hillel Rabbi Evan Goodman: “At a university, of all places, there must be space for legitimate political discourse and analysis. This includes legitimate critiques of Israeli policy …. But when the one Jewish state in the world is obsessively singled out for condemnation, Jewish students recognize that their own religious and cultural identity is being called into question.” This corruption of facts and history must be rebutted....
Robert Hand
Dec 25, 2015, 12:58:40 AM12/25/15
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Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 23:40:57 -0600
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 12:31:35 -0600
Editor's Note: Thursday December 24, 2015
New HORRIFIC ISIS Video - Do You Really Want to Watch? CLICK HERE for article and video
NEVER AGAIN IS NOW!
Are we living 1933 all over again? Never Again is Now. From the producers of TheBlaze TV's For the Record comes a documentary investigating the troubling rise of antisemitism in Europe, a story told through the eyes of a woman who fled to America in 2004 to escape it.Today she confronts the hatred that dr ove her out, and embraces her life’s mission -- to prevent one of history's darkest chapters from repeating.
CLICK HERE for video - 02:50
EXCELLENT ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
Robert Spencer: Modern Man and the Defense of the West Against Jihad
YouTube video - 25:45 (Dec 19, 2015)
US congresswoman: Jerusalem’s archaeological discoveries prove historic Jewish ties
CLICK HERE for article and photo
Watch: Latest MAGIC WAND DEFENSE SYSTEM test
View footage of the latest and final test of the Magic Wand aerial defense system. The video shows the elevation of the missile battery, the stunner launch and the interception of the target.
New HORRIFIC ISIS Video - Do You Really Want to Watch? CLICK HERE for article and video
NEVER AGAIN IS NOW!
Are we living 1933 all over again? Never Again is Now. From the producers of TheBlaze TV's For the Record comes a documentary investigating the troubling rise of antisemitism in Europe, a story told through the eyes of a woman who fled to America in 2004 to escape it.Today she confronts the hatred that dr ove her out, and embraces her life’s mission -- to prevent one of history's darkest chapters from repeating.
CLICK HERE for video - 02:50
EXCELLENT ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
Robert Spencer: Modern Man and the Defense of the West Against Jihad
YouTube video - 25:45 (Dec 19, 2015)
US congresswoman: Jerusalem’s archaeological discoveries prove historic Jewish ties
CLICK HERE for article and photo
Watch: Latest MAGIC WAND DEFENSE SYSTEM test
View footage of the latest and final test of the Magic Wand aerial defense system. The video shows the elevation of the missile battery, the stunner launch and the interception of the target.
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama Admin Will Veto Counter-Terror Measures to Save Nuke Deal, freebeacon.com , Adam Kredo
- Members of US Congress Call for Shutdown of PLO's US Office, unitedwithisrael.org,
- Iran Military Leaders: Missile Production 'Increased' After P5+1 Deal, pjmedia.com, Bridget Johnson
- The Reconfiguration of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, INSS Insight No. 781, Erez Striem
- A look inside the evolving face of ISIS , jpost.com, Seth J. Frantzman
- Revealed: French Carrier Strikes ISIS from Persian Gulf, nationalinterest.org/blog, Zack Baddorf
- U.S. lets in four times as many suspected terrorists as it keeps out, washingtonpost.com, Marc A. Thiessen
- Boko Haram Still Wreaking Havoc: 1 Million Children Forced Out of School, pjmedia.com, Stephen Kruiser
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com , December 21, 2015
John Kerry/APSecretary of State John Kerry is working to reassure Iranian leaders that recent congressional efforts to tighten counter-terrorism measures will not harm Iranian interests, according to a letter sent by Kerry to Iran’s foreign minister.
The assurances come following efforts by Congress to tighten restrictions in the visa waiver program, which they claim has gaping loopholes that may enable suspected terrorists to legally enter the United States with few background checks.
Iranian leaders expressed anger over the move in recent days, prompting senior Obama administration officials to convey their own concerns to lawmakers.
Kerry wrote to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif late last week, promising that the Obama administration could veto these new counter-terrorism laws in order ensur e Iran is not negatively impacted....
unitedwithisrael.org, December 22, 2015
Late PLO leader and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. (AP/Enric Marti)Members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry calling for the shutdown of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) semi-official embassy in Washington, in wake of continued Palestinian terror attacks in Israel that have killed 21 victims and wounded over 250.
Senators Ted Cruz (R, Tx) and Congressman Mark Meadows (R, NC) co-authored the letter which was signed by 30 other members of Congress, who demanded that the administration revoke the PLO’s waiver permitting it to maintain an office in the US capital....
Bridget Johnson
pjmedia.com, December 22, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif chat in Geneva during nuclear negotiations in January 2015 (State Department photo)
As some congressional Democrats fume over the Obama administration's reticence to confront Iran about its ballistic missile tests -- nevermind introduce any real consequences -- the Islamic Republic is defiantly expanding its missile programs.
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said at a ceremony in northern Iran on Monday that Tehran is not scaling back its program or even keeping production at pre-deal levels.
"We have not halted designing, producing and testing our missiles, (on the contrary) we have even increased our production," Dehqan said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
The news agency said the defense minister ranked missile production and military upgrades at the top of the country's agenda "to ensure protection against enemies."...
Erez Striem
INSS Insight No. 781, December 22, 2015
The violent conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian state institutions escalated after Mohamed Morsi and his government were overthrown in July 2013. The crackdown on the movement since then has included the killing of thousands of its supporters, the arrest of tens of thousands of Islamist opponents of the regime, the banning of the movement, its classification as a terrorist organization, and the elimination of its economic and social infrastructure. The Muslim Brotherhood’s desperate state has led to far reaching changes in its structure, ideology, and nature of activity by the movement and its supporters in Egypt. The process of Muslim Brotherhood members slipping into various types of violent action is clear, and it is believed that at least some of the small terrorist cells operating in the Nile Valley region were founded by former Muslim Brotherhood activists. It is also known that a number of former activists have joined the Islamic State branch in the Sinai Peninsula over the past two years. This dangerous process is likely to have momentous consequences not only for the stability of Egypt, but also for regional security.
Seth J. Frantzman
jpost.com, December 23, 2015
...Qasem Sheshu, a Yazidi peshmerga commander in the Shingal area who commands around 7,500 men, said recently he had informed the allies that Islamic State was bringing 20 trucks from its capital in Raqqa, Syria to Iraq and that air strikes only hit one.
As Islamic State capabilities have been degraded it resorts to limited suicide bomber attacks. The fog provides cover because coalition aircraft cannot operate. A slideshow presentation at a peshmerga headquarters illustrated the ingenuity of the fanatics.
In one case they had constructed a remote control rifle, in another they built a truck with double-armored plating and hatches men should shoot out of. Along hundreds of kilometers of front line, the Islamists have dug tunnels into the ground and laced the earth with TNT, improvised explosive devices and other devices rigged to explode.
Islamic State has also sought to infiltrate cities with cells of followers....
Zack Baddorf
nationalinterest.org/blog, December 22, 2015
Image: U.S. NavyThe French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle launched air strikes on the Islamic State from the Persian Gulf on December 20. This followed strikes from the eastern Mediterranean in November.
De Gaulle is the current flagship of Task Force 50, “which plans and conducts strike operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations,” according to the U.S. Navy.
The carrier has both Rafale and Super Etendard multi-role fighters. The latter are rather old—dating to the 1970s—and will retire from French service after their mission in the Gulf is complete.
After that, Argentina will become the sole Super Etendard operator in the world, meaning the strikes in Iraq and Syria may be the vintage jets’ last combat m ission. De Gaulle isn’t alone. According to the U.S. Navy:
“Escorting Charles de Gaulle are the French air defense destroyer Chevalier Paul (D621); the French anti-submarine frigate La Motte-Picquet (D645); the Belgian anti-submarine frigate Leopold Ier (F930); the German anti-submarine frigate Augsburg (F213); and the French command and supply ship Marne (A630).”...
Marc A. Thiessen
washingtonpost.com, December 21, 2015
A 2014 photo shows Tashfeen Malik, left, and Syed Farook, as they passed through O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Malik entered the United States on a visa. (Associated Press)The Obama administration insists that it is safe to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees because we have “very extensive screening procedures” in place. “It involves our intelligence community, our national counterterrorism center, extensive interviews, vetting them against all the available information,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes recently declared.
He left out one fact: Those screening procedures are so broken that, State Department records show, they let in more than four times as many suspected terrorists as they keep out.
The State Department admitted to Congress last week that it had revoked the visas of 9,500 individuals since 2001 who were believed to have either engaged in terrorist activities or were associated with a terrorist organization. Think about what that means: Nearly 10,000 people considered too dangerous to enter the United States because of suspected terrorist activity or association were mistakenly granted visas to lawfully enter the country. They successfully penetrated our defenses, beat our screening system and got their hands on U.S. visas....
Stephen Kruiser
pjmedia.com, December 21, 2015
FILE - In this Tuesday Sept. 9, 2014 file photo, civilians who fled their homes following an attack by Islamist militants in Bama, take refuge at a school in Maiduguri, Nigeria. A new refugee camp with 2,500 temporary homes is being built in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, and must be built by the end of Nov. 2015, some of the million-plus refugees are from the Boko Haram uprising giving another sign that few expect the conflict to end soon.(AP Photo/Jossy Ola, File)
Via Time:
More than a million children have had their education interrupted by the conflict in and around Nigeria, UNICEF announced Monday, on top of the 11 million children who are already out of school in the region.
According to the agency, more than 2,000 schools across Nig eria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have stayed closed since the beginning of the Boko Haram insurgency which has destabilized the region and displaced millions, including at least 1.4 million children. Approximately 600 teachers in Nigeria have been killed in the conflict, and only one out of the 135 schools closed in northern Cameroon in 2014 have been re-opened....
Robert Hand
Dec 29, 2015, 12:54:09 AM12/29/15
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Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 23:33:21 -0600
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 14:33:34 -0600
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Contents: (summaries below)
- When the enemy is a friend's friend, now.mmedia.me, Hanin Ghaddar
- IDF increases its forces along the Northern border, jerusalemonline.com, Rachel Avraham
- The Palestinian Authority Will Find No Friend in ISIS, jcpa.org, Pinhas Inbari
- ISIS 'Caliph' Threatens Israel in New Audio Message, clarionproject.org, Elliot Friedland
- Israel breaks up Hamas jihad terror cell, uncovers explosives lab near Jerusalem, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- The Real Threat to Palestinian Christians: Radical Islam, gatestoneinstitute.org, Bassam Tawil
- Assad again controls Damascus thanks to Russian air strikes and intelligence, DEBKAfile, DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
- Iraqi army declares first major victory over Islamic State in Ramadi, yahoo.com, Ahmed Rasheed and Maher Chmaytelli, Reuters
Hanin Ghaddar
now.mmedia.me, December 23, 2015
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of Lebanese terrorist Samir Kantar during his funeral procession in Beirut on 21 December 2015. Kuntar was killed in a suspected Israeli air raid on his home on the outskirts of Damascus. (AFP/Anwar Amro)
The assassination of Samir Kuntar earlier this week was a major slap on the face for Hezbollah and Iran — not because Kuntar is dead but because their support base in Lebanon and the region now understand their complicated alliance with Russia. Accordingly, Iran’s increasing vulnerability in Syria will be gradually exposed and this will further shake any remaining trust Shiites in the region have for Iran and Hezbollah.
This week, Shiites — mainly in Lebanon — face the bitte r fact that Russia allowed Israel to assassinate Kuntar. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s speech following Kuntar’s funeral was beyond lame. He spoke about Kuntar for four cold minutes before proceeding to lash out for over 20 minutes about Shiites in Nigeria and the US sanctions against the Party of God....
Rachel Avraham
jerusalemonline.com, December 28, 2015
Security increased in the North (Photo Credit: Channel 2 News)
Over a week after the elimination of the child murderer and senior level Hezbollah terrorist Samir Kuntar in a suburb of Damascus, Israel continues to prepare for a possible Hezbollah response. The IDF has increased the number of Security Forces in Israeli communities close to the Lebanese border. In the last week, the IDF barred farmers in the Metula area from approaching the Lebanese border.
Yesterday, Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech, where he threatened to respond to Kuntar’s elimination: “There will be consequences. Israel erred in its considerations. We will respond and avenge it. This can happen in Israeli territory or in any corner of the globe.”...
Pinhas Inbari
jcpa.org, December 28, 2015
God caused the Jews of the world to gather in Israel, and the war against them has become easy. It is the obligation of every Muslim to carry out Jihad. Jews, you will not enjoy Palestine. God has gathered you in Palestine so that the Mujahedeen can reach you soon and you will hide by the rock and the tree. Palestine will be your graveyard. We are getting closer to you day by day. Do not think that we have forgotten about you.1
– ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi audio message, December 26, 2015
The threats against Israel by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi constitute a change in this terror organization’s line. So far it has avoided such proclamations, and its official organs make almost no mention of the Palestine problem. On the contrary, when Hamas called on ISIS for help during Operation Protective Edge, the group officially rebuffed Hamas’s cry of distress and said the war against Assad was more important.
As for the PLO a nd the Palestinian Authority, they have not been referring to ISIS at all. The PLO wants to establish a Palestinian state, and that goal totally contravenes ISIS’s ambition to destroy the existing states and create a sharia-based caliphate in their stead....
Elliot Friedland
clarionproject.org, December 27, 2015
Apart from a shift in focus to threaten Israel, the message consists of the same ISIS themes - calling on all Muslims to pledge allegiance and join the fight.
The Islamic State’s self-proclaimed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio message exhorting Muslims to join him in his war against all non-believers.In the clip, which has not been independently verified, Baghdadi disparaged the anti-terrorism coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia, calling into question its Islamic credentials.
“If the Saudi Islamic coalition was actually Islamic it would have stated its goals to liberate Palestine” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reportedly said “and help the people of Sham [Syria] and declared war against the Rafida [Shiites]. If it were Islamic atheistic China would n’t have joined it.”...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 28, 2015
Iran’s proxy war against Israel: “The leader of the cell was Ahmad Jamal Mousa Azzam, who was recruited by Hamas and trained by the Iran-backed terror organization to assemble explosive belts, vests, and devices.”
“Israel Breaks Up Hamas Terror Cell, Uncovers Explosives Lab Near Jerusalem,” TheTower.org, December 23, 2015:The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, announced that it broke up a large Hamas terror cell that operated an explosives laboratory and planned to carry out suicide bombings, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday.
The majority of the cell’s members were students at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, and two of them were Israeli citizens. Their makeshift laboratory, also in Abu Dis, contained stores of chemical s necessary for making explosives, including the kind most often used in suicide vests....
Bassam Tawil
gatestoneinstitute.org, December 27, 2015
- The Christians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are no different from their brothers in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya, who face a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing at the hands Islamist groups. Yet Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders want the world to blame only Israel for the predicament of Christians.
- The PA's decision to cancel Christmas celebrations had nothing to do with Israel or the "intifada." It came after threats by Muslim extremists to target Christians and their holy sites.
- On Christmas Day, Muslim Palestinians hurled stones at the car taking the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land to Bethlehem. It would not surprise anyone if next year the PA decides to cancel Christmas celebrations for "security reasons."
- If, in the media and the international community, this strategy of turning a blind eye to the Muslim persecution of Christians continues, next year's Christmas in Bethlehem is sure to be an even less happy one....
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
DEBKAfile, December 26, 2015
The Russian air strike on Friday, Dec. 25, killed Zahran Aloush, founder of the most powerful Syrian rebel group Jaysh al-Islam and his deputy, gave President Bashar Assad a big break in the Syrian war, thanks to his powerful backer, Vladimir Putin.This grave loss will accelerate the breakup of Syrian rebel strongholds in and around Damascus. It will also hasten the evacuation under a UN-sponsored ceasefire of at least 2,000 rebels from the Damascus region.
Less noticed, was the UN plan to remove at the same time several thousands ISIS fighters from the Syrian capital and transport them to their Syrian headquarters. The latter project has not been trumpeted for good reason: It implies UN recognition of ISIS as a party in the Syria war.
For nearly five years, the war seesawed back and for th, with neither the Syrian army nor the insurgents gaining the upper hand for long, even after Tehran threw its Lebanese proxy, Hizballah, into the fray to bolster Assad’s army.
Interventions by the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan and Israel were too trifling and hesitant to tilt the balance in favor of the anti-Assad insurgent militias. Weapons supplies were inferior and tardy and kept the rebels heavily outgunned by the Syrian army’s tanks, helicopters and fighter jets, and helpless against the Iranian-made barrel bombs dropped by the Syrian air force.
The Obama administration was the architect of this uneven support strategy, going so far as to constrain the rebels’ other foreign backers against giving them the resources for carrying the day, aside from local victories.
This strategy had the effect of prolonging the vicious conflict – until it was cut short byt wo events:
1. In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant arrived in full force to capture the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, scattering seven Iraqi armed divisions to the four winds, and grabbing their sophisticated American weapons, along with their arsenals, that were crammed with good American tanks, armored personnel carriers, and an assortment of surface, antitank and antiair missiles.
Part of this booty was diverted to ISIS Syrian headquarters in Raqqa.
2. A year later, in late September 2015, President Vladimir Putin embarked on a massive buildup of Russian military strength in Syria - notably, his air and missile forces - for direct intervention in the war....
Ahmed Rasheed and Maher Chmaytelli, Reuters
yahoo.com, December 27, 2015
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's army declared victory over Islamic State fighters in a provincial capital west of Baghdad on Sunday, the first major triumph for the U.S.-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.
The capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The fighters seized it in May after government troops fled in a defeat which prompted Washington to take a hard look at strategy in its ongoing air war against the militants.
After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday.
"By controlling the complex this means that we have defeated them in Ramadi," said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side. "The next step is to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city."...
Robert Hand
Dec 30, 2015, 12:43:09 AM12/30/15
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Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 23:28:16 -0600
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:42:14 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday December 29, 2015
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Unlearning the Oslo Agreement's rules of appeasement, ronjager.com, Ron Jager
- Killing ISIS Softly, foreignpolicy.com, James Stavridis
- Israeli Expert Say Hezbollah Retaliation for Kuntar Assassination Likely to Come in Asia, Thailand, algemeiner.com, Algemeiner Staff
- Belgium: New Year's Eve terror attack thwarted, jerusalemonline.com, Rachel Avraham
- Iran Hands Over Stockpile of Enriched Uranium to Russia, nytimes.com, David E. Sanger and Andrew E. Kramer
- Jordanian Security and Prosperity: An Essential Aspect of Israeli Policy, BESA Center Perspective Papers No. 323, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror and Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman
- Islamic State in West Africa murders 52 with jihad suicide bombings, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- 'Moderate Islam' Isn't Working, nationalinterest.org, Cheryl Benard
Ron Jager
ronjager.com, December 20, 2015
According to the Israel Security Agency, October 2015 saw the beginning of a wave of terrorism that has led to 620 attacks (483 in the form of firebombs) that month, compared to 223 in September. Eleven people were killed in terrorist attacks in October, and 80 were injured, 37 of them moderately or more severely (one foreign national, 18 Israeli civilians, and 18 members of the security forces). In November 2015, 10 people were killed in terrorist attacks, and 58 were injured. Among the non-fatal casualties, 22 were wounded in stabbings (including 5 in Jerusalem and 10 within Israel). 24 people were injured in vehicle attacks, and 12 in shootings. The Palestinian Arab terrorism wave continued in December.
Below is a brief synopsis of what 3 random days of Palestinian Arab terror looks like:
November 9
- Eliyahu checkpoint (near Alfei Menashe, northern Samaria): Palestinian woman attempted to stab guards at the checkpoint. She was shot and killed by security forces. Knife and suicide note found on Palestinian woman killed in attempted stabbing.
- Tapuah Junction (Samaria): Four Israelis were wounded, two seriously, in a car-ramming terror attack directed at a group of people at a hithchhiking stop. The attacker was shot and killed by security forces.
- Beitar Illit (south of Jerusalem): A civilian security guard was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack. The assailant, a Palestinian woman, was shot and wounded.
- Ofra (northwest of Jerusalem): Two IDF soldiers were injured in a ramming attack. The Palestinian driver was shot and killed by soldiers on the scene.
- Abud (northwest of Jerusalem): Palestinian stabbed an IDF soldier in the neck. The attacker was shot and killed at the scene.
- Hebron: Two assailants stabbed and wounded a soldier. The assailants were shot and killed.
In contrast, in the interim period during the past 22 years, since the signing of the Oslo agreement, presented to the world as a “peace agreement” between the Palestinian Arabs and the State of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces have had to alter their military doctrine strategically as well as tactically, responding to Palestinian terror and conventional guerrilla warfare without even employing a fraction of the IDF’s immense firepower....
James Stavridis
foreignpolicy.com, December 28, 2015
Photo credit: Liu Jin/AFP/Getty ImagesAs we grapple with the continuing challenges of the Islamic State, it is clear that significant military efforts will be required. There are times when hard power has to be at the center of a campaign, especially against an apocalyptic cult that believes in burning, drowning, and torturing its victims while selling children into sexual slavery, among other horrors.
In terms of the military campaign, there are a series of clear steps that we should collectively undertake: building a robust command and control network; increasing intelligence sharing across the coalition; doubling the scope of the bombing campaign; upping the level of cyberattacks; cutting off financing; formalizing a special forces task force; putting in 15,000 troops to train local forces; conducting a multi-axis ground campaign against Mosul with Kurdish Peshmerga from the north and Iraqi security forces from the south; and drawing on the nascent Arab security coalition led by the Saudis to conduct ground operations in Syria....
Algemeiner Staff
algemeiner.com, December 28, 2015
Arch-terrorist and Hezbollah official Samir Kuntar, who was assassinated in an air strike. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).Hezbollah’s retribution against Israel for allegedly assassinating arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar in Syria will likely be against a target outside the Jewish state, said Professor Uzi Rabi, the director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, according to Maariv on Monday.
Predicting a “measured and calculated response” by Hezbollah, Rabi said it could happen in “Thailand, Asia or somewhere abroad.” Because of the volatility in the Middle East, as well as Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, the group probably would not stage an attack against targets in Isra el, said Rabi.
“We should remember that Hezbollah is bogged down in the Syrian quagmire,” he told an Israeli radio station, according to Maariv, “which has taken the lives of thousands of its people. I believe one third of their forces met their ends there.”...
Rachel Avraham
jerusalemonline.com, December 29, 2015
Photo Credit: Reuters/Channel 2 NewsThe Belgian Police arrested two people who planned to implement a terror attack in Brussels during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in two days. Due to the War against Terrorism, the New Year’s Eve celebrations across the world have increased security due to the fear of terror attacks occurring.
The Belgian Prosecution reported that they initially arrested six suspects but four of them were released at the end of the investigation. Two other suspects were found with military uniforms and ISIS propaganda but no weapons or explosive materials....
David E. Sanger and Andrew E. Kramer
nytimes.com, December 28, 2015
A Russian ship left Iran on Monday carrying almost all of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, fulfilling a major step in the nuclear deal struck last summer and, for the first time in nearly a decade, apparently leaving Iran with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon.
The shipment was announced by Secretary of State John Kerry and confirmed by a spokesman for Russia’s civilian nuclear company, Rosatom. Mr. Kerry called it “one of the most significant steps Iran has taken toward fulfilling its commitment,” and American officials say that it may be only weeks before the deal reached in July takes effect.
On “implementation day,” roughly $100 billion in Iranian assets will be unfrozen, and the country will be free to sell oil on world markets and operate in the world financial system.
For President Obama, the peaceful removal of the fuel from Iran is one of the biggest achievements in his foreign policy record, the culmination of a seven-year effort that at various times involved sanctions, cybersabotage of Iran’s main nuclear facility and repeated Israeli threats to bomb the country’s facilities.
Less than a year ago, many inside the Obama administration — and almost all senior officials in Israel, which regards Iran as a dangerous foe — said they doubted Iran would agree to part with a stockpile of fuel that gave it the potential power to build a weapon, even though the Iranians have said that was not their intention....
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror and Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman
BESA Center Perspective Papers No. 323, December 27, 2015
Photo: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu with Jordanian King Abdullah. (Credit: Moshe Milner, GPO).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israel has a strategic interest in, and long-standing commitment to, the safety, security, stability and prosperity of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In current times, the relationship is buttressed by a broad-ranging series of cooperative ventures in the strategic, security, diplomatic, economic and energy fields.
An important common thread runs, if sometimes invisibly, through a number of apparently unrelated policy decisions and actions made by Israel in recent years. All have to do with Israel's strategic interest in, and long-standing commitment to, the safety, security, stability and prosperity of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Among the decisions and actions that fall under this rubric are the understandings reached as to the maintenance of the status quo in the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif compound; strategic advocacy on regional affairs with friends in Washington (particularly on Capitol Hill) and elsewhere; the stance taken by Israel towards the challenge posed by the so-called "Islamic State"; actions taken to prevent Iran and Hizbullah, directly or by proxy, from gaining a steady hold in the Golan, particularly in its southern parts; and the construction of a physical barrier along segments of Israel's border with Jordan.
It also includes economic policy matters such as the Netanyahu government’s often bitter political struggle (against a rising tide of populist resistance) to ensure the ability to export gas from Israel's offshore fields; maritime trade arrangements with Turkey and new provisions for traffic at border crossings, as well as Israel's over-flight policy; ongoing policy on water allocation to Jorda n, well beyond the requirements of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty; and a move to implement the Red-Dead (Red Sea to Dead Sea) water carrier plan, including a planned large desalinization plant in Aqaba (which would facilitate mutual water supplies)....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, December 28, 2015
The Nigerian army pledged in October to end Boko Haram’s jihad terror activities by December.
Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and changed its name to the Islamic State in West Africa last winter.
“Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria leave 52 dead,” by Aminu Abubakar and Briana Duggan, CNN, December 28, 2015:Kano, Nigeria (CNN) Attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants have left more than 50 people dead and as many as 114 others wounded in the northeastern Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Madagali in the past 24 hours, according to residents and Nigerian officials.
Three young female suicide bombers detonated explosives — two of them together at a market in Madagali Monday morning, killing 30 people, a local official said, and one at a checkpoint in Mai duguri, where one person died.
Sunday evening in Maiduguri, Nigerian troops battled armed Boko Haram fighters trying to enter the city, fighting that left at least 21 people dead and 91 wounded, according to Mohammed Kanar, head of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)....
Cheryl Benard
nationalinterest.org, December 20, 2015
Image: Flickr/Muhammad Ghouri.Over the past decade, the prevailing thinking has been that radical Islam is most effectively countered by moderate Islam. The goal was to find religious leaders and scholars and community ‘influencers’—to use the lingo of the counter-radicalization specialists—who could explain to their followers and to any misguided young people that Islam is a religion of peace, that the term jihad refers mainly to the individual’s personal struggle against temptation and for moral betterment, and that tolerance and interfaith cooperation should prevail. The presence of local Muslim luminaries, taking the lectern to announce that what had just happened bore no relation to true Islam, has become part of the ritual following any terrorist i ncident in a Western country.
As director of the RAND Initiative for Middle Eastern Youth, I was an early proponent of this approach. It assumed two things: first, that because of a lack of education, or poverty or other handicaps, many Muslims had developed an incomplete or incorrect understanding of their own religion; and second, that the extremists were so much louder and had backing from various maleficent sources, and therefore were gaining larger audiences. The task therefore was to help moderate Muslims spread the word. Multiple and expensive programs were launched to fund religious instruction, radio and television shows, community outreach efforts and more.
With a track record of well over a decade, it does not seem as though this is working. Even granted that an undertaking of this magnitude—shaping the way in which a world religion sees itself—takes time, it’s unfortunately more than just a matter of progress being slow....
Robert Hand
Jan 1, 2016, 12:47:53 AM1/1/16
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- At least 60 people charged with terrorism-linked crimes this year - a record, washingtonpost.com, Ellen Nakashima
- Pentagon Building Cruise Missile Shield To Defend US Cities From Russia, defenseone.com, Marcus Weisgerber
- Iran's Guard Corps Receives Precision Ballistic Missile System, investigativeproject.org, Steven Emerson
- ISIS Recruiting for Chefs, Auto Mechanics, Bomb-Makers, Fitness Trainers, pjmedia.com, Bridget Johnson
- Facing death chants and hate crimes, Sweden's Jews live in a climate of fear, timesofisrael.com, Josefin Dolsten
- Europe is Committing Cultural Suicide , mideastoutpost.com, Ruth King
- UK breaks with U.S. on Muslim Brotherhood, washingtonexaminer.com, Steve Emerson and Pete Hoekstra
- America's Longest War Just Got Longer: Obama Extends Afghanistan Mission, defenseone.com, Molly O'Toole
Ellen Nakashima
washingtonpost.com, December 25, 2015
A photo taken on Sept. 11, 2015, in northern Iraq shows smoke rising in the distance behind an Islamic State group flag and banner. (Marwan Ibrahim/AFP/Getty Images)
The Justice Department has charged at least 60 individuals this year with terrorism-related crimes, an unprecedented number that officials attribute to a heightened threat from the Islamic State and the influence of social media on potential recruits.
Last week alone, prosecutors charged three people and convicted two others on terrorism-linked charges. One of those charged was Enrique Marquez Jr., a friend and neighbor of Syed Rizwan Farook, the male gunman who was killed in a firefight with police in the aftermath of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting ra mpage this month. That terrorist attack killed 14 people.
A second was Mohamed Elshinawy, a Maryland man accused of receiving at least $8,700 from the Islamic State overseas and planning to use the money to carry out attacks in the United States. He told prosecutors that a childhood friend had connected him through social media with an Islamic State operative.
The third was Jalil Aziz, a Pennsylvania man who was arrested for allegedly providing material support to the Islamic State, by spreading its propaganda on social media and for seeking to help the group’s supporters travel to Syria to fight. Aziz also encouraged other Islamic State supporters he communicated with to use U.S.-based encrypted messaging applications, prosecutors said....
Marcus Weisgerber
defenseone.com, June 18, 2015
The military moves to set up an expensive sensor-and-shooter network, but is the threat real?
The Pentagon is quietly working to set up an elaborate network of defenses to protect American cities from a barrage of Russian cruise missiles.The plan calls for buying radars that would enable National Guard F-16 fighter jets to spot and shoot down fast and low-flying missiles. Top generals want to network those radars with sensor-laden aerostat balloons hovering over U.S. cities and with coastal warships equipped with sensors and interceptor missiles of their own.
One of those generals is Adm. William Gortney, who leads U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, and North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. Earlier this year, Gortney submitted an “urgent need” r equest to put AESA radars on the F-16s that patrol the airspace around Washington. Such a request allows a project to circumvent the normal procurement process....
Steven Emerson
investigativeproject.org, December 29, 2015
...Tests on the Emad missiles in October may have violated United Nations Security Council resolutions. The system is touted for its precision, described as "steerable" until just before impact. While it is primarily for conventional weapons, the missiles can carry nuclear warheads.
Despite that, Iranian officials say the system is defensive in nature.
"We don't ask for anyone's permission for boosting our defense and missile power," Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said in October....
Bridget Johnson
pjmedia.com, December 29, 2015
Over the past few days, ISIS supporters have been circulating job openings in the Islamic State ranging from bomb maker to chef and fitness trainer.The online posting was pulled from the "Message Of A Mujahid" video released this past spring by jihadist Abu Sa'eed Al-Britani -- aka Omar Hussain, a former grocery employee from southern England.
Hussain frequently writes PR, including an appeal for doctors to come to the Islamic State and a detailing of the "culture clash" that Western jihadis experience in the caliphate, including Arabs who walk off with other guys' shoes and Chechens who throw their weight around.
In his listing of 10 jobs in the Islamic State, Hussain acknowledges that not everyone who might want to come join ISIS wants to fight, though "the distinction between a boy and a man is the act of fighting."...
Josefin Dolsten
timesofisrael.com, December 22, 2015
Illustrative photo of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 20, 2009. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
On a chilly fall day, passersby on a central street in Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, were greeted with chants in Arabic urging the killing of Jews.
“Death to the Jews,’ and ‘More stabbings,’ the protesters screamed,” recalls Jehoshua Kaufman, head of communications for Malmö’s Jewish community. The protesters at the October pro-Palestinian rally were referring to the near-daily stabbings of Jews by Arab assailants over the past couple of months in Israel.
Swedish politicians, including two parliament members, were present at the protest. However, after Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Isaac Bachman, condemned the event, they distanced themselves, claiming they had not understood the meaning of the Arabic slogans....
Ruth King
mideastoutpost.com, December 27, 2015
In Europe the influx of Moslem Arabs will only increase the growing anti-Semitism on the continent. Jews, in large numbers, are poised to leave. This will be a major blow to their host nations.
Please indulge me in a little ethnic pride.
Wherever they have alighted, Jews have had a disproportionate impact on every aspect of culture, the arts, science and technology.
Don’t believe me? Just go to the operas, concerts, hospitals, museums and research institutions throughout the United States—even in areas with a tiny Jewish population.
Mark Twain recognized this in 1897: “If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravaga ntly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished.”...
Steve Emerson and Pete Hoekstra
washingtonexaminer.com, December 24, 2015
"Aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology and activities … run counter to British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs," Cameron said in a statement. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
The United Kingdom broke from the largely complacent U.S. position on radical Islamists in a startling indictment of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).
"Aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology and activities … run counter to British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs," Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement. Cameron further states that "association with, or influence by the Mus lim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
As the West attempts to pinpoint potential terrorists, the Brits tell us where to look, and that is to the MB and its associates....
Molly O'Toole
defenseone.com, October 15, 2015
Obama halts Afghanistan withdrawal with plans to keep 9,800 troops there through 2016.
A U.S. Special Forces sergeant directs security positions during a patrol Feb. 20, 2011 in Panjwai District, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Ben Watson)
President Barack Obama announced Thursday morning that he will keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of his administration, scrapping his withdrawal plan from a war he once declared over and leaving a final drawdown to a successor.
Speaking from a White House podium, Obama told servicemembers that he would not send them into harm’s way lightly.
“But as your commander in chief, I believe this mission is vital to our national security interests in preventing terrorist attacks against our citizens and our nation,” the president said.
If the Afghan security forces were to fail, “it would endanger the security of us all,” he said. “This modest but meaningful extension of our presence, while sticking to our current, narrow missions, can make a real difference. It’s the right thing to do.”...
Robert Hand
Jan 5, 2016, 1:02:50 AM1/5/16
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Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2016 23:37:05 -0600
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2016 13:03:57 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday January 04, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| As the Mideast Descends into Chaos, Israel Must Have Defensible Borders YouTube video - 08:16 (Jan 3, 2016) Ryan Mauro on Fox & Friends: Top 5 Non-ISIS Terror Threats in 2016 YouTube video - 03:45 (Dec 30, 2015) ISIS video threatens Britain, 'mule of the Jews' David Cameron |
10 Things America Must Do To Defend Itself From Jihad YouTube video - 13:22 (Dec 28, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Jihad recruitment video highlights 'Minnesota martyrs', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Islamic State video shows murder of five 'British spies', telegraph.co.uk, Martin Evans
- Allah has bestowed Pakistanis the honour to destroy India, kill Hindus: Islamic cleric, zeenews.india.com,
- Palestinian Leaders Promise a New Year of Violence and Death, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- How to Block the Ongoing Palestinian Terror Wave, jcpa.org, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
- PMW founder gathers, circulates Palestinian messages of hate, kcjc.com, Barbara Bayer, Editor
- Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Saudi Arabia executes top Shia cleric, bbc.com,
- Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran, expels Tehran envoys, saudigazette.com.sa,
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 03, 2016
What is being done to prevent more Muslims in Minnesota from joining the jihad? Why, nothing. To take any such action would be “Islamophobic.”
Minnesota ISIS recruits“Terror Recruitment Video Highlights ‘Minnesota Martyrs,’” by Nina Moini, WCCO, January 3, 2016:
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) A new video, aimed at recruiting jihad fighters, highlights Minnesotans who have left to fight with terrorists.
Al-Shabaab released the 50-minute video Friday which was similar to past propaganda videos, featuring high-quality graphics and video editing to glorify fighting overseas.
It also attempts to use American history to justify the terror group’s actions, arguing the country’s history of racism will lead to more discri mination in the near future....
Martin Evans
telegraph.co.uk, January 03, 2016
Terror group publishes execution video as it threatens UK with new terror attacks and calls David Cameron an 'imbecile'
Intelligence agencies were hunting a new ‘Jihadi John’ after an Islamic extremist with a British accent murdered five men accused of spying for the UK.
In a video released on social media the masked gunman warned David Cameron that the West could never win in the war against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil), while mocking the impact of RAF airstrikes....
zeenews.india.com, January 03, 2016
New Delhi: Columnist and author Tarek Fateh on Sunday shared a video of a prominent Islamic cleric and former banker Irfan-ul-Haq provoking Pakistanis to destroy idol worship in India and kill Hindus.
In a lecture which the author said was held in 2011, the cleric said that if there is a place on earth where people worship stone idols, it is the Indian Subcontinent.
“Pakistanis should consider themselves fortunate that Allah has bestowed the honour to wage war against India to them,” the cleric said.
The cleric further went on to claim that the Prophet had said that there will be a war in India that will be 'Ghazwa-e-Hind' [Ghazwa-e-Hind is an Islamic term mentioned in some hadiths[118] predicting a final and last battle in India and as a result, a conquest of the whole Indian sub-continent by Muslim warriors].
“The genesis of Pakistan was prophesied to defeat India and Hinduism at the hands of Pakistan,” he further added.
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 04, 2016
- Instead of wishing Palestinians a happy and prosperous New Year, both Fatah and Hamas are asking their people to prepare for increased violence and "resistance," including suicide bombings, against Israelis.
- Fatah's armed wing used the occasion to issue yet another threat: "We will continue in the path of the martyrs until the liberation of all of Palestine."
- Masked Palestinians in Bethlehem attacked several restaurants and halls where New Year's Eve parties were supposed to take place. The assailants, eyewitnesses reported, were affiliated with Abbas's Fatah faction, not Hamas.
- Hamas banned Gazans from celebrating New Year's Eve, saying such parties are "in violation of Islamic teachings." Hamas does not want young Palestinians enjoying their time in restaurants and cafes. Instead, Hamas wants them to join its forces, armed and dressed in military fatigues, preparing for jihad against Israel....
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
jcpa.org, January 03, 2016
...Putting a stop to the terror wave requires making clear to Abbas and the Palestinians in general that the benefit of sustaining it is declining and the cost is rising. Destroying the homes of terrorists and beefing up the Israeli security forces’ presence is not enough. It is also vital, for example, to clamp down on Palestinians entering Israel illegally, cut back the number of Palestinian workers in Israel, and intensify surveillance of those exiting the problematic Jerusalem neighborhoods as well as inspections of Palestinian vehicles entering jointly used roads. Such measures are not pleasant nor photogenic, but they are essential to enhancing security. In parallel, Israel must clarify to the Palestinians’ Western supporters the role that the Palestinian leadership has played in encouraging the wave of attacks and demand that they stop supporting the phenomenon. Last week it was difficult to watch the State Department spokeswoman reject 30 senators’ req uest to close the PLO office in Washington by claiming that its presence is requisite to promoting the two-state solution (not for two peoples), while totally ignoring the senators’ assertions about the PLO’s incitement and payment of salaries to Palestinian terrorists and their families. The exchange was not covered in the Israeli media.
Barbara Bayer, Editor
kcjc.com, December 31, 2016
...Marcus said he meets with “decision-makers around the world so that policy can be based on an accurate assessment of what the real issues are.”
Troubling messages
So what are the messages being sent to the Palestinian people?
“The first message is demonizing or denying the national rights of Israel. The second message is demonizing Jews and denying essentially the humanity of Jews,” Marcus said.
Marcus said a third message is linked to the first two, thus justifying violence against Jews and treating those murderers and terrorists as heroes....
bbc.com, January 02, 2016
Image caption Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, seen here in an undated photograph, was a vocal critic of the Saudi authoritiesSaudi Arabia has executed the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the interior ministry said.
He was among 47 people put to death after being convicted of terrorism offences, it said in a statement.
Sheikh Nimr was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority have long complained of marginalisation.
Shia-led Iran said Saudi Arabia would pay a "high price" for the execution.
A foreign ministry spokesman said Riyadh "supports terrorists... while executing and suppressing critics inside the country"....
saudigazette.com.sa, January 04, 2016
Saudi Foreign Minister says Riyadh decided to sever ties with Iran and evict Iranian diplomats from the kingdom. (File photo: AP)
Saudi Arabia announced late Sunday that it would officially sever ties with Iran after having two of its diplomatic posts attacked in the Islamic republic.
Saudi’s Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, speaking in an address aired by Al Arabiya News Channel, said Iran’s diplomatic mission staff and related structures in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave.
He also accused Iran of having a long-track record of violating diplomatic missions, and called Tehran a regional menace for its smuggling of arms and explosives and its harboring of Al-Qaeda militants since 2001....
Robert Hand
Jan 6, 2016, 12:38:14 AM1/6/16
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Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 23:29:48 -0600
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 13:59:59 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday January 05, 2016
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
 House Democrats Go to War Against Free Speech YouTube video - 10:04 (Jan 2, 2016) See article #1 for more details Upcoming conference to study assault on pro-Israel evangelicals CLICK HERE for article and event information |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Congress moves to endorse Islamic blasphemy laws, americanthinker.com, Carol Brown
- Iranian Kurdish Parties: Tehran Executed Hundreds of Kurds in Past Nine Months, english.aawsat.com, Dalshad Abdullah
- Report: Hamas Accelerating Its Tunnel-Digging Operations Toward Israeli Border Towns, algemeiner.com, Algemeiner Staff
- Hezbollah Attacks Israel with Bombs on Lebanese Border, unitedwithisrael.org, Max Gelber
- Danon files complaint to UN against Hezbollah attack in the North, jpost.com, Danielle Ziri
- 5 Big National Security Questions for 2016, defenseone.com, James Lindsay
- Germany: 1000 Muslims commit mass sexual assaults of women around Cologne train station, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- How Deep are the Cracks in the Russian-Iranian Coalition in Syria?, INSS Insight No. 783, Zvi Magen, Udi Dekel and Sarah Fainberg
Carol Brown
americanthinker.com, December 31, 2016
There is a bill before Congress (HR569) that singles out hate speech against Muslims. And then some. As of this writing, the resolution, which is nothing short of sharia law, has 82 co-sponsors. All of them are Democrats. And while the bill has little to no chance of passing, it is a window into our future if we don’t change the self-destructive course we are on with respect to how we understand and relate to the Quran and those who follow its teachings.
The Gates of Vienna reports on this chilling reality – one we may have called creeping sharia in the not so distant past but is advancing at such a rapid pace and across such a broad spectrum of our society that “creeping” is now an outmoded term. It’s racing, and it’s infecting every nook and cranny of our culture.
HR569 is just one of the latest stabs aimed at the heart of America. It is Islamic supremacy and dhimmitude in action, as it elevates Muslims to a protected class, superior in position to all others....
Dalshad Abdullah
english.aawsat.com, January 04, 2016
Tehran Executed Hundreds of KurdsKurdish opposition sources in Iran have revealed yesterday that the executions carried out by the Iranian regime against the Kurds and other components are increasing annually, indicating that during the past nine months Iran, according to the Iranian calendar, executed more than 750 people, majority of whom are Kurdish.
These parties condemned the Iranian campaign against Saudi Arabia, and demanded the international community to end his silence regarding the crimes committed by the regime in Tehran against humanity, particularly the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran the night before last.
Vice president of Iranian Kurdistan Freedom Party and commander of the military wing of the party, Hussein Yazdan Bina told Asharq Al-Awsat that Since Ayatollah Khomeini’s re volution and up until now, executions of Kurdish citizens in Iran did not stop. Kurds are the only ones who are currently being executed by the regime in Tehran because of their political opinions....
Algemeiner Staff
algemeiner.com, December 31, 2015
Hamas has accelerated its tunnel-building operations near the Gaza border towards Israeli towns and villages, Israeli military officials said according to Walla news.Less than two years after Israel delivered Hamas’ tunnel infrastructure a serious blow during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014 Hamas’s fighters have stepped up the pace of their excavations.
Israel believes Hamas wanted to use the tunnels burrowed into Israeli territory to stage a terrorist attack against an Israeli border community near Gaza, perhaps even taking over a whole kibbutz or town.
Military officials said however that Hamas had suspended digging operations beyond the border fence, fearing Israeli technology meant to detect such activity, according to the report. Earl ier this year, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel was deploying a state-of-the art tunnel detection system along the Gaza border....
Max Gelber
unitedwithisrael.org, January 04, 2016
In an apparent revenge attack, the Hezbollah terror organization detonated an explosive charge against IDF forces operating on the northern border. No Israelis were injured. The IDF responded with artillery fire. IDF soldiers operating on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon came under attack by the Hezbollah terror organization on Monday when a large explosive charge exploded near their vehicles at the Har Dov area.
No Israeli casualties were reported.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar television station reported that Israeli troops were hit by a bomb along the border with south Lebanon in the Wazzani area. The Shiite Iran-backed terror group claimed responsibility for the attack....
Danielle Ziri
jpost.com, January 04, 2016
NEW YORK - Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon filed a formal complaint to the UN Secretary General after Hezbollah set off a large bomb on the Israel - Lebanon border, on the western section of Mount Dov on Monday, targeting two armored military vehicles that were clearing a road in the area.
Danon said the attack is a “flagrant violation” of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was passed in summer 2006 and called for a disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, including Hezbollah. The resolution also states that no armed forces other than the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon and the Lebanese army will be posted south of the Litani River.
The complaint, which was also filed to the Security Council, stated that “the United Nations must condemn the terrorist attack against Israel and demand that Lebanon stop all terrorist activities coming from its territory.” Danon added that Israel will act strongly against any manifestations of violence against it.
James Lindsay
defenseone.com, January 04, 2016
A Joint Terminal Attack Controller controls an HC-130J Combat King II from the 81st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Grand Bara, Djibouti, Oct. 20, 2015. (USAF photo, 1st Lt. Allie Delury)
On Tuesday, CFR.org posted an interview I did previewing the year ahead. My take in a nutshell: 2016 is shaping up to be a tumultuous year. The list of problems is long: a resurgence in terrorism, chaos in the Middle East, tensions in Asia, and sluggish global economic growth. All of this will be happening amidst what promises to be a raucous American presidential campaign that will likely generate more heat than light on the foreign policy challenges facing the United States....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 04, 2016
...The savage exploitation of girls and young women is, unfortunately, a cross-cultural phenomenon, but only in Islamic law does it carry divine sanction. These Muslims in Cologne no doubt don’t think they have done anything wrong — these women, after all, are just Infidels.
“Cologne Police Chief Condemns Sex Assaults on New Year’s Eve,” Associated Press, January 4, 2016:BERLIN — German police has described a series of sexual assaults against women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve as “a completely new dimension of crime.”
Officers received numerous complaints from women who said they had been assaulted around Cologne’s main train station next to the western German city’s famous cathedral on the night from Thursday to Friday.
Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers says witnesses described the assaults as coming from a group of up to 1,000 men whose appearance indicated they were of “Arab or North African origin.”
Some 60 criminal complaints have so far been filed, including one allegation of rape....
Zvi Magen, Udi Dekel and Sarah Fainberg
INSS Insight No. 783, January 03, 2016
...Russia made a strategic decision to intervene militarily in the civil war in Syria in order to defend the regime of Bashar al-Assad. This decision was based on Russia’s interests in the Middle East and elsewhere, headed by the desire to expand Russia’s regional influence, preserve a naval foothold on the Mediterranean shore, and to challenge the overriding standing of the United States in the Middle East. A “natural” coalition of Assad’s allies formed in Syria, comprising Russia, Iran, the Syrian army, Hezbollah, and Shiite militias operating as Iranian proxies. Despite the Russian statements that its military involvement in Syria was aimed primarily at combating the Islamic State, most of Russia’s attacks were designed to help the al-Assad regime, with airstrikes targeting rebel organizations and air support for Assad’s allies fighting on the ground.
It now appears that after months of air-land military effort by the Russ ian-Iranian coalition, the integrated attack, which focused on gaining control of essential territory in northern Syria (the Aleppo area, the Aleppo-Homs artery, and the passages to the coastal sector) has been halted. As a result, friction and conflicts of interest have surfaced between the pro-Assad coalition members, and political disputes have added to the military difficulties. Russian President Vladimir Putin has attempted to exploit the military intervention to forge an international framework to devise a political roadmap for ending the civil war in Syria. The diplomatic measures, however, have also bogged down. Moreover, the agreement between the major powers, specifically between Russia and the United States, to launch a political process that will shape a future settlement in Syria including the regime’s future was not regarded favorably by Iran....
Robert Hand
Jan 12, 2016, 1:49:12 AM1/12/16
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:25:16 -0600
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 13:21:07 -0600
Editor's Note: Monday January 11, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Exclusive: Inside an Islamic State Terror Weapons Lab YouTube video - 07:38 (Jan 5, 2016) Brigitte Gabriel just revealed the Muslim plan for the destruction of America CLICK HERE for video - 04:05 (January 11, 2016) |
10 Things America Must Do To Defend Itself From Jihad YouTube video - 13:22 (Dec 28, 2015) |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Obama ordered CIA not to support 2009 Green Movement in Iran because he wanted to court Khamenei, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Special Report: State of Defense 2016, defenseone.com, Defense One Staff
- How the US Could Respond to North Korea's Nuclear Test, ABC News , Alexander Mallin
- The clash between Sunnis and Shiites, Il Giornale , Fiamma Nirenstein
- Four Arab Countries Report 'Iranian Violations' to the United Nations, aawsat.com, Sawsan Abu-Husain
- Palestinian Authority sides with Saudis in Iran spat, timesofisrael.com, Lee Gancman
- Sweden: 'Have the Taliban Come to Town?', gatestoneinstitute.org, Ingrid Carlqvist
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 10, 2016
As demonstrations and revolts swept the Muslim world during Obama’s first term, he was enthusiastic. He had encouraging words for the “Arab Spring” demonstrators in Egypt and Tunisia, and even gave military assistance to their Libyan counterparts. During the third and last debate of the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney and Obama sparred over which could express support for the Syrian rebels (who are dominated by Islamic jihadists) more strongly, and as Obama’s second term began, his administration was inching ever closer to military aid for those rebels. Yet there have now been three large-scale demonstrations in Muslim countries that Obama did not support — and those three exceptions are extraordinarily revealing about his disposition, as well as his policy, toward Islam.
The three pro-democracy revolts that Obama refused to support were arguably the only three that were genuinely worthy of the pro-democracy label: the demonstrat ions against the Islamic regime in Iran in 2009, the anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations in Egypt in winter 2013, and the pro-secularism demonstrations in Turkey in recent weeks. There is a common thread between these three that distinguishes them from all the others: in Egypt in late 2012 and early 2013, as well as in Iran in 2009, the demonstrators were protesting against Islamic states; in Turkey, they were protesting against the Erdogan regime that is working hard now to establish an Islamic state. All the other demonstrations were not against pro-Sharia forces, but were led by pro-Sharia forces, and led to the establishment of Islamic states. To be sure, the Iranian demonstrators in 2009 contained many pro-Sharia elements that simply objected to the way the Islamic Republic was enforcing Sharia, but they also included many who wanted to reestablish the relatively secular society that prevailed under the last Shah. Whether the Sharia or the democratic forces would have won ou t in the end is a question that will never be answered — in no small part thanks to Barack Obama.
In every case Barack Obama has been consistent: in response to the demonstrations and uprisings in the Islamic world, he has without exception acted in the service of Islamic supremacist, pro-Sharia regimes....
Defense One Staff
defenseone.com, January 10, 2016
Defense One's annual year-ahead assessment of each military service finds a force ready to fight, but feeling the strain from all they are being asked to do -- still.Can you feel the strain? The Army wants more troops. The Air Force wants more money and newer planes. The Navy wants more ships and is battling over what to do with the fleet it has. And the Marines — well the Corps isn’t sure what comes next, but they’re staying in the fight.
Spend big, fight small. Be ready to roll everywhere, but stay out of a big war anywhere. Destroy the Islamic State, check down Russia and China, prepare for nuclear war, buy long-range bombers, defend cyber networks and satellites, patrol the seas, and expand covert special ops missions to capture and kill Islamic State leaders. And while you&rs quo;re at it, modernize the workforce, open up to women, honor commitments to families, and do a better job connecting with the American public.
The state of defense, from top to bottom, is everywhere. It’s a time of changes, to the force and its mission. But there is clear priority at the Pentagon: the war against ISIS....
Alexander Mallin
ABC News , January 07, 2016
...In remarks alongside South Korean President Park Geun-Hye in the White House in October, President Obama said the United States “will never accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.”
While it could take days or even weeks to confirm the truth behind North Korea’s announcement -- the White House claims initial evidence does not support the claim of a hydrogen bomb -- complex questions remain over what exactly the global community can do to push back against repeated provocations by the hostile nation.
Sanctions From Congress
Despite an excess of sanctions already in place against North Korea, David Albright of the nonprofit Institute for Science and International Security said today there are still more ways to financially penalize and pressure the country’s leaders.
“As it did in the case of Iran several years ago, Congress should act,” Albright said. “It should pass bipartisan financial and secondary sanctions legislation that increases the costs on North Korea and on those suppliers who support or turn a blind eye to its nuclear weapons endeavors.”
International Sanctions
In a post online, Victor Cha, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the U.N. Security Council is expected this week to authorize a new resolution calling for ramped up sanctions.
That’s despite the past three sanctions resolutions having no apparent effect on North Korea’s behavior.
But Jonathan Pollack, a senior fellow in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, said the international community should not lose faith in the power of U.N. sanctions and shift more focus to the banking sector.
Pollack stressed, however, it’s essential that North Korea’s strongest ally, China, commits to join in order for those to have a lasting effect....
Fiamma Nirenstein
Il Giornale , January 06, 2016
According to Amnesty International, Iran carried out the death sentence of about 700 people just in the first six months of 2015, approximately 4 executions every day. Similarly, about 700 people were put to death in Saudi Arabia, although in one year’s time. No, neither data is comforting: the numbers are staggering. However, it is not trivial to bring them to light while the Iranians continue to be portrayed with diplomatic grace. But the Shiite-Sunni confrontation has surfaced dramatically. The provocative execution by the Saudis of the Shiite preacher, activist and perhaps terrorist Nimr al-Nimr prompted the Iranians to react like wounded tigers.
The sequence of the events is well known: protests by Shiites took place everywhere, the assault on the Saudi embassy in Tehran (to be sure, not at the hands of an uncontrolled crowd), and the break of diplomatic ties by Sudan and Bahrain with Teheran on Monday; then, the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Cairo condemned the “interference" in the Saudi internal affairs, and the Saudis and their allies announced the suspension of all flights and trade links.The waves of the ongoing clash between the Shia and the Sunna deserve to be ridden by a great surf champion, but the West is contemplating in powerless astonishment "the boiling Sunni-Shiite conflict", as Eliezer "Geizi" Tsafrir, a former Israeli advisor for Arab Affairs to the Prime Minister and Mossad officer, called it. For us, this is a conflict without rights or wrongs, which begins 1400 years ago when two Muslim sects confront each other over the succession to Muhammad, igniting a clash that reminds us how in the Mid dle East some problems remain and problably will remain merely unanswered. For us, the caliph and the ayatollah are symmetrical as to ideology: they share the conviction that the destiny of the world is the sacred Islam dominance, although each of them believes in his own Islam. They have different styles and are both affable as long as it serves their purposes. They believe only in Allah and are convinced that eventually the West will have to surrender.
Even Russia, which now offers itself as a mediator, is appraised on the basis of a totally instrumental criteria, as much as the United States of Barack Obama, irrespective of the kindness displayed in the negotiations and the agreements. Sunnis and Shiites have been fomented by the stormy sea of the Arab Spring, which shook up Sunni and Shiite tribes as well as Kurdish, Alawite, Druze, Yazidi, Bedouin, and Christian ones....
Sawsan Abu-Husain
aawsat.com, January 11, 2016
The Arab ministerial council stressed its “full solidarity” with Saudi Arabia and gave Tehran two months before taking additional steps
Part of the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo yesterday (AFP)Arab foreign ministers emphasised their countries’ full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and called on the international community to take necessary measures to compel Tehran to respect the principle of good neighbourliness during an emergency meeting in Cairo yesterday which was held in response to an invitation from Riyadh to discuss the Iranian attacks on its diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad....
Lee Gancman
timesofisrael.com, January 07, 2016
Basem Al-Agha, Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, meets Saudi deputy prime minister Muqrin bin Abdulaziz on February 10, 2014.
(screen capture: YouTube)
The Palestinian Authority is standing behind Saudi Arabia in the current political row with Iran, Ramallah’s envoy to the desert kingdom told a leading Arab daily.
In an interview Wednesday with the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Palestinian ambassador Basem Al-Agha said that his government’s position has been clear from the outset, and that when it came to Saudi sovereignty and security, it stood firmly on the side of Riyadh....
Ingrid Carlqvist
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 09, 2016
- A third of the recent asylum-house fires have been started by the asylum seekers themselves. — Sveriges Radio, public radio.
- "A very strong contributing factor to this development [the refugee disaster] is in the deeply self-important Swedish view that this country is a moral superpower. We have gleefully acted as the world's conscience. We have made a moral virtue out of staying out of World War II, which others perceived as pure cowardice. And we have been pompous about not joining the military alliance NATO, while coldly calculating that others will come to our aid in the event of war. " — Stefan Hedlund, Professor of Russian and East European Studies.
"This means that the public prosecutor, the police and the Immigration Service have all disregarded that the 'husband' is guilty of a crime which carries a minimum penalty of two years in prison. So, it is fine for grown men to have sex with 13-year-olds in Sweden without any kind of legal ramification? Equality before the law? No way. What kind of signal does it send to other people in a similar situation, or those planning o n bringing a child bride here from their own country? Clearly, Swedish law applies only to Swedes."...
Robert Hand
Jan 13, 2016, 12:39:46 AM1/13/16
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2016 23:37:49 -0600
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:22:43 -0600
Editor's Note: Tuesday January 12, 2016
| Children Sport Dummy Explosive Belts, RPG Launchers In Bethlehem 'Fatah Day' Parade CLICK HERE for article and video |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
| Daniel Greenfield Moment - The Muslim Brotherhood is a Bigger Threat than ISIS. YouTube video - 10:01 (Jan 8, 2016) Obama administration plans shake-up in propaganda war against ISIS CLICK HER E for article and video Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb threatens to attack Rome, Naples and Madrid The organization continues escalating its rhetoric against France, threatening to commit more terror attacks in Western capitals to force Paris to stop its military intervention in Mali. |
| Hezbollah Fighters Are Fed Up With
Fighting Syria’s War CLICK HERE for picture, article and video |
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Three Decades of Iranian terrorism in the Gulf, english.aawsat.com, Adhwan Alahmari
- How Obama Created a Mideast Vacuum, politico.com, Dennis Ross
- ISIS Followers Plan to Take over Gaza Strip, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- IDF creates new, cutting edge unit to combat unconventional weapons, israelhayom.com, Lilach Shoval
- A Look at Where Countries Stand in Saudi Arabia-Iran Dispute, nytimes.com, Associated Press
- Islamic State trapped Christians in coffins and set them aflame, jihadwatch.org, Raymond Ibrahim
- Multiple jihadist attacks kill more than 30 in Iraq, yahoo.com, AFP
- He's failing to act on Iran-again., speaker.gov, Michael Shapiro
Adhwan Alahmari
english.aawsat.com, January 09, 2016
It began by commotions during the major pilgrimage and targeting oil refineries, and ended with militias
Iranian officials of the interior ministry sit next to a picture of late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (EPA)Iran’s threats to Gulf countries are not new and nor did they suddenly appear. Since the rise of the mullahs’ rule, Iran has turned into a country ruled by a revolutionary leader and is stepping up its rhetoric that some describe as “uncontrolled and unbalanced”.
After a year of Khomeini’s reign in Iran, his country threatened Saudi Arabia that it will regret lowering oil prices, and Iranian officials claimed at the time that Riyadh and Washington were conspiring to harm Russia.
That threat was followed by several others; the most obvious was made in 1990 before the Second Gulf War known as “Operation Desert Storm”, when the Supreme Leader Khamenei threatened that his country will respond to Saudi Arabia, especially considering that Saudi Arabia was conspiring with the West against it. Khamenei then advised Saudi Arabia and Iraq to commit to OPEC as it “is we who rule the waters of the Gulf”.
Iran has lately increased its threats to Saudi Arabia, especially before the military operations carried out by the Arab Coalition which is led by Saudi Arabia to regain legitimacy in Yemen. Before “Operation Decisive Storm” was launched on the 26th of March 2015, and the Iranian website “Tasnim” confirmed in an article it published that Yemen was under its control....
Dennis Ross
politico.com, January 10, 2016
Few issues have confronted President Barack Obama with tougher dilemmas than Syria. Over the course of the nearly five years of the war within Syria, Obama has faced choices on how the United States should respond and he consistently decided to do the minimum. From the outset, when Bashar Assad’s response to calls for reform was draconian and turned peaceful demonstrations into an uprising, the president’s first instinct was avoidance. He looked at Syria and he saw entanglement in another ongoing Middle East conflict where our involvement would be costly, lead to nothing, and potentially make things worse. In nearly every meeting on Syria when presented possible options to affect the Syrian civil w
ar, the president would ask “tell me where this ends.”He was surely right to ask this question. But he failed to ask the corollary question: Tell me what happens if we don’t act? Had he known that not acting would produce a vacuum in which a humanitarian catastrophe, a terrible refugee crisis, a deepening proxy war and the rise of ISIL in Iraq and Syria would occur, his responses might have been different. However, it was hard for him to ask that question because when he looked at Syria, he saw Iraq.
Given the painful legacy of the Iraq War, it was not surprising that he did so. In his eyes, Iraq was a colossal mistake. He had run against it. He had been elected to get us out of Middle East wars not into them. But was Syria really Iraq? As someone who believed (wrongly) that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, I made the mistake of supporting the Iraq War. Surely, other proponents of the war should be willing to acknowledge now th at it was wrong to seek regime change and not understand the vacuum that we would create in doing so; it was wrong to go to war without a serious, well-thought out plan for what it would take to create a credible transition, including the forces on the ground—military and police—needed to ensure security and the means to establish governance; it was wrong for us to become the administrator of Iraq, becoming the symbol of occupation, instead of having a United Nations interim administration; it was wrong to go to war without thinking through the consequences of unleashing a Shia-Sunni conflict that might not be limited to Iraq.
But Syria has always been a different issue. This was not an American invasion of a country but an internal uprising against an authoritarian leader. Assad consciously made it a sectarian conflict, believing he could survive only if the Alawites, and other minorities, saw their survival depending on his. Soon, thereafter, it was transfor med into a proxy war largely pitting Saudi Arabia and Turkey against Iran. A vacuum was created not by our replacing the Assad regime but by our hesitancy to do more than offer pronouncements—by overlearning the lessons of Iraq, in effect. And, that vacuum was filled by others: Iran, Hezbollah and Iran’s other Shia militia proxies; Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar; Russia; and ISIL. Unless the U.S. does more now to fill this vacuum, the situation will spin further out of control....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 12, 2016
- In the video produced by the pro-ISIS Palestinian Islamic Army (PIA), Hamas leaders are denounced for aligning themselves with moderate Arab leaders in the Gulf, who are described as "criminals and enemies of Islam."
- Apparently, Hamas has been too kind to Christians living in the Gaza Strip. The narrator blasts Hamas leaders for offering greetings to Christians on their holidays.
- It seems that there may be valid reasons for Egypt's reluctance to reopen the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, as well as to Israel's opposition to lifting the naval blockade on Gaza -- initiated to prevent weapons from being imported to Hamas and other extremists in Gaza. The PIA video provides proof that the Gaza Strip has become a hub for jihadi groups posing a murderous threat not only to Israel and "the West," but also to Muslims who are deemed by the terrorists as lacking in religious standards.
A new group calling itself the Palestinian Islamic Army (PIA) has popped up in the Gaza Strip, signaling incontrovertibly the growing influence of the Islamic State (ISIS) among Palestinians.A thirty-minute video put out by the PIA shows its followers pledging allegiance to ISIS "Caliph" Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and paints Hamas leaders as "apostates" and "infidels" for failing to implement Islamic sharia law in the Gaza Strip. The video constitutes proof positive that the ISIS ideology has infiltrated Gaza -- a truth that Hamas has unsuccessfully been trying to conceal for the past year....
Lilach Shoval
israelhayom.com, January 11, 2016
A Yahalom training exercise: The scope and size of the elite unit will see a substantial increase (Archive - Photo credit: KOKO)
Against the backdrop of a changing battlefield, Israel Hayom has learned that the Israel Defense Forces is in the process of establishing a new company within the Engineering Corps' elite Yahalom ("Diamond") commando unit to combat the threat of chemical weapons on land.
According to an officer familiar with the details, the decision to create the Sayfan ("Gladiolus") company was based on the IDF's most up-to-date intelligence assessments. The new unit's mission will be to detect, identify and treat unconventional materials in a combat zone.
The officer said soldiers in the new unit will have a very high security clearance and a unique and advanced set of capabilities, and will use technology that the IDF has never had until now....
Associated Press
nytimes.com, January 05, 2016
...THE MEDIATOR:
OMAN — The sultanate has long historical ties to Iran and served as the base for secret talks between Iranian and U.S. officials that jump-started the international deal reached on Iran's contested nuclear program.
THOSE BACKING IRAN:
LEBANESE HEZBOLLAH MOVEMENT — Hezbollah was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran's Revolutionary Guard after Israel invaded Lebanon. The group is one of the main Iran-backed factions in the region.
SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR ASSAD — Iran has been one of the biggest supporters of Syria since the 1980s and has stood by Assad's government in his country's grinding civil war. Saudi Arabia has been one of the biggest backers of those trying to overthrow him.
IRAQ'S SHIITE-LED GOVERNMENT — Al-Nimr's execution sparked outrage among the co untry's majority Shiites who have taken to the streets in Baghdad and the south, calling for an end to ties with Saudi Arabia. The Shiite-led government has warned Riyadh that such executions "would lead to nothing but more destruction."...
Raymond Ibrahim
jihadwatch.org, January 08, 2016
According to the recently published testimony of Karam Sa‘ad—a former sergeant in the Iraqi army who was imprisoned and tortured by the Islamic State in June 2014 but recently escaped—ISIS engages in atrocities that the West remains largely ignorant of. Among these and in the words of the escapee:They [ISIS] tormented them [Christians] in horrendous ways and many of them died [from the torture] during their captivity…. They used to put them inside what resembled coffins and then set them on fire from the inside.
The Western world was horrified when ISIS set a Jordanian pilot on fire, but as more escapees and former hostages share their experiences, it appears that such savagery is the tip of the iceberg.
AFP
yahoo.com, January 11, 2016
Baghdad (AFP) - Jihadist gunmen and bombers killed at least 12 people in a busy market area of Baghdad while a double blast at a cafe north of the Iraqi capital claimed another 20 lives.
An attack claimed by the Islamic State group and involving suicide explosions, gunfights and hostage-taking in the eastern neighbourhood of Baghdad al-Jadida wreaked chaos.
"A car came... gunmen came out of it and spread out. They started shooting, killing people, there were lots of dead people," said a witness, Salman Hussein.
The shocked young man, wearing a black track suit, recounted how one of the attackers held a shop owner and spoke on a mobile phone before detonating his suicide belt.
"The car they came in was laden with explosives and also blew up," he said....
Michael Shapiro
speaker.gov, January 08, 2016
...Time’s up, Mr. President. You should move forward with your initial plans to impose new sanctions on Iran for its recent ballistic missile tests. It seems your administration is intent on sweeping these transgressions under the rug, but we’re equally intent on ensuring the U.S. responds appropriately to these provocative actions. And now, key members of your own party are also losing faith in your ability to confront Iran.
This week, several key House Democrats, including DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY), criticized the president for his shameful capitulation to the Iranian regime:
“Inaction from the United States would send the misguided message that, in the wake of the JCPOA, the international community has lost the willingness to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its support for terrorism an d other offensive actions throughout the region….This behavior — including these ballistic missile tests — poses a direct threat to American national security interests and those of our allies.”...
Robert Hand
Jan 15, 2016, 1:35:50 PM1/15/16
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From: pvprea...@webtv.net
To: bornt...@att.net; hands...@webtv.net
Subject: Fw: Today's News Summaries
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2016 17:49:59 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 1:49 PM
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 1:49 PM
Editor's Note: Thursday January 14, 2016
| Bibi Netanyahu’s off-Script Remarks are Inspiring People Everywhere
CLICK HERE for video - 03:55 |
JERUSALEM ONLINE Your Link to Israel |
|
KNOW YOUR ENEMIES' HATE SPEECH AND PROPAGANDA PA TV host: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is authentic Jewish plan "They [Jews] are the slayers of the prophets and the slayers of the innocent. There is a falsified Biblical base to their path of blood... They began to Judaize education by flooding the media, as was written in The Protocol of the Elders of Zion" YouTube video - 01:14 (Jan 13, 2016) Music video on Fatah-run TV: "Drown them in a sea of blood, Kill them as you wish" YouTube video - 01:05 (Jan 13, 2016) The Glazov Gang-Choudary, Spencer and Jasser Battle It Out On “Jihad in Chattanooga” (2015 Glazov video of the year) YouTube video - 32:39 (Jul 31, 2015) |
|
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- ISIS Suffers Financial Blow as US Airstrikes Destroy Cash Warehouse, breakingisraelnews.com, Ariella Mendlowitz
- Analysis: For deterrence and the second nuclear strike, jpost.com, Yossi Melman
- Nuclear Pakistan Threatens to 'Wipe Iran off the Map' if it Attacks Saudi Arabia, unitedwithisrael.org, AP and United with Israel Staff
- A Disastrous Foreign Policy, Press Release, Speaker Ryan Press Office
- Israel, the West, and the Migration Challenge, canadafreepress.com, Gideon Sa'ar, INSS
- Robert Spencer in PJ Media: The Migrant Sex Assaults: 'Uncovered Meat', jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- The Islamization of Germany in 2015, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
- Germany to speed up deportations after Cologne attacks, yahoo.com, Madeline Chambers
Ariella Mendlowitz
breakingisraelnews.com, January 12, 2016
In its ongoing effort to rid the world of the threat that is the Islamic
State (ISIS), the United States dropped two 2,000 pound bombs on a cash storage facility in the city of Mosul, Iraq on Monday.According to the Associated Press, a US defense official revealed this particular facility housed “millions” of dollars meant as financial support for the terrorist regime. The funding pays for all ongoing ISIS operations, including its militants, deadly weapons, and propaganda.
The airstrike consequently destroyed all moneys that were held there....
Yossi Melman
jpost.com, January 13, 2016
According to foreign reports, Israel has upgraded the submarines to conform to its own unique needs, turning them into platforms to launch nuclear-tipped missiles.
Israeli Navy memorial for Dakar submarine.
(photo credit :IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, obsessed with his Holocaust fears and motivated by his political agenda, could not resist Tuesday hinting what has been so clear to the rest of the world for two decades – the fact that the Israeli submarine fleet was mainly established for the purpose of deterrence and, according to foreign reports, to grant Israel the capability of a second nuclear strike.
On Tuesday, the Israel Navy’s fifth submarine anchored at Haifa Port after a 3,000 kilometer voyage from the Ge rman shipyards in Kiel where it was built.
“Above all, our submarines serve to deter enemies that aspire to destroy us,” Netanyahu stated at the ceremony....
AP and United with Israel Staff
unitedwithisrael.org, January 11, 2016
Tensions in the Middle East are expanding to Asia, with Pakistan, a nuclear power, standing beside Saudi Arabia against Iran.
Pakistani army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has reiterated that any threat
to Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity would evoke a sharp response. He said Pakistan would “wipe Iran off the map.”Sharif made the remarks Sunday in a statement after Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman visited him in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital.
Salman earlier arrived in Islamabad, making him the second top Saudi official to visit Pakistan in a week amid growing tension with Iran.
The prince is also expected to meet with other Pakistani leaders. The visits came after Saudi Arabia and several of its all ies announced the severing or downgrading of diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran....
Speaker Ryan Press Office
Press Release, January 12, 2016
...A Disastrous Iran Nuclear Agreement
The nuclear agreement with Iran is a disaster. Its dictatorial regime stands to gain more than $100 billion in sanctions relief, and most key restrictions on its nuclear program will be lifted in as little as ten years. At this point Iran will be able to freely pursue nuclear weapons with the imprimatur of an internationally-recognized nuclear program. Meanwhile, Iran’s brutal regime, more emboldened than ever, continues to act with impunity without consequence from this administration. President Obama’s team even shelved plans to impose a fresh round of sanctions against Iran for its recent ballistic missile tests—a decision widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike.
A Misguided Priority Abroad
Climate change, which the president claims poses a greater national security threat than ISIS, has been his administration’s main priority on the international scene. He even went to Paris following the ISIS terrorist attacks not to develop a plan to defeat ISIS and protect our nation, but instead to secure a voluntary international climate change agreement, which holds no force of law. However, it’s another sign that the president’s international priorities are flat out wrong.
Gideon Sa'ar, INSS
canadafreepress.com, January 12, 2016
In 2015, mass migration, whether it be of refugees from war-torn areas or simply jobseekers, became a leading issue in many Western democracies. In the United States, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is riding a wave of popular antagonism toward immigration. In Switzerland, the Swiss People’s Party, which demands limitations on immigration, won a decisive victory in the October elections.
Immigration was also the focus of debate in the recent regional elections in France, to a considerable degree because of the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. Moreover, France is among the European Union countries seeking to formulate a uniform policy on the issue of migration, which pits principles of national character against humanistic values.
Overall, as public awareness to the issue of immigration rose, the political systems in most Western countries, heeding public opinion, moved in a more conservative direction. Concern about a change in national character as a result of the significant extent of the phenomenon has fed this trend. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s remarks about her desire to “drastically reduce” the number of immigrants reaching Germany thus signals a watershed in German immigration policy, after one million immigrants entered the country in 2015.
For Israel, the issue of immigration has a known strategic significance, with far reaching consequences for the broader sense of national security. Israel is the only Western country with a land border with Africa, a huge “immigration exporter” to the West, and is also very inviting to the many Palestinians residing illegally in Israel’s borders....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 12, 2016
In PJ Media today I discuss how the sex assaults in Cologne involved behavior sanctioned in Islamic teachings:
Not a single mainstream news outlet has identified the approximately 1,000
men who congregated by the main train station in Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve and raped and sexually assaulted hundreds of women — or their counterparts who did the same thing in Zurich, Helsinki, and elsewhere — as Muslims. But there is little doubt
that they were indeed Muslim, since they have been identified as migrants and most of the migrants are Muslims.Most importantly, identifying the attackers as Muslim leads directly to understanding the attacks themselves, because the attackers were acting in accord with Islamic teachings.
Sexual assault plagues all cultures — but only in Islam is it given divine sanction.
In 2006, then-Grand Mufti of Australia Taj Din al-Hilali sparked a controversy when he said:
If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem....
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 10, 2016
"We are importing religious conflict"
- A mob of a thousand men of "Arab or North African" origin sexually assaulted more than 100 German women in downtown Cologne on New Year's Eve. Similar attacks also occurred in Hamburg and Stuttgart. Cologne's Mayor Henriette Reker said that "under no circumstances"
should the crimes be attributed to asylum seekers. Instead, she blamed the victims for the assaults.
- "There is nothing wrong with being proud German patriots. There is nothing wrong with wanting Germany to remain free and democratic. There is nothing wrong with preserving our own Judeo-Christian civilization. That is our duty." — Geert Wilders, Dutch politician, addressing a rally in Dresden.
- "We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples, as well as a different understanding of society and law. German security agencies are unable to deal with these imported security problems, and the resulting reactions from the German population." — From a leaked government document, published by Die Welt.
- Germany will spend at least €17 billion ($18.3 billion) on asylum seekers in 2016 — Die Welt.
- Saudi Arabia is preparing to finance the construction of 200 new mosques in Germany to accommodate asylum seekers. — Frankfurter Allgemeine....
Madeline Chambers
yahoo.com, January 12, 2016
BERLIN (Reuters) - German ministers outlined plans on Tuesday to speed up the deportation of foreigners who commit crimes, responding to sexual attacks on women by migrants in Cologne which have deepened doubts about the country's open-door refugee policy.
The assaults on New Year's Eve, which are the subject of an ongoing investigation, have emboldened right-wing groups and unsettled members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party, raising pressure on her to crack down forcefully on migrants who commit crimes.
Under plans unveiled by conservative Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Social Democrat (SPD) Justice Minister Heiko Maas, foreigners who are found guilty of committing physical and sexual assaults, resisting police or damaging property, could be deported.
Under current law, most of these crimes carry probationary sentences and do not trigger expulsion....
Robert Hand
Jan 16, 2016, 1:10:01 AM1/16/16
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From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2016 1:39 PM
Editor's Note: Friday January 15, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE
Your Link to Israel |
| ISIS burns fighters alive for letting Ramadi fall |
| ISRAEL - A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS Israeli bone regeneration company CARTIHEAL raises $15m |
| Crops Can ‘Communicate’ Their Needs Through Revolutionary IoT Technology
PHYTECH CLICK HERE for article Meet LEXIFONE, The Real-Time App For In-Call Translation CLICK HERE for article |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Turkey attacks Islamic State targets in Syria, Iraq in response to Istanbul bombing, yahoo.com, Ercan Gurses
- ISIS strikes in Indonesia's capital, killing 2 and wounding scores, worldisraelnews.com, AP
- Why Iran-Saudi fallout will be costly for Moscow, Al Monitor, Paul J Saunders
- Tehran Acknowledge 200 Thousand Armed Youth in Five Countries , english.aawsat.com, Adil Alsalmi
- Rise in U.S. Terror Plots Tied to 'Unprecedented' Spike in Immigration, freebeacon.com, Adam Kredo
- In Pakistan, They Trust, frontpagemag.com, Caroline Glick
- Op-Ed: The other face of Jihad, israelnationalnews.com, Prof. Phyllis Chesler
- Anti-Semitism drives record-high Western European immigration to Israel, timesofisrael.com, Aron Heller
Ercan Gurses
yahoo.com, January 14, 2016
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish tanks and artillery have bombarded Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq over the past 48 hours, killing almost 200 of its fighters in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Istanbul, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday.
An Islamic State suicide bomber, who entered Turkey as a Syrian refugee, blew himself up among groups of tourists in the historic center of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 10 Germans and seriously wounding several other foreigners.
Turkey, a NATO member and part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, would also carry out air strikes against the radical Sunni militants if necessary and would not yield until they were flushed from its borders, Davutoglu said....
AP
worldisraelnews.com, January 14, 2016
With an aim to conquer the world, ISIS has broadened its theater of operations, striking in another Muslim country.
Indonesian forces at the site of the attack.
(AP/Achmad Ibrahim)
Islamic terrorists set off suicide bombs and exchanged gunfire outside a Starbucks cafe in Indonesia’s capital in a brazen assault Thursday that police said “imitated” the recent Paris attacks and was probably linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.
All five terrorists and a Canadian and an Indonesian died in the mid-morning explosions and gunfire that were watched by office workers from high-rise buildings on Thamarin Street in Jakarta, not far from the presidential palace and the US Embassy, police said. Another 19 people were injured.
When the area was finally secured a few hours later, bodies were sprawled on sidewalks. But given the firepower the attackers carried — handguns, grenades and homemade bombs — and the soft targets they picked in a bustling, crowded area, the casualties were relatively few compared to the mayhem and carnage caused by the Paris attacks....
Paul J Saunders
Al Monitor, January 15, 2016
The ongoing dispute between Iran and Saudi Arabia following
the kingdom’s execution of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on terrorism charges adds to many of the Middle East’s existing problems, but might be especially challenging for Russia’s foreign policy in the region.As a rule, Moscow has consistently sought to maintain cooperative relationships across the Middle East and, where possible, avoid taking sides in ways that could damage long-term Russian interests. Thus, for example, Russia has supported Palestinian aspirations for an independent state and criticized Israeli settlement policy while building a strong economic relationship with Israel and withholding condemnation of Israeli responses to domestic terrorism.
Similarly, notwithstanding its cooper ation with Iran; intense concern over Sunni extremism and its contribution to terrorism inside Russia; reservations about Saudi and Qatari support for armed groups opposing Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad; and suspicions about Saudi motives for allowing oil prices to remain so low for so long, Moscow has recognized Saudi Arabia’s central role and has tried to build a working relationship with Riyadh and through it with other predominantly Sunni states. Searching the Kremlin website shows that President Vladimir Putin has had three acknowledged telephone conversations and one meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, plus a meeting with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since Russia’s intervention in Syria. Putin also had two publicly disclosed telephone calls with the Saudi king in the two weeks before he launched Russia’s airstrikes....
Adil Alsalmi
english.aawsat.com, January 14, 2016
Soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary GuardsIn the first official confession of the presence of Iranian Armed youth, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari, acknowledged training tens of thousands of Shiite youths, whom he called the armed revolutionary generation, for jihad in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.
Jafari said, at the funeral of Hamid Reza Asadullah, a leader in the Revolutionary Guards who was killed in Syria, that the positive outcome of the developments and events in the region is the training of about two hundred thousand armed young troops and the major role these troops are playing in the countries of the region.
Jafari added that he is looking forward to encouraging the third generation of the revolution to support the Iranian Guardian Jurist, poin ting out the importance of the presence of Iranian youths in battles of Syria, Iraq and Yemen....
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com, January 14, 2016
Migrants and refugees walk towards the border with Serbia/APThere is growing concern on Capitol Hill that a recent spike in the number of foreigners arrested in the United States on terrorism charges is the result of a flawed Obama administration immigration policy that will grant residence to around 170,000 individuals from Muslim-majority nations in the coming year, according to conversations with lawmakers and congressional sources.
With the indictment last week of two Iraqi refugees who allegedly conspired with ISIS, a number of lawmakers are now warning that poor screening methods and an administration plan to boost immigration will endanger national security.
Recent efforts by Congress to investigate the immigration histories of at least 113 foreign-born individuals snagged on terror charges since 2014 have been blocked by the Obama administration. There are at least 1,000 open investigations into ISIS members residing in the United States, sources said.
New cases of legal immigrants participating in alleged terrorist plots are cropping up on a near daily basis, according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), who has been spearheading an effort to investigate how these individuals are passing through U.S. security screenings....
Caroline Glick
frontpagemag.com, January 13, 2016
It is a testament to the precarious state
of the world today that in a week that saw North Korea carry out a possible test of a hydrogen bomb, the most frightening statement uttered did not come from Pyongyang.It came from Pakistan.
Speaking in the military garrison town of Rawalpindi, Pakistani Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif said that any Iranian threat to Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity will “wipe Iran off the map.”
Sharif made the statement following his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to media reports, Salman was the second senior Saudi official to visit Pakistan in the past week amid growing tensions between Iran and the kingdom.
Salman’s t rip and Sharif’s nuclear threat make clear that following the US’s all-but-official abandonment of its role as protector of the world’s largest oil producer, the Saudis have cast their lots with nuclear-armed Pakistan....
Prof. Phyllis Chesler
israelnationalnews.com, January 09, 2016
...I am haunted by an Algerian story which took place in Hassi Messaoud in the summer of 2001. A mob of three hundred men, incited by a Friday sermon in the mosque, embarked upon a three day pogrom against women whom the Imam had targeted as “immoral.” The women had been bussed in from another province. Some owned hair dressing salons but most cleaned the offices of foreign companies. Shouting “Allahu Akhbar,” the men went to war against 39 impoverished Muslim women.
They tortured, stabbed, mutilated, gang-raped, buried alive and murdered these innocent but vulnerable women. Unsurprisingly, some of the women who survived became mentally ill. Algerian-American lawyer, Karina Bennoune, writes: “Terrorist attacks on women in Algeria have had the desired effect: widespread psychosis among the women; internal exile—living in hiding, both physically and psychologically, in their own country.” In Bennoune’s view, “the co llective psychosis” is due to the “escalation of violence” by the “soldiers of the Islamic state.” (This is pre-Daesh in Iraq and Syria).
In addition to what happened in Germany and Austria, similar male Muslim group gropings and assaults of women on New Year's Eve have now been widely reported to the police in Finland and Sweden.
If Germany and Austria—if all Europe--does not find, prosecute, and deport all the men who took part in the recent New Year's Eve atrocities, they will soon discover that such attacks might become regular features of European life and will occur on most holidays; that, like Muslim women, European women will increasingly live in fear; begin to stay indoors; and that female workers will increasingly suffer from post-traumatic stress symptoms. A European woman’s quality of life and efficiency at work may decrease. This will be true for women of every ethnicity and religion....
Aron Heller
timesofisrael.com, January 14, 2016
Amid rise in attacks, 9,880 make aliya in 2015, including almost 8,000 from France
AP — Jewish immigration to Israel from Western Europe has reached an all-time high as
a result of a rise in anti-Semitic attacks, a leading nonprofit group said Thursday.The Jewish Agency, which works closely with the Israeli government and acts as a link for Jews around the world, reported that 9,880 Western European Jews immigrated to Israel in 2015 — the highest annual number ever.
The vast majority, close to 8,000, came from France where a rise in anti-Semitic attacks has shattered the sense of security of the world’s third-largest Jewish population.
Just this week, a machete-wielding teen attacked a Jewish teacher in the French town of Marseille, prompting a local Jewis h authority to ask fellow Jews to refrain from wearing their traditional skull caps to stay safe....
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Robert Hand
Jan 19, 2016, 6:34:37 AM1/19/16
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Subject: Fw: Today's News Summaries
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 03:57:48 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 1:31 PM
Editor's Note: Monday January 18, 2016
| Skunk: A "degrading form of abuse" or safe, non-toxic alternative
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| 3 Freed Americans Leave Iran; U.S. Places New Sanctions |
| The Iran Nuclear Deal – Pathways to a Nuclear Bomb CLICK HERE for article and flowcharts A trip to the 'Islamic State' Writer and journalist Tzur Shezaf traveled through no man's land, where Syria and Iraq melded into one in the wake of the ruthless c ampaign of the Islamic State; he met with ISIS captives who told him that as a Jew he must be beheaded, and spoke with their Yazidi victims and the Kurdish men and women who bravely fight against them. |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Speaker Ryan Outlines the 2016 House Agenda Issues, Press Release, Speaker Paul Ryan
- How (and Why) Palestinian Leaders Scare the World, gatestoneinstitute.org, Khaled Abu Toameh
- Army Testing Robo-Parachutes That Don't Need GPS, defenseone.com, Patrick Tucker
- House Approves Greater Oversight of Iran Nuclear Deal, abcnews.go.com, Richard Lardner, AP
- US finds Iran in compliance with deal, lifts nuclear sanctions, thehill.com, Julian Hattem
- Oil glut dampens Iran's hopes for big cash flows as sanctions lift, washingtonpost.com, Steven Mufson
- Iran Vows to Continue Advancing Missile Program, en.farsnews.com,
- Netanyahu Asserts Israel Will Be Iran's Watchdog, nytimes.com, Steven Erlanger
Speaker Paul Ryan
Press Release, January 15, 2016
...“This is nothing short of a generational defining moment,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said. “We do not like the direction the country is going, and we have an obligation to offer an alternative. Starting today, we will begin developing a bold, pro-growth agenda to take to the country. By giving the people a clear choice in 2016, we can earn a mandate to do big things in 2017 and beyond. We want a confident America. Now it’s time to get to work.”
Speaker Ryan laid out his commitment to put forward an agenda last month in a speech at the Library of Congress. The agenda will focus on five top issues of concern to the American people:
National Security
Americans are anxious about their security, and the government’s ability to keep us safe. We will advance ideas to secure our homeland, build a 21st-century military, and make sure we’re equipped to defeat ISIS and the threat posed by r adical Islamic terror.
Jobs and Economic Growth
Our economy is still far from its potential, wages are still stagnant, and growth is still sluggish. We will advance ideas to fix our tax code, rein in the regulatory state, and maximize our energy potential....
Khaled Abu Toameh
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 15, 2016
- Abbas has perfected the art of financial extortion. Every Monday and Thursday, as it were, the Palestinian Authority (PA) president has threatened to resign and/or dissolve the PA. This tactic has a twofold aim: cold hard European and American cash, and
a gaze directed away from the PA's turmoil.
- The PA wants the following response from the international community: "Oh my God, we must do something to salvage the peace process. We need to put even more pressure on these Israelis before matters get out of hand."
- Abbas wants the world's eyes on Israel -- and Israel alone. That way, the fierce behind-the-scenes battle for succession that has been raging among the top brass of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank will stay far from the limelight.
- The PA seeks a solution imposed upon Israel by the international community. Why negotiate when Western powers are prepared to do everything to see Israel brought to its knees?....
Patrick Tucker
defenseone.com, January 14, 2016
...The testing of a GPS-free version of JPADS is yet another example of efforts to develop alternatives to satellite guidance. “GPS is very expensive to launch and operate,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said during an April 24 podcast from Silicon Valley, according to National Defense magazine. The global positioning system, he said, “makes us vulnerable to attacks, it is impossible to use in the valleys of Afghanistan or in a big city [where signals are blocked], or in places where the signal is poor.”
“At DoD, we worry about enemies jamming GPS signals.” Army Maj. Christopher Brown, who helps run the service’s efforts in position, navigation and timing, or PNT, told C4ISR & Networks last year. “Threats to military GPS have evolved and improved at a rapid pace — from a proliferation of small-scale commercial jamming devices that can readily be purchased on eBay to large-scale military anti-access/area-d enial (A2/AD) capabilities.”
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is working on a variety of PNT efforts to free the military from its reliance on increasingly insecure location signals and expensive satellites. They’re working on new tech that uses everything from pulsed lasers to atomic clocks.
Once it proves its ability to escort military cargo safely to the ground, Bessette believes, Draper’s JPAD tech could find its way into self-driving cars and other aerospace applications.
“For example, drones will likely leverage the technology once it matures,” he said.
Richard Lardner, AP
abcnews.go.com, January 13, 2016
Less than 24 hours after Iran's detention and release of U.S. sailors, the House approved GOP-backed legislation that amplifies Republican distrust of Tehran and would give Congress greater oversight of the landmark nuclear agreement.
Lawmakers voted 191-106 Wednesday to approve the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act, spurning a veto threat from President Barack Obama. However, the vote count fell well short of the number needed to override a veto: Speaker Paul Ryan, determined to keep the House on schedule, had the vote gaveled to a close even though 137 lawmakers hadn't voted.
Faced with frustrated members, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., later "vacated" the vote — essentially rendering it null and void — and scheduled another one for Jan. 26, when House Republican will almost certainly approve the legislation for a second time.
By that time, it may be too late for the legislation to have the impact its backers envisioned. The House bill would bar the removal of certain individuals and foreign financial institutions on a restricted list kept by the Treasury Department until the president certifies to Congress that they weren't involved in Iran's ballistic missiles program or in terrorist activities.
Yet the United States is poised to begin lifting sanctions against Iran as Tehran fulfills its obligations under the July deal. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that Iran will likely be in compliance within days. The White House said the bill could cause "the collapse" of the agreement and that the president will reject the legislation if it ever reaches his desk....
Julian Hattem
thehill.com, January 16, 2016
Getty ImagesThe United States on Saturday lifted sanctions against Iran and announced that four Americans held prisoner in the country will be returning home, in a whirlwind day of diplomacy that cements President Obama’s engagement with Iran as a pillar of his legacy.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog certified Iran has fulfilled its promises to prevent it from building a nuclear weapon, after decades of tensions, years of negotiations and months of work to implement the international nuclear deal reached six months ago.
The State Department confirmed moments later that the nuclear deal is now implemented, thereby lifting a slate of sanctions.
In Vienna, Secretary of State John Kerry touted the step as a vin dication of diplomacy in the face of doubters.
"I think we have also proven once again why diplomacy must be our first choice and war a last resort," Kerry said.
"Iran has undertaken significant steps that many, and I do mean many, people doubted would ever come to pass," he added.
Iran's level of enriched uranium is two percent of what it was before the agreement, Kerry said while pointing to a range of steps Iran has taken....
Steven Mufson
washingtonpost.com, January 16, 2016
An
Iranian oil worker bikes through the Tehran oil refinery in December 2014. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
Iran is about to get a refresher course in the capricious nature of the oil market and the durable nature of economic sanctions.
When U.S. and other international sanctions were tightened in 2012 and took nearly 700,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude oil off world markets, the price of an average barrel of OPEC oil ran $109.45.
But with the easing of those sanctions today, Iran is poised to boost its sales of oil in the middle of a massive glut, with the OPEC benchmark average barrel selling for just $25, less than a quarter of the 2012 level.
The result will be sharply lower reven ue for Iran than its leaders anticipated two years ago when they began negotiations to end sanctions linked to the Iranian nuclear program. The oil glut will force a slower ramping up of Iran’s oil fields and exports than Iran had planned, and it could make international oil companies more wary and tight-fisted about making new investments....
en.farsnews.com, January 18, 2016
TEHRAN (FNA) - Iran reacted to the new US sanctions after
implementation of the nuclear deal with vows to further make progress in its missile program."As explicitly stated before, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond to such propaganda and harassing measures with pursuing its legal missile program more seriously and enhancing its national defense and security capabilities," a statement by the foreign ministry said on Monday.
It also underlined that allegations against Iran's defensive and deterrent missile program by the US which is the biggest seller of advanced weapons to the regional states, used against the Palestinian and Yemeni civilians, are not legally and morally legitimate.
"Iran's missile program has not been designed for carrying nuclear weapons at al l and therefore, it doesn’t violate any international rule," the statement added.
The US imposed fresh sanctions on Iranian companies and individuals over a recent ballistic missile test right after Tehran and the world powers started implementation of the July nuclear deal whose key purpose was removal of all embargos against Iran....
Steven Erlanger
nytimes.com, January 17, 2016
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday, “Iran has not relinquished
its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons.” (Credit: Pool photo by Dan Balilty)
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel warned on Sunday that his nation would ensure that Tehran never obtains nuclear weapons, while also taking credit for keeping Iran from already having them.
Mr. Netanyahu has been an open and vocal opponent of the deal with Iran. Speaking at the start of the regular weekly cabinet meeting, Mr. Netanyahu said, “Israel’s policy has been and will remain exactly what it has been: not to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.”
He also said that the recent accord would strengthen and embolden Iran’s leaders, since the lifting of most sanct ions would free up money for Tehran to arm and support the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Shiite militias and Israel’s enemies in the region, including Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad....
Robert Hand
Jan 20, 2016, 1:12:25 AM1/20/16
to
Subject: Fw: Today's News Summaries
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2016 05:59:30 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 1:46 PM
Editor's Note: Tuesday January 19, 2016
| John F. Kennedy:
Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy
and it honors the sword of freedom. JERUSALEM ONLINE-Your Link to Israel |
CLARE LOPEZ Exposes Benghazi and Clinton and Blumenthals!
YouTube video - 19:26 (Jan 18, 2016) COLOGNE MIGRANT RAPISTS 'Moroccan criminals who entered Germany posing as Syrian refugees' |
| EXCELLENT VIDEO Europe's Betrayal of Women YouTube video - 07:19 (Jan 15, 2016) Terror Hits Home in TEKOA Intense show!!! Last night a 38 year old mother of four was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in her home. During the show, a terrorist attacks pregnant women in Tekoa. The rest of the show is done from lockdown. |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Iran to Begin Construction on Two New Nuke Plants, freebeacon.com, Adam Kredo
- Analysis: Iran deals may not herald rapid changes, yahoo.com, Adam Schreck, AP
- Obama Against the Will of His Predecessors, mythsandfacts.org, Eli. E. Hertz
- Column one: The Obama administration's most covert war, jpost.com, Caroline Glick
- ISIS massacres 300 and kidnaps at least 400 including women and children during attack on government-held city, MailOnline, Tom Wyke
- The Islamization of France in 2015, gatestoneinstitute.org, Soeren Kern
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com, January 19, 2016
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani/APThe head of Iran’s atomic energy organization announced on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic, with assistance from Russia and China, will move forward on the construction of two new nuclear power plants, according to comments published in Iranian state-controlled media.
Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told Iranian reporters that construction on these new nuclear plants will begin in the “near future,” according to Fars News Agency.
“Construction of two 1000-MW power plants will start soon,” Salehi was quoted as saying. “We will build two other small power plants too in cooperation with China,” he added.
A handful of European and Asian countries have expressed renewed interest in cooperating with Iran to help develop its nuclear industry now that the landmark nuclear agreement has been implemented, according to Salehi....
Adam Schreck, AP
yahoo.com, January 18, 2016
...And for all the conversations U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Zarif have had over the past few years, the fact remains that they represent countries that do not have formal diplomatic relations.
Official ties were severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the storming of the U.S. Embassy. Wide-ranging U.S. sanctions imposed over the years and unrelated to Iran's nuclear program remain in place. That will complicate American companies' ability to do business in the Islamic Republic.
"Both sides would like to open a new chapter. This does not mean they see eye to eye," said Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics. "This does not mean the end to mistrust. This does not mean the end to divergent interests in the region."
Still, the two diplomats have forged a working relationship that can at times bear fruit.
Months of negotiations resulted in the release of four Iranian-Americans from pr ison, including Washington Post journalist, in exchange for seven Iranians held in the U.S., six of them also dual nationals. A fifth American held in Iran, student Matthew Trevithick, was also released.
And rapid-fire diplomacy managed to get 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their boats released from Iranian custody in less than 24 hours last week — an unthinkably quick turnaround compared to past cases where foreigners found themselves in Iranian territory.
But there are limits.
Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, who is believed to be detained in Iran, was not part of this weekend's prisoner swap. Also still missing is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007 on an unauthorized CIA mission.
Iran meanwhile remains a staunch backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, putting it at odds with the U.S. and Sunni Arab powers including Saudi Arabia, even as it shares the West's interest in defeating the Isl amic State group. In Yemen, a U.S.-supported, Saudi-led coalition is fighting to roll back gains by Iranian-backed Shiite rebels.
And mistrust runs deep on both sides....
Eli. E. Hertz
mythsandfacts.org, January 18, 2016
Before the Zionist movement assumed concrete form, among the first to express approval of the return of the Jews to Palestine was John Adams, the second President of the United States (1797-1801) who wrote to Major Mordecai Manuel Noah,[i] the first American Zionist, as follows:
"I really wish the Jews again in Judea, an independent nation; as I believe, the most enlightened men of it have participated in the amelioration of the philosophy of the ages; once restored to an independent government, and no longer persecuted, they would soon wear a way some of the asperities and peculiarities of their character. I wish your nation may be admitted to all the privileges of citizens in every part of the world. This country (America) has done much; I wish it may do more and annul every narrow idea in religion, government, and commerce." (1819).
President Woodrow Wilson (the twenty-eighth President, 1913-1921) was the first American president to sup port modern Zionism and Britain's efforts for the creation of a National Home for the Jewish people in Palestine (the text of the Balfour Declaration had been submitted to President Wilson and had been approved by him before its publication)....
Caroline Glick
jpost.com, January 14, 2016
The Obama Administration believes it is at war with Israel - not a shooting war, but a political war.
President Barack Obama boards Marine One at the Hope landing zone for departure en
route to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. (photo: Official White House Photo/Pete Souza)
Over the past several weeks, we have learned that the Obama administration believes it is at war with Israel. The war is not a shooting war, but a political war. Its goal is to bring the government to its knees to the point where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loses power or begs Obama and his advisers to shepherd Israel through a “peace process” in which Israel will renounce its rights to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
One component of this war is espionage. Last month The W all Street Journal reported that Israel is a top target for American espionage.
The other component of the administration’s war against Israel is political subversion. Over the past week, the administration has campaigned against the NGO bill sponsored by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. If the bill, which was approved by the government, becomes law, it will require political NGOs that are principally financed by foreign governments to identify as foreign agents in their official communications and interactions....
Tom Wyke
MailOnline, January 17, 2016
- Activists says ISIS have kidnapped at least 400 civilians in Deir Ezzor
- Women and children are thought to have been captured and taken to Raqqa
- ISIS have reportedly made gains on the eastern side of Deir Ezzor yesterday...
Soeren Kern
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 19, 2016
- An estimated 40,000 cars are burned in France every year — a destruction often attributed to rival Muslim gangs. Every day, more than 80 cars are burned.
- The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, called for the number of mosques in France to be doubled over the next two years. Boubakeur said that 2,200 mosques are "not enough" for the "seven million Muslims living in France." He demanded
that unused churches be converted into mosques.
- Prime Minister Manuel Valls revealed in April that more than 1,550 French citizens or residents are involved in terrorist networks in Syria and Iraq.
- "Can we not talk about subjects that split opinion? If you talk about immigration, you are a xenophobe. If you talk about security, you are a fascist. If you talk about Islam, you are an Islamophobe." – Henri Guaino, MP.
- "Those who denounce the illegal behavior of fundamentalists are more likely to be sued than the fundamentalists who behave illegally." – Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front party....
Robert Hand
Jan 22, 2016, 1:08:14 AM1/22/16
to
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2016 05:57:44 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 1:59 PM
Editor's Note: Thursday January 21, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE
Your Link to Israel |
Indian FM in Jerusalem: Ties with Israel of ‘highest importance’ to India
CLICK HERE for video and article
Slovenia's biggest supermarket chain takes Israeli products off shelves CLI CK HERE for video and article Incitement and Education for Hatred in the PA YouTube video - 01:51 (Jan 17, 2016) Glazov Gang’s 2015 Episode of The Year: The Unknown-To Be Raped Under Islam YouTube video - 04:39 (Oct 8, 2015) |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Irresponsible: Senate Democrats Block House Measure to Keep Americans Safe, Press Release, Speaker Paul Ryan
- We've Got It Wrong: ISIS Is Not the Main Problem in the Middle East, pjmedia.com, Jonathan Spyer
- IS releases 270 of 400 civilians abducted in east Syria: NGO, todayonline.com, AFP
- PM Netanyahu during special plenary session honoring Knesset's 67th birthday: 'No other democracy faces the challenges we face', knesset.gov.il, PM Benjamin Netanyahu
- New Iranian-Backed Terror Group Makes Inroads in West Bank, Gaza, freebeacon.com, Adam Kredo
- Why Israel is keeping a close eye on Iran's parliamentary elections, al-monitor.com, Ben Caspit
- Sweden: State-funded Muslim 'Sniper' Training, pamelageller.com, Pamela Geller
- Hugh Fitzgerald: Ten Things to Think When Thinking of Muslim 'Moderates', jihadwatch.org, Hugh Fitzgerald
Speaker Paul Ryan
Press Release, January 20, 2016
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) today issued the following statement after Senate Democrats blocked consideration of H.R. 4038, American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act, which passed the House in November with a bipartisan, veto-proof majority:
“By blocking this measure, Senate Democrats are making it that much harder for us to keep Americans safe. Their vote is irresponsible in a time of grave threats. Even the administration’s top law-enforcement officials say there are gaps in our refugee program that terrorists can exploit. Our approach balances security and compassion, and it was backed by a veto-proof majority in the House. We will continue to look for common ground to protect the homeland and defeat the threat posed by ISIS and radical Islamic terror.”
Jonathan Spyer
pjmedia.com, January 19, 2016
...The city of Mosul nestles on the western side of the river. It remains ISIS’s most substantial conquest. Its recapture does not appear immediately imminent, yet the general trend has been clear. The main slogan of ISIS is “Baqiya wa’tatamaddad,” “Remaining and Expanding.” At the present time, however, the Islamic State may be said to be remaining, but retreating.
This situation is reflected in the confidence of the fighters facing ISIS along the long front line. In interviews as I traversed the lines, I heard the same details again and again regarding changing ISIS tactics, all clearly designed to preserve manpower.
This stalling of the Islamic State is the background to their turn towards international terror, which was also a notable element of the latter half of 2015. The downing of the Russian airliner in October, the events in Paris in November, and the series of suicide bombings in Turkey since July attest to a need that the Islamic State has for achievement and for action. They need to keep the flow of recruits coming and to maintain the image of victory essential to it.
Regarding the second issue: seen from close up, the Islamic State is very obviously only a part, and not necessarily the main part, of a much larger problem. When talking both with those fighting with ISIS and with those who sympathize with it in the region, this observation stands out as a stark difference in perception between the Middle Eastern view of ISIS and the view of it presented in Western media. The latter tends to present ISIS as a strange and unique development, a dreadfully evil organization of unclear origins, which is the natural enemy of all mainstream forces in the Middle East.
From closer up, the situation looks rather different.
AFP
todayonline.com, January 20, 2016
This picture released
on July 13, 2015 by the Rased News Network, a Facebook page affiliated with Islamic State militants, shows Islamic State militants firing weapons during a battle against Syrian government forces, in Deir el-Zour province, Syria.(Photo: Rased News Network via AP)
BEIRUT — The Islamic State group late yesterday (Jan 19) released 270 of more than 400 civilians it had abducted during its assault on the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, a monitor said.
Those released included women, children under 14 years old, and the elderly, said Mr Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said they had been freed after undergoing questioning by IS jihadists to determine whether they had ti es to Syria's regime.
"They will not go back into Deir Ezzor city, but will be spread out among local tribes in the province," Mr Abdel Rahman told AFP.
IS still holds 130 civilians, mostly teenage and adult men, whom Mr Abdel Rahman said were being questioned.
"If IS sees that they have no ties to the Syrian government, they will take a religious course and will be released," he said....
PM Benjamin Netanyahu
knesset.gov.il, January 19, 2016
During Tuesday's special plenary session honoring the Knesset's 67th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the parliament building in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) said ”democracy requires political maturity and checks and balances. Democracy is characterized by internal contradictions. We must constantly deal with them and, if possible, reach broad agreement. Some countries choose to lop off heads rather than count heads.”
”Five years have passed since the outbreak of the Arab Spring. We remember the wave of demonstrations for freedom and human rights, but those hopes faded very quickly, and the short spring was replaced by a particularly dark winter,” he said, adding that the domino effect of the Arab Spring has resulted in ”chaos, anarchy, the disintegration of countries, the mass slaughter of innocent people, a massive number of refugees, the destruction of cultural treasures and endless violent conflict s” in the region.
Israel, the prime minister told the Plenum, is an exception. ”There is a Knesset, there is a government, there is a court, there is law and there is respect for the law. These are the foundations of Israeli society. But this is not the case everywhere in the world. There are periods of regression and erosion of democratic values. At the beginning of the 21st century, we are witnessing once again severe threats on democracy. This is happening today as radical Islam rears its head. Israel is at the front line of the campaign as a stronghold of democracy; we are in the heart of the storm. Our policy is clear – preserve our security and respond with force to any threat.”...
Adam Kredo
freebeacon.com, January 19, 2016
Screen shot from al-Sabireen propaganda videoA new Iranian-backed terror group is making inroads in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, where it operates underground with the potential capacity to deliver devastating attacks to Israel, according to regional experts who have been investigating the organization’s rise.
The group, which goes by the name Harakat al-Sabireen, was established around May 2014 but has begun in recent months to boost its public profile on social media and brag about its plots to wage jihad against Israel, according to information gathered by regional analysts and provided to the Washington Free Beacon.
Al-Sabireen is believed to receive $10 million a year from Iran via funds that are smuggled through a large network of tunnels built by terroris ts to facilitate illicit travel beneath the Gaza Strip, according to estimates disseminated in the Arab language press.
Like Hezbollah, the Iranian-funded terror group that controls territory along Israel’s northern border, al-Sabireen is being used by the Islamic Republic to indirectly wage war on the Jewish state and foster unrest in the Palestinian territories, according to experts, who view the group’s rise as a sign that Iran is not interested in scaling down its global terror network following the recent implementation of the nuclear agreement....
Ben Caspit
al-monitor.com, January 18, 2016
Some Israeli security experts view the Iran nuclear deal and lifting of sanctions with cautious optimism, and consider upcoming elections [to be held on February 26] a test case to see what path the Iranian people will choose.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks
during a press conference in the capital of Tehran after international sanctions on Iran were lifted, Jan. 17, 2016.
(photo: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
Israel's response to the lifting of sanctions on Iran was typically acrimonious. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Jan. 17, “Israel will monitor the implementation of the deal and will notify of any violation.” He added that Tehran “has not abandoned its aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons a nd continues to act to destabilize the Middle East and spread terrorism throughout the world, in violation of its international commitments.”
Netanyahu doesn't really trust the international community, including the United States, to keep meticulous track of how Iran implements the commitments it made in the nuclear deal. At his induction ceremony, Netanyahu’s new Mossad chief Yossi Cohen declared that the risks inherent in a post-nuclear agreement Iran are even greater than before. As far as Netanyahu is concerned, Israel is the last watchdog defending the free world from Iran’s nuclear ambitions....
Pamela Geller
pamelageller.com, January 17, 2016
No, this is not the Onion. But it is madness.
Why would Sweden give sniper training to Muslim refugees?
This story from the Swedish publication Allehanda is from 2013, but it is well worth revisiting now. Is this training continuing? Where are the Muslim migrants who have gone through this training now? What are they doing?
Allehanda’s original article now contains this “clarification” in English: “Because of the recent international citations of the 2013 Allehanda article ‘Laddad för prickskytte’, I as News Editor feel that a few clarifications are in order. Several websites refers to the immigration project in Sollefteå as ‘sniper training’. This is not a correct description. The word sniper training implies military comb at education which is something completely different from this. Although the refugees in the pictures can be seen holding what looks like sniper rifles, it is in fact biathlon sports equipment. Biathlon is since the 1960s recognised as an Olympic discipline, and the Sollefteå Ski High School runs an international upper secondary school programme for elite competitors. This is where the refugees were invited to try rifle shooting, the only element of biathlon possible in the summer. It was done by the authorities as part of their work with local immigration. I hope this clarifies the circumstances surrounding this article.”
So it supposedly wasn’t sniper training, but rifle shooting, and that makes it OK?...
Hugh Fitzgerald
jihadwatch.org, January 16, 2016
Note from Robert Spencer: The “moderate” Muslim never dies, and I thought that this 2004 Hugh Fitzgerald discussion of the “moderate Muslim” bears re-posting now. There are some references clearly reflecting the year of composition, but not a word has been changed, for it has stood, we think, the test of time — certainly compared to any comment by Tom Friedman or Nicholas Kristof, all of whose jejune columns are undone by reality about a week after they are published.
1. Not only Muslims, but “islamochristians” objectively promote and push the propagandistic line that disguises the Jihad (evidence of which can be found worldwide), and mislead as to both what prompts that Jihad (not “poverty” or “foreign policy” but the precepts of the belief-system of Islam) and what will sate it (not Kashmir, not Chechnya, not the absurd “two-state solution,” not continued appeasement in France and Holland — there is nothing that will sate or satisfy it, as long as part of the globe is as yet resistent to the rule of Islam). “Christians” such as Fawaz Gerges or Rami Khoury, or someone who was born a Christian, such as Edward Said, are Arabs whose views are colored by that self-perception. Their loyalty to the community and history of Arabs causes them to be as loyal to the Islamic view of things as if they had been born Muslim. They stoutly defend Islam against all of Western scholarship (in Orientalism), or divert attention away from Islam and constantly assert, in defiance of all the evidence, from Bali to Beslan to Madrid, that the “problem of Israel/Palestine” — the latest, and most sinister formulation of the Jihad against Israel — is the fo ns et origo of Muslim hostility and murderous aggression throughout the world. Save for the Copts and Maronites, who regard themselves not as Arabs but as “users” of the “Arabic language” (and reject the idea that such “users” therefore become “Arabs”), many Arab Christians have crazily embraced the Islamic agenda; the agenda, that is, of those who have made the lives of Christians in the Middle East so uncertain, difficult, and at times, imperilled. The attempt to be “plus islamiste que les islamistes” — the approach of Rami Khoury and Hanan Ashrawi — simply will not do, for it has not worked. It is Habib Malik and other Maronites in Lebanon who have analysed the problem of Islam in a clear-eyed fashion. Indeed, the best book on the legal status of non-Muslims under Islam is that of the Lebanese (Maronite) scholar Antoine Fattal....
Robert Hand
Jan 23, 2016, 12:56:31 AM1/23/16
to
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2016 05:54:07 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2016 1:19 PM
Editor's Note: Friday January 22, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE
Your Link to Israel |
| The Glazov Gang-“Islamophobia” is How Islamic Law Comes to America.
YouTube video - 13:46 (Jan 18, 2016) MUST WATCH: This Is how the Palestinians Raise their Children YouTube video - 01:24 (Oct 11, 2015) Winston Churchill in his youth described Islam as such: "Islam is an ideology wrapped in a religion." Winston S. Churchill: "Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world." |
|
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Sweden's Afghan 'Rapefugees', gatestoneinstitute.org, Ingrid Carlqvist
- 'Practically impossible' to integrate Muslim refugees, israelnationalnews.com, Arutz Sheva Staff
- The threat to America's national existence, washingtontimes.com, Clifford D. May
- Explaining the Islamic State Phenomenon, JCPA, Vol. 16, No. 2 , Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah
- UK: Muslim lives on benefits as he preaches jihad, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Does Islamic company selling 'Sharia-compliant mortgages' control Asbury Park NJ boardwalk?, foxnews.com, Tommy De Seno
- 'The Trouble with Islam', UCI Exclusive, Paul Eidelberg
- They didn't win, kcjc.com, Celeste Aronoff, Guest Columnist
Ingrid Carlqvist
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 20, 2016
- Some 90 young men -- "mostly Afghan refugee kids," according to police -- were apprehended in connection with the mass sexual assaults at the concert.
- A recurring theme in recent articles by prominent feminists is the assertion that ethnic Swedish men act exactly the same as migrant gang-rapists.
- One can draw only one conclusion: Feminists would rather protect Muslim men from criticism than protect Swedish women from sexual assaults.
- None of the women's shelters would admit that the mass sexual abuse of Swedish women might have anything to do with the perpetrators' ethnicity or religion. They did not wish to "generalize," they said -- then hung up.
- What Swedish politicians intend to do about the "Rapefugees" that are now in the country is anyone's guess....
Arutz Sheva Staff
israelnationalnews.com, January 18, 2016
Czech President says Muslim refugees do not share a common culture. 'Let them have their culture and not bring it to Europe'.
Czech President Milos Zeman(Kobi Gideon, GPO)
Milos Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, who is known for his fiery anti-migrant rhetoric, said that it is "practically impossible" to integrate the Muslim community into European society in a televised interview he held on Sunday. "The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible."
"Let them have their culture in their countries and not bring it to Europe, otherwise the situation will end up like what happened in Cologne," he added. Zeman was referring to the massive number of assaults that took place against women during New Year's Eve that have left scars on the memories of many Germans, and created massive reprisals and anti-immigrant retaliations in the city and elsewhere.
"Integration is possible with cultures that are similar, and the similarities may vary," Zeman said, specifically illustrating how the Vietnamese and Ukranian communities have integrated into Czech society....
Clifford D. May
washingtontimes.com, January 19, 2016
Illustration
on the disastrous impact of Muslim immigration to Europe by Linas Garsys/the Washington Times
President Obama judged the Islamic State the “JV team,” boasted that he’d set al Qaeda “on its heels” and implemented successful counterterrorism policies in Yemen. He insists that both the nuclear deal and the hostages-for-felons swap he concluded with Iran’s rulers are triumphs of diplomacy. In his State of the Union address last week, he reassured us that our enemies do not “threaten our national existence.” Why am I not filled with optimism?
“Existential threat” is a term that has been most commonly used in recent years about Israel, a nation-state that Islamists aim to ex terminate. As Iran’s rulers have noted, the detonation of just one nuclear weapon on Israeli soil could be the quickest means to achieve that goal.
The United States, being bigger and stronger, is obviously more resilient. But a nuclear attack, an electromagnetic pulse attack, a biological attack or even a series of attacks of the sort that took place in San Bernardino would profoundly transform America — even if “our national existence” did not come to an end. My grandchildren would inherit a country very different from the one my parents’ generation — the “Greatest Generation,” whose members fought and defeated the tyrants of the 20th century — bequeathed to us....
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah
JCPA, Vol. 16, No. 2 , January 20, 2016
- The Islamic State is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last four years, it has developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction to become the strongest, most ferocious, best funded and armed militia in the religious and
ethnic war that is waged today in Syria and Iraq.
- ISIS rules today over a swath of land bigger than the United Kingdom, with a population of almost 10 million. ISIS changed its name to the Islamic State to illustrate that its goals are not limited to Iraq and the countries of the Fertile Crescent.
- Since the fall of Muslim empires and supremacy, Muslim scholars and philosophers have tried to understand the reasons behind its collapse. The conclusion of most was that Muslim civilization had drifted away from the teachings of the Koran and adopted foreign
and heretical inputs that had destroyed its fabric. The remedy they proposed was to return to "pure Islam" and reconstruct Muslim society.
- After the U.S. occupational authority in Baghdad disbanded the Iraqi army in May 2003, thousands of well-trained Sunni officers were robbed of their livelihood with the stroke of a pen, creating some of America’s most bitter and intelligent enemies. In
addition, many Islamic State terrorists spent years in detention centers in Iraq after 2003.
- Never in the modern history of the Muslim world has a conflict drawn so many jihadists, who seek to participate in the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate to rule the world after the defeat in battle of the Western powers and their local Arab allies.
- For many, life in the Islamic State is better than in their country of origin. This is particularly the case for Chechen fighters who flock to the IS because the conditions of combat in Iraq and Syria are less harsh than against the Russians.
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence.
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 19, 2016
Doubtless Mohammed Shamsuddin considers the benefits his due, since the Qur’an says that the “People of the Book” must pay jizya to the Muslims (9:29). In lieu of the jizya payments, welfare money will do. And British authorities are fine with it — they’re much more concerned with banning foes of jihad terror from the country.
Mohammed Shamsuddin“Jihadi Sid hero-worshipper claims BENEFITS while spouting hate about Britain,” by Matthew Young, Daily Star, January 19, 2016:
Mohammed Shamsuddin has replaced the Islamic State executioner, real name Siddhartha Dhar, as the main hate preacher of a radical group in London.
He worships the former bouncy castle salesman for becoming the new face of Isis, crowing: “He’s a very good Musli m – he’s from the best of the best of the best.”
Divorced dad-of-five Shamsuddin, 39, lives on state handouts and claims he cannot work because he has “chronic fatigue syndrome”.
Despite his condition, a tell-all documentary airing tonight shows him tirelessly preaching and causing trouble on our streets....
Tommy De Seno
foxnews.com, January 13, 2016
Asbury
Park, NJWith ISIS committing acts of terror on 4 continents, and President Obama importing refugees from their home territory, now is a bad time to offer interest-free Sharia Law mortgages in America, but that’s exactly what one company is doing.
The beach town of Asbury Park, New Jersey has undergone a slow-grinding redevelopment for the better part of 30 years. Bereft of money in 2007, the city sold millions of dollars worth of storied boardwalk buildings including Convention Hall to a private company -- Madison Marquette. Madison Marquette also owns concert venues near the boardwalk lik e the famed Stone Pony. They are positioned in expensive retail properties across America in California, Ohio, Washington, D.C., Florida and more.
What few know is that Madison Marquette is owned by an Islamic company rooted in the Middle East; a company whose other subsidiary specializes in “Sharia Law Compliance” and lures Sharia-following Muslims to 23 states with interest-free home mortgages....
Paul Eidelberg
UCI Exclusive, January 17, 2016
...That there is indeed much wrong with the Islamic world requires no argument. As Dr. Hamid points out, women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the law code of Islam. Sunni and Shia Muslims massacre each other daily in Iraq.
Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. Not an encouraging picture, but not worrisome to progressives.
What disturbs Dr. Hamid is that the non-Muslim “priests of enlightenment” in the West have come, actively and passively, to the defense of the Islamists. These "progressives” address the issue by emphasizing the need to examine "root causes" of Islamic terrorism. Dr. Hamid says that in this respect the progressives are correct: Terrorism, he avers, is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes, he stresses, are quite different from what the prog ressives think.
Hamid mentions the notorious Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group led by al Qaeda. Hamid knows firsthand that the inhumane teaching in Islamist ideology can transform a young, benevolent mind into that of a terrorist. However, he points out that without confronting the “ideological roots” of radical Islam, it will be impossible to combat this malady. Although there are many ideological "rootlets" of Islamism, the main tap root, says Hamid, has a name--Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of this creed.
Hamid goes on to say, it is vital to grasp that traditional and even mainstream Islamic teaching accepts and promotes violence. Shariah law, for example, allows apostates to be killed, permits beating women to discipline them, seeks to subjugate non-Muslims to Islam as dhimmis, and justifies declaring war to do so. Islamism, in the form of Salafism, exhorts good Muslims to extermina te the Jews before the "end of days." What worries Hamid is the near deafening silence of the Muslim majority against these barbaric practices, which is evidence enough that there is something fundamentally wrong with Islam....
Celeste Aronoff, Guest Columnist
kcjc.com, December 03, 2015
Celeste Aronoff enjoys a field trip in Israel. In the background is south Jerusalem.
I want to tell you about the land I call home now. I made aliyah in August of this year, becoming an official Israeli, an actual citizen (though I won’t have an Israeli passport for some time still).
I want to tell you how special living here is, how meaningful it feels to be part of this amazing experiment of a Jewish state, something we haven’t had for a couple of thousand years. I want to tell you about the extraordinary feeling of walking through the streets of this busy, magical city feeling like I’m on a movie set, and thousands of years of history are still alive and throbbing with a passionate beat.
Even after a year and a half here, I am struck by a singular feeling ag ain and again: elation. I feel a swell of satisfaction when I look around and see that they didn’t win. I think about all those throughout history who have wanted us dead and gone, and how we are here anyway. They didn’t win. No matter how much they have hated us, we have loved life more, and we are still here, embracing joy and happiness and moving forward. They didn’t win....
Robert Hand
Jan 26, 2016, 1:19:08 AM1/26/16
to
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2016 06:10:43 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2016 1:57 PM
Editor's Note: Monday January 25, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE
Your Link to Israel |
| Nonie Darwish Moment: Why is Obama Defending Islam at Any Cost?
YouTube video – 11:36 (Jan 19, 2016) CNN: Whitewashing Jihad (Part Two) YouTube video – 05:43 (Jan 20, 2016) UK Special Forces Take Down Top ISIS Jihadi in Daring Burqa Op CLICK HERE for article and video Ryan Mauro on Newsmax TV: ISIS Destruction of Oldest Christian Monastery Shows Church Must Wake Up YouTube video - 05:57 (Jan 21, 2016) Security forces evacuate settlers from Hebron buildings CLICK HERE for article an video |
|
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations
in the defense of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- Our New Ally Iran, blogs.cfr.org, Elliott Abrams
- Iran: 'We Welcome War with the United States', pjmedia.com, Robert Spencer
- Muslim airline pilots planned to bomb four UK cities for the Islamic State, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- Libya's Chaos: Threat to the West, gatestoneinstitute.org, Mohamed Chtatou
- Israeli airstrikes launched across Gaza after rocket fire, maannews.com,
- PM: The world sees Israel as a highly sought-after commodity, israelhayom.com, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
- Association of American Universities re-affirms opposition to Israel boycotts, Lidar Grave-Lazi, jpost.com
Elliott Abrams
blogs.cfr.org, January 14, 2016
USMC seized by IranThis photo tells us a great deal about American foreign policy today.
Human Rights Watch, not known as a right-wing group, has noted that it appears to violate international agreements prohibiting the use of photos or videos of military detainees for propaganda purposes. Moreover, the entry into Iranian waters (if that happened) by a boat that had lost its engines is obviously “innocent passage” under international law.
Nevertheless, Secretary of State Kerry offered effusive praise of Iran.
The new relationship with Iran is at the top of his agenda. The old-think concept of “allies” is out....
Robert Spencer
pjmedia.com, January 21, 2016
John Kerry said Monday
that “the world is safer today” because of the Iran nuclear deal. Details of how loud and long the mullahs laughed have not been released.In reality, the world is more threatened than ever by an aggressive and assertive Iran, confident and swaggering after besting Kerry at the negotiating table.
As the International Atomic Energy Agency certified Iran’s compliance with the stipulations of the nuclear deal and the U.S. and EU ended sanctions against the Islamic Republic, the head of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, was not in a conciliatory mood. After Iran seized two U.S. Navy boats and briefly held ten American sailors hostage, Firouzabadi declared:
This incident in the Pe rsian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces’ last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress.
And Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), crowed:
American sailors started crying after arrest, but the kindness of our Guard made them feel calm.
He added:
Since the end of the Second World War, no country has been able to arrest American military personnel.
There was more. Said IRGC commander Ahmad Dolabi:
I saw the weakness, cowardice, and fear of American soldiers myself. Despite having all of the weapons and equipment, they surrendered themselves with the first action of the guardians of Islam. [Iran has seen our weakness through actions of appeasement and now they can dominate the U.S. with bloodthirsty, barbaric threats and actions.]...
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 24, 2016
More appeasement, Cameron! That will solve this!
“RAF ‘foiled ISIS airline terror plot to bomb four UK cities after cracking pop
song code,'” by Steve Robson, Mirror, January 24, 2016 (thanks to Pamela Geller):The RAF foiled an Islamic State terror plot to bomb four UK cities after intercepting suspicious chatter between commercial airline pilots, it has been claimed.
The suspected jihadists made references to attacks on London, Brighton, Bath and Ipswich in the days after the Paris massacre last November, it was reported.
The two pilots, who were leaving Amsterdam’s airport Schiphol for a Middle Eastern country, used coded language which made reference to pop music, the Sunday Express claims.
But it was reportedly cracked by GCHQ experts who believed the pair were planning to smuggle in explosives or chemical weapons.
The pair used the emergency ‘Mayday’ frequency to discuss their plans, it was reported.
The Ministry of Defence said today it would not comment on matters of national security.
The Government considered increasing the terror threat level in Britain to ‘critical’ from ‘severe’ in the wake of the attacks on the streets of Paris last November 13 which left 130 dead....
Mohamed Chtatou
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 22, 2016
- ISIS badly needs Libya for its operations in North Africa: to spread its paramilitary brigades, to organize its terrorist networks and, most importantly, to prepare its political pawns, after the chaos, to take over power.
- "Over the last four years, Libya has become a key node in the expansion of Islamic radicalism across North Africa... and into Europe. If events in Libya continue on their current path, they will likely haunt the United States and its Western allies for
a decade or more." -- Ethan Chorin, Foreign Policy.
- ISIS taking control of North Africa, the soft underbelly of Europe, would amount to it getting ready to recapture, by terror and force, al-Andalus from the Catholic Christians of Spain....
maannews.com, January 25, 2016
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Israeli air force early Monday morning launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip,
targeting Hamas facilities, after rockets were fired from the besieged enclave, officials said.Official sources in Gaza told Ma’an that Israeli warplanes hit the al-Muhararat training site south of Deir al-Balah in the central strip used by the military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, while another hit an open plot of land south of Khan Younis.
No human casualties have been reported, though the strikes reportedly left noticeable material damages.
The Israeli army said in a statement that the airstrikes were in response to a rocket that had been launched from the Gaza Strip at Southern Israel on Sunday night. Sirens reportedly sounded throughout communities in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, as the rocket hit an open area....
Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
israelhayom.com, January 25, 2016
PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the weekly cabinet meeting, Sunday
(Photo credit: AFP)
The negative picture the media paints of Israel's international standing is the "complete opposite" of reality, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, explaining that contrary to media portrayal, Israel is in fact "highly sought after."
At Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu briefed ministers on his meetings with world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week....
jpost.com
Lidar Grave-Lazi, January 17, 2016
The AAU represents 62 major public and private research universities in North America, including Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
Harvard University
(photo:Chensiyuan/WikimediaMedia Commons)
In a blow to the BDS movement, the Association of American Universities issued a statement reaffirming its opposition to boycotts of Israeli academic institutions.
The statement issued on Thursday began by discussing the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association that recently passed a resolution in support of such a boycott.
The final vote is set to take place in April, where more than 10,000 American Anthropological Association members will cast ballots on whether to boycott formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions. The boycott would not a pply to individual Israeli academics.
Should the boycott resolution pass, it will mark the largest association to date to call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions....
Robert Hand
Jan 27, 2016, 12:46:48 AM1/27/16
to
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2016 05:18:25 +0000
From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 12:42 PM
Editor's Note: Tuesday January 26, 2016
| JERUSALEM ONLINE
Your Link to Israel |
What Bibi Netanyahu just revealed proves Israel has a bright future CLICK HERE for videoJohn Adams:"I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews." |
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MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations in the defense
of the free world. We educate our readers on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting both Israel and all of Western Civilization. |
Contents: (summaries below)
- US Think Tank: ISIS And Al-Qaeda Are Existential Threat To U.S. And Europe, westernjournalism.com, Yochanan Visser
- Isis targeting Europe for Paris-style attacks, says EU police chief, theguardian.com, Kim Willsher in Paris and Peter Walker
- Latin America Takes Action to Control Hezbollah's Activities, Asharq Al-Awsat,
- India: Gandhi statue defaced with Islamic State slogan and threats, jihadwatch.org, Robert Spencer
- The humiliation of America, JNS.org, Ben Cohen
- Turkey: Christian Refugees Live in Fear, gatestoneinstitute.org, Uzay Bulut
- Shocking New Israeli Report: Over 40% of Europeans Hold Antisemitic Views, algemeiner.com, Ruthie Blum
Yochanan Visser
westernjournalism.com, January 21, 2016
On Wednesday [Jan 20], Western Journalism reported Islamic State in Libya had released a new video in which it called upon all Muslims to join the organization and advance its goal of world domination.
Today ISIS launched a new media campaign directed at Muslims in Tunisia, Libya, Mali, Algeria and Marocco to oust the governments of these countries, which are ‘apostate’ in the eyes of Islamic State. The apostate governments must be replaced with Islamic regimes that adhere to Sharia law, according to Islamic State.
The Jihadist organization blames the governments of the Maghreb countries in Northwest Africa for westernizing Muslims by promoting and cultivating a Western lifestyle. In the videos released by several ISIS affiliates, Islamic State attacked Tunisia because it joined the international coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
In one video, a Tunisian ISIS member calls upon fellow Muslims to carry out attacks against Tuni sia. He referred to the ISIS atrocities in France when he called upon Muslims to follow in the footsteps of the “brothers in Paris.”...
Kim Willsher in Paris and Peter Walker
theguardian.com, January 26, 2016
Europol head says Islamic State seeking to carry out large-scale attacks in Europe similar to last year’s on French capital
French
fire brigade members aid an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall following fatal shootings in Paris on 13 November 2015.
(Photo: Christian Hartmann/Reuters)
Islamic State is actively focusing its attention on conducting large-scale attacks in Europe similar to those last year in Paris, the head of the EU’s law enforcement agency has said.
Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol, the Hague-based organisation that coordinates EU policing efforts over terrorism and organised crime, said Isis had “developed a ne w combat-style capability to carry out a campaign of large-scale terrorist attacks on a global stage, with a particular focus in Europe”.
His comments, at a meeting of interior ministers in Amsterdam, came as France’s interior minister said Islamist terrorists had planned to attack another concert in Paris and carry out a mass killing in the streets of the capital....
Asharq Al-Awsat, January 25, 2016
Buenos Aries- Mexican intelligence, in cooperation with Canadian intelligence services,
has recently revealed activities for the Lebanese Hezbollah under Iranian support being detected in Latin America, at Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, in addition to the zone between the Paraguay, Argentine, and Brazil border
triad.George Shea, expert in Middle Eastern affairs and lecturer at the Buenos Aires University, explained that Hezbollah, under Iranian sponsorship, now plans on further expansion following the Russian interference in Syria, in addition to the military Iranian presence that has reduced the need of Hezbollah ground troops in Syria.
Authorities in Mexico had already arrested a Lebanese Hezbollah affiliate, on borders with the US, who was caught with fake identification pap ers and drugs. However, official authorities have not yet disclosed his name for further investigation on Hezbollah’s activities there.
The Lebanese detainee has confessed to being associated with the Iranian Army of the Guardians and that he was on a mission to collect data on foes of the Iranian government....
Robert Spencer
jihadwatch.org, January 25, 2016
India is already on high alert after intelligence
officials detected 'chatter' between senior Isis commanders in Syria and a group of Indian sympathisers relating to an imminent terror attackPro-Isis slogans and threats of an imminent terror attack have been daubed on a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a small village in north-western India.
Images from the scene showed the face of the white statue had been smeared with brown paint, while the rest of the statue was covered in crude writing, including the word ‘Isis’.
Local reports suggest the rest of the writing included a warning about a terror attack scheduled to take place during Tuesday’s nationwide Republic Day celebrations, although these claims could not be independently verified. ...
Ben Cohen
JNS.org, January 15, 2016
...The president’s sole imperative is to keep the nuclear deal with Iran alive, and he will not even look at a policy that might undermine this critical component of his legacy.
That is why Assad, Hezbollah, and their Iranian backers will carry on getting away with these monstrous atrocities in Syria. It is why Islamic State has been able to exploit Sunni Arab resentment against the ruling Alawite minority to deadly effect.
It is also why the Iranian regime can seize U.S. naval personnel, parade them before news cameras in violation of the Geneva Convention, and then secure the gratitude of our own secretary of state, John Kerry, for finally releasing them. And it is why, when Obama makes the fatuous claim that the “people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead—they call us,” America’s adversaries laugh as heartily and cynically as those who gain pleasure from the suffering of Madaya.
There is an al ternative, as there always has been: working for the elimination of the Assad regime and Islamic State. Make that point to White House officials, and you will encounter a patronizing grin followed by an explanation as to why we can’t be the world’s policeman, why we can’t afford to antagonize Russia and Iran, and why the threat to our own security from the Middle East has been grotesquely exaggerated by folks who don’t realize that the real challenge is climate change.
Excuse follows excuse in order to camouflage America’s international humiliation. But make no mistake: we have been humiliated, and Obama’s successor will have to forge a foreign policy from this point of departure.
Uzay Bulut
gatestoneinstitute.org, January 24, 2016
- In the eyes of many devout Muslims, tolerance seems to be a one-way street.
- "The relation between Islam and the rest of the world is marked by asymmetry. Muslims may and do enjoy all kinds of freedoms and privileges in the lands of the Kuffar [infidels]; however non-Muslims are not granted the same rights and privileges when they
live in countries governed by Muslim governments... In our globalized world, this state of affairs should not continue." — Jacob Thomas.
- The West, coming as it does from the Judeo-Christian culture of love and compassion, would seem to have a moral responsibility to help first the Christians, the most beleaguered and most benign of immigrants....
Ruthie Blum
algemeiner.com, January 24, 2016
More than 40% of European Union citizens
hold antisemitic views and agree with the claim that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians and behaving like the Nazis, according to data presented during Sunday morning’s weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, the Hebrew news site NRG reported.Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day this week, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett, who also serves as minister of education, presented the country’s 2015 antisemitism report, pointing to the trends emerging in Europe as a result of the spread of radical Islam; the refugee and migrant crisis; the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS); and the rise of the extreme Right.
The “new antisemitism” explored in t he report deals mainly with Jew-hatred among Muslims, rather than fringe parties in various European countries. The report states that “anti-Israel protests and accusations that Israel is a blood-thirsty, illegitimate country creates a slippery slope that eventually leads to the assault on Jews identified with Israel.”
Another aspect of antisemitism raised in the report, according to NRG, is that it has led to Jewish “enclosure in guarded areas and to a record high in emigration from Western Europe.”...
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