Hamas vows retaliation for Israeli Gaza airstrikes - Arutz Sheva Staff

by Arutz Sheva Staff

After IAF responds to Gaza rocket fire with airstrikes on Hamas compound, Islamist terror group warns of 'escalation.'

The Hamas terrorist organization which rules the Gaza Strip has vowed revenge for an Israel Air Force airstrike which killed two people on Friday night, after terrorists fired rockets into Israeli territory.

The airstrikes targeted a Hamas military base embedded next to civilian homes in the northern Gazan village of Beit Lahiya. Two children were killed in the strike when shrapnel hit their home, according to Hamas's health ministry.

The pre-dawn wave of Israeli air strikes came hours after four rockets fired from the enclave by Palestinian terrorists hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Friday night. No one was injured in that attack, which was the latest breach of the ceasefire with Israel by Gazan terrorist groups.

"In response to the aggression, the Israel Air Force targeted four Hamas sites in the northern Gaza Strip," a military statement said.

Senior Hamas official Ismael Radwan called the Israeli strikes "an escalation" and placed "full responsibility" on the Jewish state.  

"The blood of the children killed in the Zionist raid will not flow in vain," the terror group's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned in a statement.

Our "patience with the attacks of the enemy has its limits", it added.

Since the end of the devastating war between Israel and Gaza terrorists in summer 2014, approximately 34 rockets fired from the Islamist Hamas-controlled coastal strip have hit Israel.

Most have been fired by jihadi groups linked to ISIS, although a few have been fired by factions aligned with the Islamic Jihad terror group as well. 

Israel holds Hamas directly responsible for all attacks from territory under its control.

AFP contributed to this report.


Arutz Sheva Staff

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209286#.VuRwD-azdds

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Saudi Journalist: Iran – Not Israel – Is The Gulf States' No. 1 Enemy - MEMRI

by MEMRI

On March 8, 2016, Saudi journalist Muhammad Aal Al-Sheikh wrote in his column in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah that today, Iran is the No. 1 enemy of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, supplanting the historical enemy Israel. Any citizen of the Gulf who disagrees with this assessment, he added, is a traitor.

Arguing that Iran is exploiting the Palestinian issue as a pretext for "infiltrating deep into the Arab world, shredding its Arab fabric, and dragging Arab society into supporting its expansionary plan," he emphasized that the Palestinians should expect no salvation from Iran. He also warned the Gulf Shi'ites that they were mere pawns for Iran, which was using them to promote Persian national aspirations. 

Below are translated excerpts from Aal Al-Sheikh's column:[1] 


Muhammad Aal Al-Sheikh (image: Kn19.com)


"The Persian enemy is Enemy No. 1, and the Zionist enemy is [only] Enemy No. 2. We must present this truth directly, flattering no one, to all those [who try] to extort us with the tale that Israel is the Arabs' Enemy No. 1 and that Iran supports us on the Palestinian issue. This tale could still be true vis-à-vis the Arabs to the north [of the Arabian Peninsula], and in Egypt, because Israel threatens [Egypt] and its security and stability. But as for the [Saudi] kingdom and the Gulf states, it is Iran, not Israel, that tops the list of the enemies and the dangers that lie in wait for us, face us and threaten us. Iran is exploiting the issue of the Palestinians and the liberation [of Palestine] as a pretext for infiltrating deep into the Arab [world], shredding its Arab fabric, and dragging Arab [society] into supporting its expansionary plan.

"It is true that the Palestinian issue has throughout history been the No. 1 Arab cause, and liberating Jerusalem from the yoke of the Israeli occupation has doubtless been the No. 1 issue for us, with nothing more important. However, at this time, and in light of the Persian ambition that the extremist Muslim Iranian government is backing with all its resources and for which it is mobilizing all its forces and capabilities, the Persian enemy takes priority – and must take priority – over the Israeli danger. 

"For example, when [former Iraqi president] Saddam [Hussein] invaded Kuwait, occupied its territory, expropriated its sovereignty, and annexed it to Iraq, Kuwait's Enemy No. 1, and the No. 1 enemy of the [rest of] our  Gulf countries, was not Israel but Saddam's Iraq. Furthermore, I am not ashamed to say that anyone in the Gulf, particularly among the Kuwaitis, who prioritized liberating Palestine over liberating Kuwait from the claws of the Iraqi occupier was considered a clear traitor. The Lebanese need to realize this, as do the Egyptians and the Palestinians... 

"I do not think that any reasonable Gulf resident would consider the danger [posed by] the Zionist enemy to be greater than [that posed by] the Persian enemy. The Palestinians, Lebanese, and Syrians, whose land is wholly or partially occupied by Israel, are expecting us – for whatever reasons and excuses – to be courteous towards them and to prioritize the Israeli danger over that posed by the Persian enemy. They are delusional. 

"Moreover, let me say this bluntly: Any citizen of any of the five Gulf states who prioritizes the Israeli danger over that of the Persian enemy, whether from a pan-Arab or an Islamist perspective, is sacrificing his homeland, its security, its stability and perhaps its very existence for his neighbor's cause. By any national standard, this is absolute treason. 

"This issue has to do with our very existence, and there is no bargaining over it or dismissing or neglecting it. It is a matter on which the Gulf residents, whether Sunni or Shi'ite, agree equally. I know that for a minority among the ordinary Gulf Shi'ites, sectarian affiliation is the most important factor, and they place it above national affiliation. To them I say: The Persians have no interest in sect or even in religion. What really interests them is utilizing [your] sectarian [affiliation] as a lure to mobilize you against your homeland, as a fifth column. Take, for example, the Arabs of the Ahwaz [district in Iran].[2] Although they are Twelver Shi'ites, they are oppressed and excluded [in their own homeland], and the Persians are eradicating their [Arab] identity and with it their human rights. The regions [of Iran] where they live are the least developed and have the highest rates of poverty and unemployment – [even though] they are [the country's] richest in natural resources. Were sect and faith important [to the Persians], they would not be fighting the [Ahwazi] identity and heritage and forcing [the Ahwazis] to assimilate into a Persian identity, and would not be stopping them from speaking their language [Arabic], the language of the Koran... The [Persians'] goal and purpose is to [advance] the Persian race's control [in the region] and to establish a Persian empire with Baghdad as its capital – as a Persian religious scholar said in a documented press release..."[3]

Endnotes:

[1] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), March 8, 2016.

[2] On recent Arab efforts to promote the cession of Ahwaz from Iran, see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No.1233,

MPs In Gulf Countries Urge Recognition Of Ahwaz Province In Iran As Occupied Arab Country, March 9, 2016.

[3] Possibly a reference to a March 2015 statement by Ali Younesi, advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rohani, in which he said that Iran is now again an empire and its capital is Iraq. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5991, Advisor To Iranian President Rohani: Iran Is An Empire, Iraq Is Our Capital; We Will Defend All The Peoples Of The Region; Iranian Islam Is Pure Islam – Devoid Of Arabism, Racism, Nationalism, March 9, 2015.

MEMRI

Source: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/9069.htm

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Dispelling myths on terrorism - Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash

by Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash

Only Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist will lead to an end of terrorism.

Not even 24 hours had passed after Tuesday's spate of terrorist attacks before we heard Opposition Leader MK Isaac Herzog tell us that only separation from the Palestinians could halt the wave of terrorism we have been experiencing since last fall. With this and other similar nonsensical statements, Herzog and like-minded individuals have been trying to sell us old merchandise covered in a new wrapping of false hope. The time has come to refute these urban legends.

First of all, the Left tells us that Palestinian terrorism stems from despair. According to this outlook, the Palestinians are murdering us because they have lost hope. If we just change the atmosphere, renew the diplomatic process and give them something to lose, the terrorism will stop. This is not only a myth, it is also the height of cynical thinking. The waves of Palestinian terrorism in the 1990s after the signing of the Oslo Accords took place when there was a diplomatic process. Back then, the Left called our dead "victims of peace." That was wrong then, just as it would be wrong now to call the Israelis killed in recent terrorist attacks "victims of despair" or "victims of the lack of a diplomatic process." Instead, they are victims of the Palestinians' sanctification of death and refusal to recognize Israel's existence. 

Secondly, let us dispel the notion of "lone wolf attackers." The media, and many Israelis of all political stripes, have uncritically adopted this term, as if the attackers are acting in a spontaneous, unorganized and uncontrolled manner. I am not saying we have the means to stop all potential attacks. But it is not up to us. We can fix holes in the security fence, but the main onus for stopping terrorism lies with the Palestinian Authority. PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his ilk continue to incite against Israel and provide funds to terrorists and their families. So not only is the PA not fighting terrorism, it is in fact systematically encouraging it. Palestinian terrorists draw from years of hatred they learned in PA-run schools. It is the PA that could bring the wave of terrorism to an end, if only it so chose.

Thirdly, let us be clear. The international community only hurts efforts to reach a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian terrorists benefit from the flawed foreign policies of many countries across the globe. A look at history reveals that all international bids to intervene and resolve the conflict have resulted in waves of Palestinian terrorism. International pressure is applied asymmetrically on Israel, freeing the Palestinians of any responsibility for their fate and increasing their appetite for a state that replaces Israel, instead of one that lives alongside it. For example, Abbas' refusal to renew talks with Israel was bolstered by international support for a settlement construction freeze as a precondition. Later, the European Union gave the Palestinians a prize with its move to label settlement products. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has promised the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and France announced it would recognize a Palestinian state if new peace efforts fail. So why do the Palestinians have any reason to stop terrorism?

In the face of urban legends, we must present the facts. The current wave of Palestinian terrorism is largely based on the long-standing Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel's existence. Only such recognition would lead to an end of Palestinian terrorism.

Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=15475

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Iran's Cash for Murder: Why is the UK Silent? - Douglas Murray

by Douglas Murray

The Iranian distribution of cash to families of terrorists is an open incitement to an ongoing campaign of murder. It should by now have not only been condemned by the whole world, but have caused a colossal rethink among the P5+1 nations that signed the ill-judged accord with Iran.

• It is worth considering another recent Iranian development: the decision -- allegedly by a conglomeration of media outlets, but hardly able to be separated from the government in a country whose press is more "government" than "free" -- to increase the cash-bounty on the head of the British novelist Salman Rushdie.
• The British government has been strangely mute on the matter. The "normalised" relations with Iran were meant to lead to business opportunities for Britain and an increase in decent behavior from Tehran. Instead, the first major test of Iranian-British relations in several decades turns out to be precisely the same test that the late Ayatollah Khomeini drew up in 1989.

Last year, when America, Britain and four other countries (the P5+1) signed their joint plan of action with Iran there was no shortage of people who warned of the consequences. They warned that the deal would merely delay rather than prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed power. They warned of the increased grip the mullahs would have on the country they purport to govern. And in particular, those not caught up in the P5+1 jubilation warned of what Iran would do with the tens of billions of dollars' cash bonanza it would receive once the deal was done. Would Iran use this windfall solely to improve the lives of its people? Or might it spend at least a portion of this cash doing what it has been doing for nearly four decades: that is, spreading terror?

There have already been some signs that the ill-judged deal is embedding Iran's worst behaviour rather than elevating the regime to any higher behavioral level.

In recent days we have learned that Iran is already planning to use its windfall to encourage Palestinian terror against the State of Israel. Speaking at the end of last month, the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon used a press conference with a number of Palestinian factions to announce a new bounty-scheme to be sponsored by Iran. This scheme promises to reward financially those who carry out terror against Israel. The reward includes -- according to the Iranian ambassador -- a payment of $7,000 to the families of suicide bombers and other terrorists who die in the process of attacking any Israeli. And it also includes a promised payment of $30,000 to any terrorists' families whose homes are destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces. The demolition of the home of a terrorist's family house is one of the only disincentives that Israel or any other country could think of to dissuade people intent on suicide attacks. Now the Iranian government is trying to re-incentivise anyone who might wish to commit such an attack.

Speaking in Beirut, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Mathali, said, "Continuing Iran's support for the oppressed Palestinian people, Iran announces the provision of financial aid to families of Palestinian martyrs who were killed in the 'Jerusalem Intifada.'" He is apparently referring to the lone-wolf knife-attack type of terrorism that has killed and wounded dozens of Israelis in recent months. As such, the Iranian distribution of cash is an open incitement to an ongoing campaign of murder. It should by now have not only been condemned by the whole world, but have caused a colossal rethink among the P5+1 nations that signed the ill-judged accord with Iran. But of course, Israel is always put in a different league in the stakes of international terror. Target Israelis and the "justifications" fly, and explanations deceitfully fill the air of why terrorism against Israelis is not quite the same as other terrorism.

So it is worth considering another Iranian development of recent days. Which is the decision -- allegedly by a conglomeration of media outlets, but hardly able to be separated from the government in a country whose press is more "government" than "free" -- to increase the cash bounty on the head of British novelist Salman Rushdie. The announcement was that an additional $600,000 had been added to the existing cash reward for whoever kills the author of a novel, The Satanic Verses. It is a cash-incentive to murder that was first issued twenty-seven years ago by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iran's then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini put a cash bounty on the head of British novelist Salman Rushdie 27 years ago. Last month, a group of Iranian media outlets added $600,000 to the cash reward.

The additional bounty has been condemned by human rights activists and free speech defenders in the West such as Richard Dawkins and PEN.

But the British government has been strangely mute on the matter. It is strange because last summer when, against absolutely no public or political push-back in the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond signed Britain up to the P5+1 agreement, there was only official rejoicing over what our signature would do. Such "normalised" relations with Iran were meant to lead to business opportunities for Britain and an increase in decent behavior from Tehran. Instead, the first major test of Iranian-British relations in several decades turns out to be precisely the same test that the late Ayatollah Khomeini drew up in 1989. Certainly there are politicians of the right and left, including those who have themselves been "incentivised" by Iran, who have predicted a new dawn in relations between the two countries. But does it really it look as though, on the matter of whether or not a British novelist can be sentenced to death by a cleric in Iran, we are going to have to pretend to agree to disagree?

Britain's silence on this matter is a shameful position for the government of any civilised country to find itself in, just as the silence on the terror being spread against Israel is a shameful position for the civilised world to find itself in. But in these twin events we can already see the Iran deal's early results. The deal has done nothing to civilise a barbarian regime. All it has done is to spread that regime's barbarism around what used to be the civilised world.

Douglas Murray, a leading British news analyst and commentator, is based in London. Follow Douglas Murray on Twitter

Source: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7566/iran-murder-bounty

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Stopping the ISIS Chemical Weapons Program - Joseph Klein

by Joseph Klein

Saddam's chemical weapons scientists find a new home.

ISIS continues to threaten the homeland. “Paris isn’t far from you - we will by Allah’s permission do to your country what we did to Paris. We will kill, slaughter and burn your people. Inshallah, we will attack you very soon,” warned an ISIS narrator in a recent video.

ISIS is not limiting itself to the kind of mass shootings that Paris experienced last year. Indeed, ISIS has made it clear that it will stop at nothing to kill as many Americans as possible. Either we destroy ISIS wherever they operate or they will cause mass casualties here at home, possibly with the use of weapons of mass destruction, which they are beginning to get their hands on.

ISIS is putting its considerable resources into developing chemical weapons. And they are leveraging the expertise of former Saddam Hussein regime scientists who have joined the ISIS jihadists.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has reportedly confirmed that ISIS fighters have already used chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria, perhaps obtained from stockpiles they took control over in those countries. “It raises the major question of where the sulphur mustard came from,” an OPCW source was quoted by Reuters as saying. “Either they (IS) gained the ability to make it themselves, or it may have come from an undeclared stockpile overtaken by IS. Both are worrying options.”

In an important counter-strike to thwart ISIS’s ability to develop chemical weapons, U.S. Special Operation Forces have reportedly captured a top man in ISIS's chemical weapons development program. The capture took place last month in northern Iraq, according to two senior Iraqi intelligence officials cited by the Associated Press. U.S. officials have refused to identify the ISIS leader, but the Iraqi officials claimed he was formerly involved in Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program. Based on information learned from interrogation, unnamed U.S. officials told CNN, the U.S. was able to conduct strikes against ISIS chemical weapons facilities in Iraq.

According to the CNN report, a “U.S. official said the goal is to locate, target and carry out strikes that will result in the destruction of ISIS's entire chemical weapons enterprise -- mainly mustard agent ISIS produces itself.”

Defense Secretary Ash Carter was true to his word in his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee last December, when he said, “This is a no-kidding force that will be doing important things.” But Carter and the military can only go so far as their commander-in-chief lets them. They can only continue doing “important things” if they are not held back by restrictive rules of engagement that could leave ISIS chemical weapons facilities in place for fear of inflicting any civilian casualties in an attack.

President Obama's belated decision to more aggressively utilize covert Special Forces on the ground to kill high level ISIS personnel, or preferably capture them for interrogation, and to disrupt its critical operations is welcomed. However, the question remains whether he is still too wary of utilizing sufficient means of enhanced interrogation of the captured ISIS personnel involved in WMD programs to learn everything we can that they know. We can only hope that, given the existential stakes in stopping ISIS from deploying weapons of mass destruction, President Obama is now willing to abandon his opposition to using enhanced interrogation techniques on captured jihadists held in secret facilities outside the United States. Perhaps, last month’s capture and useful interrogation of a top man in ISIS's chemical weapons development program is a turning point. It remains to be seen.

Chemical weapons are not the only WMD threat that ISIS poses. The Associated Press reported last October that ISIS is actively seeking radioactive material in the black market, particularly in Eastern Europe. "In the age of the Islamic State, it's especially terrifying to have real smugglers of nuclear bomb material apparently making connections with real buyers," said Matthew Bunn, a Harvard professor whom the Associated Press described as having studied the security of Russia's nuclear arsenal for the Clinton administration.

ISIS does not presently have the capability to produce its own nuclear bombs, although it is not out of the realm of possibility. A German journalist Jurgen Todenhofer, who spent time with ISIS fighters in northern Iraq in 2014, wrote “ISIS intends to get its hands on nuclear weapons." He characterized ISIS as a "nuclear tsunami preparing the largest religious cleansing in history."

Even before ISIS can reach that goal, it can seize or purchase enough radioactive material to produce a dirty bomb. While technically a dirty bomb is a conventional weapon, its effects if exploded in the middle of a densely populated area can be devastating.

ISIS won’t stop their campaign of death and destruction unless they are destroyed first. Degradation or containment of ISIS are insufficient. As General George Patton famously declared, “There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time.” 

Joseph Klein is a Harvard-trained lawyer and the author of Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom and Lethal Engagement: Barack Hussein Obama, the United Nations & Radical Islam.

Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/262109/stopping-isis-chemical-weapons-program-joseph-klein

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Disgruntled ISIS jihadi leaks names, details of 22,000 fighters - Naomi O'Leary

by Naomi O'Leary

Disillusioned ISIS fighter hands journalists memory stick filled with treasure trove of info; names, phone numbers, even blood type.

(AFP) Tens of thousands of documents containing the names, addresses, phone numbers and family contacts of jihadis who joined the Islamic State group (IS or ISIS) have been given to the UK's Sky News, the broadcaster said Wednesday.  

Sky reported that a disillusioned former member had handed over the documents on a memory stick that had been stolen from the head of the group's internal security police.

The documents are forms that IS recruits had to fill out in order to be accepted into the organisation, and contain information on nationals from 51 countries, the broadcaster reported.

"Sky News has informed the authorities about the haul," the news channel wrote on its website. No comment was immediately available from Britain's interior or foreign ministries.  

Some of the documents reportedly contain the information of previously unknown jihadis in northern Europe, the United States and Canada, as well as North Africa and the Middle East, it said.

"This could be a massive development," Chris Phillips, managing director of counter terrorism consultancy International Protect and Prepare Security Office, told AFP.

"It shows how Isis is vulnerable to its own people turning against them... The potential for security services identifying unknown terrorists is greatly enhanced," he said..

He added that the leak could inspire others to turn against the group, that the documents could be used in future prosecutions, and that they could help stop a flow of volunteers travelling to join IS from Europe and the US.  

"Understanding how people have traveled and who recruited them, is a key opportunity to reduce those leaving in the future," Phillips said.

'Blood type, fighting experience'

Copies of the documents broadcast by Sky News showed that recruits would have to answer 23 questions including on their blood type, mother's maiden name, "level of sharia understanding" and previous experience.

Some of the names in the documents are of fighters who have been already identified, such as Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a former rapper from west London who once posted an image of himself on Twitter holding a severed head.

Another named is Junaid Hussain, a cyber-operative for IS from the British city of Birmingham, and 21-year-old Reyaad Khan who appeared in a recruitment video, both killed last year.

The documents were obtained from a man who uses the name Abu Hamed, a former Free Syrian Army member who joined IS.

He stole the memory stick of documents and handed them over in Turkey to a journalist, explaining that he left because Islamic rules had collapsed inside the group.

Hamed claimed the group had given up on its headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa and was moving into the desert, and that former soldiers from the Iraqi Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein had taken over.

Olivier Guitta, managing director of international security and risk firm GlobalStrat, said the leak was a boost to security services and indicated unhappiness within the group.

"This leak shows that there are dissenting voices within the ranks of IS," he told AFP. "Like in any large organisation, there will be fight for power and one could see down the road a potential breakup of IS into various factions."

There have been previous leaks of documents from IS, which have shown the group to be extremely bureaucratic, with rules covering every aspect of life.

But if verified the cache of members' identities would be the most significant leak so far relating to the group, which brutally carved out regions of control in Iraq and civil war-torn Syria before expanding to North Africa and further around the world.


Naomi O'Leary

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209216#.VuFumuazddt

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Israel: Iran's missile test - a 'blatant violation' of nuclear deal - News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

by News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

A day after Iran test fires missiles designed to hit Israel, Foreign Ministry issues a statement saying "Iran is making a mockery of the international community" • "Iran's missile program will not stop," declares top Revolutionary Guards commander.

In a photo provided by Iran's Fars News Agency Wednesday, a Qadr H long-range missile is seen being fired by Iran's Revolutionary Guards | Photo credit: AP

A day after Iran test-fired ballistic missiles designed to be able to hit Israel, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday condemning the exercise, saying it was a "blatant violation" of the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and Western powers last July. 

According to Iran's state media, the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps test-fired several ballistic missiles on Tuesday and Wednesday. Iranian state television showed footage of two Qadr missiles being launched from northern Iran, which the IRGC said hit targets 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) away.

In the statement, the Foreign Ministry said that "U.N. Resolution 2231 restricts Iran from launching missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and that is precisely the kind of missiles that Iran launched." 

"The development of short-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads poses a big question regarding Iran's commitment to fulfilling its end of the nuclear agreement," the statement said. "Iran is making a mockery of the international community's demands and continues to develop its attack capabilities. It appears that [Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif's and [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani's diplomatic charm offensive was nothing more than a smokescreen, designed to conceal the ayatollah regime's true intentions." 

On Thursday, Iran said that the test-fire was not a violation of the nuclear agreement, state TV quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi-Ansari as saying.

"Iran's missile program and its test-firing of missiles in the past days during a military drill are not against its nuclear commitments and the nuclear deal reached with the six powers," he said.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a senior IRGC commander, was quoted by state television as saying: "Iran's missile program will not stop under any circumstances. The IRGC has never accepted the U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran's missile work. We are always ready to defend the country against any aggressor. Iran will not turn into Yemen, Iraq or Syria."

"The more sanctions and pressure our enemies apply ... the more we will develop our missile program," Hajizadeh said on state television.

On Wednesday, U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton called for sanctions against Iran over the ballistic missile test. 

Clinton, a former secretary of state under President Barack Obama, said she was "deeply concerned" by the tests. "Iran should face sanctions for these activities and the international community must demonstrate that Iran's threats toward Israel will not be tolerated," said Clinton, who is ahead in the race to be the Democratic nominee at the Nov. 8 presidential elections.

Her call for sanctions reflected a tougher line against Iran's recent missile activity than that taken so far by the White House, which said it is aware of and reviewing reports of the Iranian tests, and would determine an appropriate response.

"We know that Iran is in a season of carrying out a number of military activities, and so it certainly would not be a surprise if there are additional launches over the next several days," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

The Iranian move on Wednesday came despite warning from the U.S. State Department after Tuesday's missile tests that Washington continues to "aggressively apply our unilateral tools to counter threats from Iran's missile program," a possible reference to additional U.S. sanctions.

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, who was visiting Israel on Wednesday, declared that "we will act," if Iran breaks the terms of the nuclear deal.

Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on Wednesday with Iran's foreign minister about the test-firing of two ballistic missiles, a State Department spokesman said.

"The secretary did raise his concerns today with Foreign Minister Zarif," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a daily briefing.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told Israel Radio the tests showed Iran's hostility had not changed since implementing a nuclear deal with world powers in January, despite Rouhani's overtures to the West.

"To my regret there are some in the West who are misled by the honeyed words uttered by part of the Iranian leadership while the other part continues to procure equipment and weaponry, to arm terrorist groups," Ya'alon said.

Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "Iran is making a mockery of President Obama's vow to confront Iran's dangerous and illicit acts."

He urged Obama to "aggressively enforce all sanctions against Iran's missile programs, support for terrorism and human rights abuses. No more looking the other way."

Washington imposed sanctions against businesses and individuals in January over another missile test in October 2015. But the IRGC said it would not bow to pressure.

The IRGC maintains dozens of short and medium-range ballistic missiles, the largest stock in the Middle East. It says they are solely for defensive use with conventional, non-nuclear warheads.

Iran has denied U.S. accusations of acting "provocatively," citing the long history of U.S. interventions in the Middle East and its own right to self-defense.

News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32325

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Biden gives nod to Israeli demands in defense aid talks - Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters

by Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters

Israel's regional military clout should be preserved in terms of quantity as well as quality of its weaponry, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says during Israel visit • Biden meets with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, discusses ongoing violence.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his family visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City, Wednesday | Photo credit: AP

Israel's regional military clout should be preserved in terms of the quantity as well as the quality of its weaponry, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday in a nod to Israeli requests in defense aid negotiations with Washington.

Current U.S. military grants to Israel, worth about $3 billion annually, expire in 2018. The allies want to agree on an extension before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017 but have differed over the proposed sums.

Israel, which last year requested $5 billion in future annual aid but whose officials have since set their sights on $4 billion to $4.5 billion, says it needs to expand its military, rather than just upgrade technologies, given spiraling arms procurement it anticipates by arch-foe Iran and Arab states.

 

U.S. officials have given lower target figures of around $3.7 billion. The dispute prompted Israeli officials to hint last month that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in hope of better terms, may await Obama's successor to conclude the deal.

"We're committed to making sure that Israel can defend itself against all serious threats, maintain its qualitative edge with a quantity sufficient to maintain that," Biden told reporters after meeting Netanyahu during a visit to Israel.

Israel's "very, very tough neighborhood, a tough and changing neighborhood" necessitated such assistance, Biden said, adding that Obama had "done more to help bolster Israel's security than any other administration in history."

He did not explicitly mention the accord on future U.S. defence aid, known as the Memorandum of Understanding.

U.S. congressional staffers said Biden would discuss the MOU during his Israel visit, describing the vice president as the only possible principal from the administration who could finish off a deal given Netanyahu's troubled ties with Obama.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon travels to Washington for talks next week with U.S. counterpart Ashton Carter. Ya'alon aides said he would try to make progress on the MOU.

Interviewed by Israel Radio on Wednesday, Ya'alon did not refer to the MOU but said: "There are areas in which we know how to insist on our security interests, even when our great friend [the United States] makes offers that do not suit us."

Later on Wednesday, Biden met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and discussed the ongoing surge of Palestinian violence.

A White House statement said Biden reiterated continuing U.S. support for "a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and urged all parties to take steps to de-escalate tensions, uphold obligations, and prevent inflammatory rhetoric."

At his earlier meeting with Netanyahu, Biden condemned Tuesday's terrorist attack in Jaffa in which 29-year-old American tourist Taylor Force was killed. At the time of the attack, Biden was meeting with former President Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa.

The Jaffa attack was one of several Palestinian terrorist acts committed on Tuesday.

"Let me say in no uncertain terms, the United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts," Biden said.

Biden noted that his wife Jill and their grandchildren were dining on a beach "not very far" from where the Jaffa attack took place. 

"I don't know exactly whether it was a hundred meters or a thousand meters," Biden said. "It brings home that it can happen, it can happen anywhere, at any time."

Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32311

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

FBI Director Comey at odds with administration over numerous issues - Rick Moran

by Rick Moran

Comey's independence worries the administration.

FBI Director James Comey values his independence from the White House and executive branch. But increasingly, he is rubbing members of the Obama administration the wrong way as he won't play ball on several important issues. This is leading to a level of frustration with the bureau as the administration tries to play politics with law enforcement.

The Hill:

The FBI’s demand that Apple help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers has outraged Silicon Valley, a significant source of political support for President Obama and Democrats.
Comey, meanwhile, has stirred tensions by linking rising violent crime rates to the Black Lives Matter movement’s focus on police violence and by warning about “gaps” in the screening process for Syrian refugees.
Then there’s the biggest issue of all: the FBI’s investigation into the private email server used by Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of State and the leading contender to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
A decision by the FBI to charge Clinton or her top aides for mishandling classified information would be a shock to the political system.
In these cases and more, Comey — a Republican who donated in 2012 to Mitt Romney — has proved he is “not attached to the strings of the White House,” said Ron Hosko, the former head of the FBI’s criminal investigative division and a critic of Obama’s law enforcement strategies.
Publicly, administration officials have not betrayed any worry about the Clinton probe. They have also downplayed any differences of opinion on Apple.
But former officials say the FBI’s moves are clearly ruffling feathers within the administration.
With regards to the Apple standoff, “It’s just not clear [Comey] is speaking for the administration,” said Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism and cybersecurity chief. “We know there have been administration meetings on this for months. The proposal that Comey had made on encryption was rejected by the administration.”
Comey has a reputation for speaking truth to power, dating back to a dramatic confrontation in 2004 when he rushed to a hospital to stop the Bush White House from renewing a warrantless wiretapping program while Attorney General John Ashcroft was gravely ill. Comey was Ashcroft’s deputy at the time.
That showdown won Comey plaudits from both sides of the aisle and made him an attractive pick to lead the FBI. But now that he’s in charge of the agency, the president might be getting more than he bargained for.

Indeed he is. Leaving the reservation on the Apple encryption issue is one thing. But contradicting the president on Syrian refugees, as well as his suggestion that BLM rhetoric is leading to an increase in violent crime, angering the president's black base, could eventually make Comey a target. 

And what happens if Attorney General Loretta Lynch refuses to indict Hillary Clinton?

Hosko suggested that a showdown over potential criminal charges for Clinton could lead to a reprise of the famous 2004 hospital scene, when Comey threatened to resign. 
“He has that mantle,” Hosko said. “I think now there’s this expectation — I hope it’s a fair one — that he’ll do it again if he has to.”

There are hints that Comey and other high ranking FBI officials would resign in protest if DoJ tries to drag out a review of FBI evidence in the email scandal past election day. But Lynch has to get the evidence first and there's no indication that the FBI is close to wrapping up its investigation. 

One thing is certain; Comey will not allow political interference in the FBI's decision on whether to prosecute Clinton or not. He and tbe bureau will do their duty and let the political chips fall where they may.


Rick Moran

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/03/fbi_director_comey_at_odds_with_administration_over_numerous_issues.html

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Turkey's Runaway Anti-Semitism - Burak Bekdil

by Burak Bekdil

When it comes to diplomatic conflict between Turkey and Israel or Turkish anti-Semitism, there is always an unusual optimism in the official language chosen by Israeli officials or Jewish community leaders. Facts on the ground are a little bit different than the rosy picture.

• If Turkish Jews are "safe and secure" in Turkey, why do they feel compelled to protect their schools and synagogues with heavy security? Why do most synagogues in Istanbul look almost like a U.S. embassy in Baghdad or Islamabad?
• Anti-Semitism in Turkey reached such intensity that even anti-Semitic Islamists were not immune to anti-Semitic smear campaigns.

The 74^th anniversary of an embarrassing tragedy took place in Turkey on February 24, 2016.

The MV Struma was a small iron-hulled ship built in 1867 as a steam-powered schooner, but was later re-engined with an unreliable second-hand diesel engine. In 1941, it was tasked with safely transporting an estimated 781 Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to Britain's Mandatory Palestine. Between its departure from Constanta on the Black Sea on Dec. 12, 1941 and arrival in Istanbul on Dec. 15, the vessel's engine failed several times. On Feb. 23, 1942 with her engine still not running but the refugees aboard, Turkish authorities towed the Struma from Istanbul through the Bosporus out to the Black Sea. On the morning of Feb. 24, the Soviet submarine Shch-213 torpedoed the Struma, killing all but one of the refugees and 10 crew aboard.

Until this year Turkey, one of the main culprits, had only once commemorated the victims. This year, official Turkey decided, should be the second time. A wreath and carnations were hurled at the sea in the shadow of the horrible event that took place decades ago.

At the commemoration ceremony at Sarayburnu harbor on the Bosporus were the head of Turkey's Jewish community, Ishak Ibrahimzadeh, Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva and Istanbul's governor, Vasip Sahin. In his speech, Sahin said: "We observe that the necessary lessons were not drawn from such tragedies." He was right, at least from a Turkish point of view.

When it comes to diplomatic conflict between Turkey and Israel or Turkish anti-Semitism, there is always an unusual optimism in the official language chosen by Israeli officials or Jewish community leaders.

For instance, Ibrahimzadeh praised "recent steps by the Turkish state to mend history with the Jewish community." Echoing the same optimism, chairman Stephen Greenberg and executive vice chairman Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, assured that Turkey's small (less than 17,000-strong) Jewish community feels "safe and secure" despite being placed in the middle of a political feud between Turkey and Israel -- sparked first in 2009 by then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's clash with former Israeli President Shimon Peres at a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Such optimism in official narratives is normal, especially because Ankara and Jerusalem have been privately negotiating a deal to end their hostilities and normalize their diplomatic relations. Non-constructive, let alone explosive, speeches from any state or non-state actor will not help diplomats from either side in their efforts to reconcile. All the same, facts on the ground are a little bit different than the rosy picture.

If Turkish Jews are "safe and secure" in Turkey, why do they feel compelled to protect their schools and synagogues with heavy security? Why do most synagogues in Istanbul look almost like a U.S. embassy in Baghdad or Islamabad?

On Jan. 20, 2016, a Turkish synagogue in an old Jewish neighborhood in Istanbul was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti days after holding its first prayer service in 65 years. Vandals painted the external walls of the Istipol Synagogue with the script: "Terrorist Israel, there is Allah."

"Writing anti-Israel speech on the wall [outside] of a synagogue is an act of anti-Semitism," said Ivo Molinas, editor-in-chief of Turkish Jewish newspaper, Şalom. "Widespread anti-Semitism in Turkey gets in the way of celebrating the richness of cultural diversity in this country."

Less than a month after that, a column in the radical Islamist Turkish daily Vahdet claimed that the evolutionary theory of "the Jew" Charles Darwin contradicts Allah's word in the Koran and that in actual fact, monkeys evolved from perverted Jews whom Allah cursed and punished.

Unsurprisingly, the columnist, Seyfi Sahin, is a staunch supporter of President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party. Sahin claims to be a physician, and argued that "Jews terrorize the world of science" and, "as a Jew, Darwin concocted his theory of evolution in order to turn Muslims away from their religion." He further wrote:

"The aim of [Darwin's] theory is to turn the non-Jews away from their religion, to harm their faith, and to make them suspicious about their religion. Darwin, being a Jew, believed, lived, and was buried according to his religion. His real targets were the Muslims ... I believe that the gorillas and chimps living today in the forests of North Africa are cursed Jews. They are perverted humans that have mutated."

There are no reports of Sahin being investigated or prosecuted under Turkey's anti-racism laws. Not surprising. No such case has ever been heard of.

More recently, there was the curious case of Yusuf Kaplan, a Turkish Islamist columnist and a darling of Erdogan and his supporters -- until he dared to criticize the government's foreign policy. Kaplan a columnist for Yeni Safak, one of Erdogan's favorite newspapers and one of his staunchest supporters, argued in a television appearance that the government's foreign policy was incompatible with regional realities. So what? Not so difficult to guess.

Leading users on social media called for Kaplan's death and accused him of killing another pro-government journalist, of being a British spy and of "collusion with the Jews." Many called him a "Jewish stooge." A Jewish stooge? The man has a remarkable record of making anti-Semitic statements, including his claim that "Jews rule the Western universities and world media and that their paranoia can reach barbaric, cruel and inhuman dimensions."

Turkish newspaper columnist Seyfi Sahin (left), a staunch supporter of Turkey's President Erdogan, wrote, "I believe that the gorillas and chimps living today in the forests of North Africa are cursed Jews. They are perverted humans that have mutated." Yusuf Kaplan (right), another Turkish newspaper columnist, also has a record of making anti-Semitic statements. But when he criticized government policy, he was accused of being a "Jewish stooge."

On the 74^th anniversary of the Struma tragedy, anti-Semitism in Turkey reached such intensity that even anti-Semitic Islamists were not immune to anti-Semitic smear campaigns.

Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Source: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7564/turkey-anti-semitism

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.