Erdoğan Protects ISIS Network in Turkey - Abdullah Bozkurt

 

by Abdullah Bozkurt

The Erdoğan government fears a parliamentary inquiry may expose links between ISIS cells and some factions within the Turkish government.

This is a slightly abridged version of an article published originally under the title "Erdoğan Prevented Parliament from Investigating ISIS-Linked NGOs in Turkey."

Documents referenced in this article may be found in the original Nordic Monitor version.

The Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan prevented the Turkish parliament from investigating nongovernmental organizations that were used as fronts to raise funds and recruit jihadists for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The motion to open a parliamentary investigation into ISIS-linked NGOs was submitted to the Speaker's Office by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on May 27, 2019. The move came after several ISIS suspects identified some NGOs as hubs for trafficking ISIS fighters and moving funds during court hearings on deadly terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Yet the parliament, controlled by Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right nationalist backers, has never put the motion on the agenda, effectively killing the proposal to launch a legislative inquiry into the ISIS network in the country.

Under the current bylaws, parliamentary investigation committees have no sanctioning authority, and their reports have the status of recommendations. But the establishment of such committees helps expose wrongdoings in government institutions, motivate judicial authorities to launch criminal proceedings if necessary and inform the public about government actions.

The Erdoğan government fears a parliamentary inquiry may expose links between ISIS cells and some factions within the Turkish government. A string of deadly terrorist attacks in 2015, blamed on ISIS, helped Erdoğan sustain his regime and regain the majority in parliament he had briefly lost in the summer 2015 elections.

2015 was an exceptional year for Turkey in terms of back-to-back terrorist attacks that hurt the opposition parties, which were forced to cancel campaign rallies under the threat. On July 20, 2015, 33 people died in a suicide bomb attack in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa province. On October 10, 2015, 103 people were killed in a bomb attack on a crowd gathered in front of the Ankara Train Station. Both were blamed on ISIS, although the terrorist group has never officially claimed responsibility for either.

In an intelligence report published earlier by Nordic Monitor, it was revealed that İlhami Balı, the mastermind behind these deadly attacks, stayed in a hotel under the control of Turkish intelligence agency MIT in Ankara on May 25-27, 2016. His connection to the agency suggested Balı's actions were directed by MIT, which coordinated clandestine operations within ISIS for political goals to help President Erdoğan in elections.

Balı, born in Reyhanlı in the Turkish border province of Hatay on March 17, 1982, was operating in an al-Qaeda cell before joining the al-Nusra Front in the initial years of the conflict in Syria. Al-Nusra was supported by the Erdoğan regime, which was hoping to oust the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus and replace it with an Islamist puppet regime.

A Turkish court had previously convicted Balı — in an investigation predating the 2011 Syrian crisis — on charges of membership in al-Qaeda and sentenced him to three years in prison. Balı relocated to Syria in 2012. He later moved to ISIS, which tasked him with serving as the ISIS border chief (emir) responsible for the smuggling of jihadists and logistical supplies and the transfer to Turkey of wounded ISIL militants along the Turkish-Syrian border.

In the general election of June 7, 2015, the ruling AKP lost its majority and was unable to form a government on its own for the first time since 2003. While it was predicted that a coalition government would be formed, a new election on November 1, 2015 was declared as permitted under the constitution by Erdoğan, who undermined the coalition negotiations. Between June 7 and November 1,862 people, including security officers, civilians and outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, lost their lives in Turkey.

Then-prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the government could not arrest suicide bombers until they acted, even though the government had a list of names of potential suicide bombers.

Following the terrorist attack at the Ankara Train Station, then-prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the popularity of the governing AKP had increased in the aftermath of the incident. Appearing on public television, Davutoğlu said the government could not arrest suicide bombers until they acted, even though the government had a list of names of potential suicide bombers.

In fact, the ISIS network in Turkey was well known to the police and intelligence service. In a classified MIT report dated 2015, it was estimated that some 10,000 to 12,000 Salafists lived in Turkey. The report named the provincial leaders of the ISIS network and identified NGOs actively working on behalf of ISIS.

In 2016 the Erdoğan government summarily and arbitrarily shut down over 1,600 associations and foundations, mainly that were linked to opponents of the Erdoğan regime from the Gülen movement, a group that is critical of Erdoğan on a range of issues, from corruption to the government's links to armed jihadist groups. Yet those linked to ISIS were not touched, and they continued their operations, in some cases under new names and formations.

The Erdoğan government has proven to be lenient and forgiving when it comes to punishing dangerous jihadists from al-Qaeda and ISIS. It kept delaying the implementation of many recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to align Turkish laws and regulations with global rules for preventing the financing of terrorism and money laundering activities.

As a result, in October 2021, Turkey was placed under monitoring by global money-laundering watchdog FATF for shortcomings in combatting money laundering and terrorism financing. FATF's listing of Turkey on its grey list of countries means the Erdoğan government has strategic deficiencies in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing.

A US Treasury report on programs to combat terrorist financing and activities to disrupt ISIS financing released on January 4, 2021 indicated that the terrorist group continues to rely on "logistical hubs" inside Turkey for its finances.

"ISIS continued to use money services businesses, including hawalas, to move funds in and out of Iraq and Syria, often relying on logistical hubs in Turkey and in other financial centers," the US Treasury report said.

In recent years many individuals and entities based in Turkey have been designated as financial facilitators for ISIS by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The designations confirmed a pattern in which ISIS has been using the financial system in Turkey to fund its network while the authorities shy away from clamping down on ISIS cells.

Turkey was also accused by UN investigators of being an important hub in raising funds for ISIS-affiliated groups across the region.

Abdullah Bozkurt, a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, is a Swedish-based investigative journalist and analyst who runs the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network and is chairman of the Stockholm Center for Freedom.

Source: https://www.meforum.org/63550/erdogan-protects-isis-network-in-turkey

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The queen is dead; long live the king? - Ben Cohen

 

by Ben Cohen

No one should pretend that Charles will easily fit his mother’s outsized shoes, and he now faces the formidable task of winning the affections of the British people alongside their respect.

That Queen Elizabeth II was both Britain’s longest-serving and oldest monarch is a testament to the period of history in which she lived, and upon which she left an indelible mark.

Relative to past eras, Elizabeth’s reign was defined by prosperity and growth. In the wake of World War II and the end of its empire, Britain turned inward, creating a welfare state that looked after the health and education of its citizens, and provided a social safety net for those who needed it. In general, Britons enjoyed longer and more productive lives, and they did so under a monarch who ruled for a full 70 years and who died at the age of 96. (Elizabeth’s nearest competitor in the longevity stakes, her great-grandmother Queen Victoria, ruled for nearly 64 years and was 81 years old when she died.)

For the BBC, the queen’s death on Sept. 8 was so momentous that it amounted to “the moment history stops.” Certainly, it was a moment to stand back from the daily rush of events in order to consider her own contribution. As I wrote a few years back, “historians will now have a grand second Elizabethan era to pour through, one so lengthy that those things that were features of the first half of her reign—ration books, Royal Family struggles with the Church of England, a snarling punk ditty by the Sex Pistols that rhymed ‘queen’ with ‘fascist regime’—were misty memories by the time it came to its close in the age of social media.”

Yet throughout those 70 years, the queen was a remote figure who was loved from a distance—as a figurehead and a vital national symbol more than as a flesh-and-blood individual. Memorable actions, such as staying in London for much of the devastating Blitz wrought by the fighter planes of the German Luftwaffe in 1940 and 1941, fed into a broader narrative of service to her country before anything else.

At the same time, the British people never knew her inner thoughts and feelings. Her conversations with the public were careful to avoid controversies—or at least the queen’s own view of them—to the extent that these exchanges were invariably rather anodyne. From time to time, she would express views that underlined the gulf between her gilded life and the daily routines of her subjects, once opining that she was saddened “that people don’t take on jobs for life; they try different things the whole time.” Anyone compelled to work for a living knows that all too often, the modern labor market gives you no choice in this matter.

Even so, Elizabeth’s lack of familiarity with the commonplace challenges faced by her subjects didn’t prevent her from developing a shrewd political sense. Many of the obituaries published since her death noted with amazement that no less than 15 prime ministers were in office during her reign, including Sir Winston Churchill, who was born in 1874, and the newly installed Liz Truss, born in 1975. Each of these prime ministers would dutifully attend a private weekly meeting with the queen to debrief her on current events—a rather anachronistic practice, given that British monarchs had ceased to be holders of real power long before she took the throne in 1952, but one that will doubtless continue under Britain’s new Head of State, King Charles III.

Perhaps Elizabeth’s greatest achievement was to maintain a solid consensus among the British people that their monarchy should remain intact. Over the last year, the Royal Family’s budget was more than $120 million, of which about 10 percent covered its travel expenses and housekeeping costs. In another context, spending public funds on luxuries for an unelected leader and her family in an economy hurtling towards a new recession might well cause disquiet; yet in Britain, most people don’t begrudge the monarch’s expenses. The absence of a mass movement in favor of a republic and the historic reluctance of even left-wing members of parliament to question the need for a monarchy would suggest that Charles and his successors have little to worry about in terms of survival.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed. Elizabeth’s stability stemmed in large part from her talents in keeping her public and private lives separate, and her avoidance of major scandals. The widely viewed image of the queen sitting in a socially distanced Westminster Abbey in April 2021, wearing a black mask over her face as she buried her husband, Prince Philip, at the same time that the British government was convulsed by revelations of drunken office parties during the pandemic lockdown, seemed to embody her selfless ethic as much as the failings of the lesser mortals around her. But her offspring cannot be viewed in the same way; Charles will never quite shake off the opprobrium he attracted when his marriage to the late, much-loved Princess Diana collapsed, while Andrew, her younger son, will never recover from the reputational damage inflicted by his friendship with the late disgraced pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

Should the question of the monarchy’s future be raised, these are the kind of details that will influence the outcome of any debate. No one should pretend that Charles will easily fit his mother’s outsized shoes, and he now faces the formidable task of winning the affections of the British people alongside their respect. The knowledge that his mother held onto the throne despite frequent suggestions that she should abdicate in Charles’s favor—so as to avoid the present situation, where he becomes king at the age of 73—will not help in that regard either.

Nevertheless, the coming days will see an outpouring of prayers for the new monarch’s success, not least from the British Jewish community, which this Shabbat will recite its weekly prayer for the Royal Family with King Charles named as “our sovereign lord” for the very first time. That will be accompanied by a profound sense of sadness that a woman who was integral to British life for nearly a century is suddenly no longer there, together with a modicum of anxiety about what the future might hold. It seems fair, then, to wish King Charles the best of British luck.

Given what his mother represented, and the high regard in which she was held around the world, he is going to need it.

Ben Cohen is a New York City-based journalist and author who writes a weekly column on Jewish and international affairs for JNS.

Source: https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-queen-is-dead-long-live-the-king/

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NIH deleted coronavirus data at China's request? - Eric Utter

 

by Eric Utter

The NIH is now arguing in court that because there is so much misinformation about how the pandemic began, it can't release facts that might clear up misinformation about how the pandemic began.

According to a report in theblaze.com, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) deleted certain sequences of coronavirus data from the agency's Sequence Read Archive.  This was allegedly done early in the pandemic, at the request of Chinese researchers.  Doctor Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, published a study in June of 2021 that identified the missing sequences and recovered the files from the Google Cloud, from which he performed an analysis to learn more about the origins of the virus.

Why were the data deleted?  NIH FOIA officer Gorka Garcia-Malene wrote:

Exemption 6 mandates the withholding of information that if disclosed 'would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.' 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6). Exemption 6 was applied here due to the heightened public scrutiny with anything remotely related to COVID-19.

Huh?  "Heightened public scrutiny" of China's role in the pandemic would be a good thing, though maybe not for the NIH.

Garcia-Malene also claimed, "If released, this type of information could be used by the public to send threatening and harassing messages."  To whom?

And then came the Orwellian Whopper.  Garcia-Malene stated that the information needed to be redacted "because of the amount of misinformation surrounding the pandemic and its origins."

Talk about preposterous!  As independent journalist Paul Thacker aptly put it: "Seriously, the NIH is now arguing in court that because there is so much misinformation about how the pandemic began, they can't release facts that might clear up misinformation about how the pandemic began."

The only thing that can counteract misinformation is accurate information.

Logically, it follows that theblaze.com's report — and Thacker's analysis — was accurate...and that the NIH is trafficking in misinformation.  And perhaps has been compromised by the Chinese Communist Party?

 

Eric Utter

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/09/nih_deleted_coronavirus_data_at_chinas_request.html

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What Iran's Terrorist Proxies Will Do with Biden's Concessions and Billions - Khaled Abu Toameh

 

by Khaled Abu Toameh

Hezbollah does not pose a threat just to Israel, but also to the Lebanese people, America's Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia, and to America itself, especially from Cuba and Venezuela.

• Hezbollah and its patrons in Tehran have done nothing to help end the disastrous economic crisis in Lebanon, where nearly 80% of the people live below the poverty line. The World Bank has warned that the crisis ranks as one of the three most severe the world has seen since the mid-19^th century.

• Hezbollah does not pose a threat just to Israel, but also to the Lebanese people, America's Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia, and to America itself, especially from Cuba and Venezuela. " Iran's outreach to Venezuela, Asia Times notes, " is partly driven by economic interests and partly a desire to gain a foothold in 'America's backyard,' as the government parlance asserts. That explains the increasing appetite of the Islamic revolutionary God corps for building up ties in Latin America and even entertaining the idea of a military presence in Venezuela's waters....

• "The problem for each of the states," according to Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at the University of Texas, this July "is lack of access to global capital." It is a problem that the promised billions from the Biden administration would immediately fix.

• Yet, instead of working to alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese people, Hezbollah is continuing to gin up for war with Israel, a move that will bring still more disaster on Lebanon.

• "What is happening in Lebanon today is an organized terrorist threat by Iran and its militias, especially the terrorist Hezbollah. Hezbollah wants to destroy Lebanon and turn it into a state similar to Iran. We appeal to all the Arabs to help Lebanon before it drowns in the sea of Iran." — Rami Naeem, Lebanese political analyst, Twitter, August 29, 2022.

• "Who cares about a country such as Lebanon that has no water, electricity, university, school, hospital, and banks? Lebanon has no Arab, Gulf or international relations. Forty years have passed since Lebanon was brought into the [Iranian-led] axis of conflicts, wars, misery, bankruptcy and the collapse of the state." — Dr. Charbel Azar, member of the Sovereign Front for Lebanon, Akhbar Al-Yawm, August 25, 2022.

• "The Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] has seized over 700 million narcotic pills and hundreds of kilos of hashish smuggled from or via Lebanon since 2015." — Waleed Bukhari, Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Saudi Gazette, August 30, 2022.

• "The terrorist party that brought Lebanon to the brink of political, economic and social precipice seeks, with Iranian support, to export chaos and destruction." — Okaz, August 24, 2022.

• The Arabs fear that an influx of billions of dollars pouring into the mullahs' coffers will result in Hezbollah and the rest of Iran's terrorist proxies stepping up their aggression not only against Israel, but also against America's Arab allies and friends in the Middle East, not to mention the United States and Europe. The Arabs want the Biden administration to grasp that appeasement of Iran's mullahs will further embolden the terrorists and undermine America's strength in the Arab world.

The Arabs fear that an influx of billions of dollars pouring into the mullahs' coffers will result in Hezbollah and the rest of Iran's terrorist proxies stepping up their aggression not only against Israel, but also against America's Arab allies and friends, not to mention the US and Europe. The Arabs want the Biden administration to grasp that appeasement of Iran's mullahs will further embolden the terrorists and undermine America's strength in the Arab world. Pictured: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei meets with Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist organization. (Image source: khamenei.ir)

If and when the Biden administration signs a new nuclear deal with Iran, the mullahs' Lebanese terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, will undoubtedly benefit from the billions of dollars that the Iranian regime is expected to receive once the sanctions on their country are lifted. Hezbollah will use the money to obtain more weapons, tighten its grip on Lebanon and prepare for more war with Israel. It will also use the money to undermine the security and stability of America's allies in the Arab world.

Hezbollah, which recently celebrated the 40^th anniversary of its founding, is Iran's biggest and most dangerous terrorist proxy in the Middle East. The other proxies, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthi militia in Yemen, are not as powerful as Hezbollah, which has created a state-within-a-state in Lebanon.

Since its establishment, one of Hezbollah's primary goals has been the elimination of Israel. The organization's 1985 manifesto states that "our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no ceasefire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated."

Hezbollah does not pose a threat just to Israel, but also to the Lebanese people, America's Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia, and to America itself, especially from Cuba and Venezuela. According to a report in Asia Times:

"Iran's outreach to Venezuela is partly driven by economic interests and partly a desire to gain a foothold in 'America's backyard,' as the government parlance asserts. That explains the increasing appetite of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for building up ties in Latin America and even entertaining the idea of a military presence in Venezuela's waters."

"The problem for each of the states," according to Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at the University of Texas, "is lack of access to global capital." It is a problem that the promised billions from the Biden administration would immediately fix.

Hezbollah and its patrons in Tehran have done nothing to help end the disastrous economic crisis in Lebanon, where nearly 80% of the people live below the poverty line. The World Bank has warned that the crisis ranks as one of the three most severe the world has seen since the mid-19^th century.

"Lebanon is really going through a very, very difficult economic crisis," said Lebanon's Minister of Economy and Trade Amin Salam. "Reforms are a major need for Lebanon to be able to stop the bleeding in the economy and begin looking at development and recovery."

Yet, instead of working to alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese people, Hezbollah is continuing to gin up for war with Israel, a move that will bring still more disaster on Lebanon.

One would assume that Lebanese cabinet ministers are busy these days searching for ways to tackle the crisis and address the problems facing their people. The ministers, however, appear to have something else in mind: how to appease the de facto rulers of Lebanon: Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.

Lebanon's Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar and Minister of Energy Walid Fayyad even found the time to head to the border with Israel, where they were filmed hurling stones at their neighbor to the south. Their silly action drew criticism from many Arabs and Muslims.

Hayvi Bouzo, a Syrian-born American journalist, commented:

"The terrorist ministers of Hezbollah, of the Lebanese state occupied by Iran, are throwing stones at Israel while the Lebanese suffer persecution and lack of food, medicine and services because of the Iranian occupier. Haven't you had enough of deceiving and defrauding the people?"

Hamid Mtasher, founder of the Al-Ahwaz Liberal Party, which represents Iran's ethnic Arab Ahwaz minority, wrote that he cannot understand why the Lebanese people have not yet revolted against Hezbollah:

"Two Lebanese ministers throw stones at Israel. The question is, do these people represent the Lebanese people or carry out the orders of the butcher [Iran's Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei and the terrorist Hezbollah? Without a doubt, they are carrying out Iran's orders. Where are the Lebanese people and why do they not rise up against them and uproot them?"

Lebanese politician and author Georges E. Hayek wrote that he could not understand why some people in Lebanon still endorse the idea of coexistence with Hezbollah.

"Hezbollah's policy is to kill, assassinate, displace, humiliate, expel, and support dictatorial regimes. [Hezbollah] wants to take the people back to the Stone Age and destroy all the foundations of the state and its institutions. This is the approach of Hezbollah, and there are still some people in Lebanon who believe in coexisting with it!"

A member of the Sovereign Front for Lebanon, Dr. Charbel Azar, asked:

"What did Lebanon and the Lebanese people gain after 40 years of the existence of this [Hezbollah] resistance, which Iran keeps telling us that it is its creation and that it has become the most important force in the Middle East? Iran has boasted of its control over four Arab capitals, including Beirut, and that it has established six armies to defend Iran's foreign interests, the most important of which is Hezbollah. The leaders of Hezbollah say publicly that their group is an integral part of the Iranian axis and that its food, salaries, training, weapons, missiles, drones, and money are all from Iran."

Azar wrote that 40 years after the establishment of Hezbollah, Lebanon is facing a total collapse.

"Who cares about a country such as Lebanon that has no water, electricity, university, school, hospital, and banks?" he asked. "Lebanon has no Arab, Gulf or international relations. Forty years have passed since Lebanon was brought into the [Iranian-led] axis of conflicts, wars, misery, bankruptcy and the collapse of the state."

In addition to taking the Lebanese people "back to the Stone Age," Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons are also causing massive damage to Lebanon's relations with many Arabs, especially in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari announced that his country send an official diplomatic letter to the Lebanese foreign ministry demanding the arrest and extradition of a Saudi man who recently threatened the Kingdom's embassy in Beirut.

The threat was made by a Hezbollah-affiliated Saudi citizen, Ali Hashem, who threatened to "exterminate everyone" inside the Saudi embassy.

The Saudi ambassador called upon the Lebanese authorities to undertake the necessary legal procedures regarding the terrorist threat.

The ambassador urged the Lebanese government to translate its commitments to the Gulf states into concrete political reality, and to carry out all its duties toward preventing hostile activities against Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, which threaten the region's security.

He also called on Lebanese security forces to continue cracking down on illicit drug smuggling to Saudi Arabia. "The Kingdom has seized over 700 million narcotic pills and hundreds of kilos of hashish smuggled from or via Lebanon since 2015," the Saudi ambassador revealed.

Many Saudis and Lebanese nationals expressed outrage over the threat, holding Hezbollah and Iran responsible.

Lebanese political analyst Rami Naeem wrote:

"What is happening in Lebanon today is an organized terrorist threat by Iran and its militias, especially the terrorist Hezbollah. Hezbollah wants to destroy Lebanon and turn it into a state similar to Iran. We appeal to all the Arabs to help Lebanon before it drowns in the sea of Iran."

"Due to the threats that our ambassador in Lebanon and members of the embassy in Beirut are exposed to by some Hezbollah-backed terrorists, we hold the Lebanese army and security forces responsible," cautioned Saudi political analyst Abdel Hadi Al-Shehri.

The Saudi newspaper Okaz accused Hezbollah of spreading chaos and terrorism not only in Lebanon, but also in the Arab region and other parts of the world:

"The Hezbollah militia continues to isolate Lebanon and spread terrorism... Regional and international reports exposed the involvement of Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in spreading chaos and terrorism. The terrorist party that brought Lebanon to the brink of political, economic and social precipice seeks, with Iranian support, to export chaos and destruction."

Many Arabs have been warning the Biden administration against its dangerous policy of appeasing the mullahs in Tehran. The Arabs are not only worried about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, but also about the threats that the mullahs' proxies pose to the Arab countries.

The Lebanese and Saudi people evidently see the danger that Hezbollah poses to their countries' stability and security.

The Arabs fear that an influx of billions of dollars pouring into the mullahs' coffers will result in Hezbollah and the rest of Iran's terrorist proxies stepping up their aggression not only against Israel, but also against America's Arab allies and friends in the Middle East, not to mention the United States and Europe. The Arabs want the Biden administration to grasp that appeasement of Iran's mullahs will further embolden the terrorists and undermine America's strength in the Arab world.

• Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on Twitter

 

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18871/iran-terrorist-proxies

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Israel Releases its Findings on Killing of Al Jazeera “Reporter" - Ari Liebeman

 

by Ari Liebeman

Pro-Palestinian shills pounce.

 

Israel publicized its final investigative findings on the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate death of Al Jazeera “journalist” Shireen Abu Akleh. Before addressing her death however, I would be remiss if I failed to include the caveat that Al Jazeera is not a legitimate news outlet. It is a propaganda outlet funded by the Qatari government and serving its interests. It often spews antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. Its staff members celebrated the birthday of Samir Kuntar, who murdered a three-year-old Jewish girl by bashing her skull with a rifle buttstock. It is only in that context that one can fully appreciate the ideological bent of Al Jazeera and its staff and why its reporters are suspect.

The Israel Defense Force investigation concluded that there was a higher probability that Abu Akleh was killed by IDF fire than by fire from Jenin militants. However, a definitive conclusion as to who was ultimately responsible is impossible given the mangled state of the bullet that struck Abu Akleh and the persistent Palestinian refusal to cooperate with the Israeli investigation.

The findings also make clear that even if the bullet came from an IDF rifle, Abu Akleh’s death was unintentional. The IDF was operating in a complex urban environment and came under fire from various terrorist gangs who often shield themselves behind the cover of civilian infrastructure., which is a war crime.

Israel’s detractors, whose criticism often veers into overt Jew hatred, pounced on the report’s findings, claiming that Israel obfuscated and still refuses to accept responsibility. But these base criticisms overlook several central facts that are crucial to the understanding of the underlying matter.

First, the report is consistent with Israel’s persistent claims that the only way to definitively determine who killed Abu Akleh is by ballistic testing to match the bullet against every weapon carried by the soldiers who were on operational activity in that area on that specific day. However, this is impossible to determine because as noted, the bullet was too mangled for proper ballistic testing.

Second, even if the fatal bullet came from an IDF rifle, the findings make clear that it was unintentional. Abu Akleh was working in a heated war zone where Jenin’s undisciplined militants were firing blindly and wildly from different directions. As the IDF report notes, it was a complex urban environment and Abu Akleh’s death, while tragic, can in no way be blamed on the actions of the IDF.

Third, the investigative report demonstrates once again that Israel is a shining beacon of democracy in a sea of medieval backwardness, perfectly capable of conducting a fair and impartial inquiry into its own actions, even if those actions demonstrate a level of fallibility and culpability. In contrast, Israel’s enemies are incapable of uttering a scintilla of truth. Their truth is one laced with a mixture of banal propaganda, antisemitism and Islamic fundamentalism.

Fourth, the IDF was operating in Jenin on the day that Abu Akleh was killed in response to a series of deadly Arab terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 17 Israeli citizens (Jews and Arabs) and two Ukrainian citizens. The planning for most of those attacks were hatched in Jenin and carried out by terrorists from Jenin. During the Oslo War (also referred to as the Second Intifada) Jenin was dryly dubbed the suicide capital of the West Bank. The lack of Palestinian Authority control over militant gangs has resulted in the mass proliferation of automatic weapons and ammunition. Often times, the gangs are joined by PA “policemen,” or otherwise act with the PA’s knowledge and consent due to fear, apathy or concurrence.

Faced with this indifference or collaboration, the IDF acted vigorously to counter the terror threat. According to the IDF’s military chief Aviv Kohavi, IDF operations since May have netted 1,500 terror suspects and thwarted hundreds of terror attacks. But Israel’s detractors say that the Jewish State has no right to defend itself and protect its citizens – both Arabs and Jews – from Palestinian terror attacks.

Finally, the level hypocrisy coming from Israel’s haters is breathtaking, even by their already low standards. On September 4, an Israeli Arab journalist, named Nadal Ijbaria, was gunned down in the Israeli Arab city of Umn al-Fahm. Ijbaria had been aggressively covering violent crime among Israeli Arabs and this did not sit well with some Arab criminal elements. His life was threatened and last year, gunfire was directed toward his house. He was a journalist doing his job and purposefully murdered by Arabs who didn’t like what he was doing. Yet all we hear is crickets from the vast majority of the anti-Israel contingent and their amen corner. This is because one journalist was killed by a fellow Arab while the other may have been killed by an Israeli soldier. As Professor David E. Bernstein aptly notes, Ijbaria’s murder “won't get even 1/1000 the worldwide attention of Shireen Abu Akleh being killed while in a crossfire in the West Bank.”

These points are not meant to diminish in any way the tragedy of Abu Akleh’s death. Rather, they are meant to highlight the disingenuousness, hypocrisy and malevolence of Israel’s enemies, whose level of moral depravity knows no bounds.

Photo: Al Jazeera

Ari Liebeman

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/09/israel-releases-its-findings-killing-al-jazeera-ari-lieberman/

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Prominent historians jump into political arena, advising Biden, attacking MAGA movement - Aaron Kliegman

 

by Aaron Kliegman

"There is an ultra-right MAGA contingent in this country that wants to overthrow the U.S. government," said historian Douglas Brinkley. Another historian, Michael Beschloss, made a historical error in one of his diatribes.

Some of the nation's most high-profile historians have gone beyond the role of student of history to engage in partisan politics, advising President Biden on his agenda and potential legacy while attacking Donald Trump and supporters of the Make America Great Again movement aligned with him as threats to the country.

Most recently, CNN's presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley, lambasted the MAGA movement as treasonous insurrectionists during a TV appearance on Monday.

"There is an ultra-right MAGA contingent in this country that wants to overthrow the U.S. government, that despises our institutions — our constitutional foundations, because they believe in a Deep State conspiracy, and they cling to it," said Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University.

About a month earlier, NBC News' presidential historian, author Michael Beschloss, appeared to insinuate that Trump should be executed.

After the Washington Post and other news outlets reported that some of the classified documents sought by the FBI at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence related to nuclear weapons, Beschloss tweeted, "Rosenbergs were convicted for giving U.S. nuclear secrets to Moscow, and were executed June 1953."

One prominent historian took Beschloss to task for drawing such a comparison, arguing "historical competence" is crucial when his colleagues enter the public square to support or oppose certain politicians.

"A 'presidential historian' like Beschloss who rushes to tweet out moral equivalence between two convicted and executed spies found guilty of passing nuclear bomb data to the Soviet Union and an ex-president engaged in a dispute over classification and custody of presidential papers that is currently in the process of adjudication by a court appointed official, is, well, no historian at all," Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson told Just the News.

Days after Beschloss's tweet, the NBC News historian appeared on MSNBC and told viewers to "vote as if your life depends on it, because it might," before claiming Republicans were threatening violence following the Mar-a-Lago search and comparing the current moment to combating fascism in the 1930s and enduring a civil war in the 1860s.

Such criticism of Trump and the MAGA movement came to a head in Philadelphia last week, when Biden appeared to all but declare war on both.

"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," Biden said in an incendiary and polarizing speech. "We're all called by duty and conscience to confront extremists who put their own pursuit of power above all else ... and MAGA Republicans are destroying American democracy."

Following the speech, Beschloss again compared combating the MAGA movement to combating fascists and Confederates on the eve of World War II and the Civil War, respectively.

In making his argument, Beschloss made a historical error.

"1860, this country was in big jeopardy," Beschloss said on MSNBC. "It was splitting apart. A house divided. Slavery or non-slavery. And Lincoln cast the election of 1860 by saying 'the house can't stand, half slave-half free, we've got to choose.'"

However, Lincoln famously declared that "a house divided against itself cannot stand" at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Ill., in 1858, after he was chosen to be the party's candidate for U.S. Senate. Lincoln had yet to launch his 1860 presidential run.

Another popular historian was reportedly even more directly supportive of Biden's Philadelphia speech: author, historian, and Vanderbilt University professor Jon Meacham.

Politico reported over the weekend that Meacham, who's had a hand in crafting a number of Biden's speeches, helped write the Philadelphia address, which contained a recognizable feature of Meacham's prose: the idea of an American "soul" under assault by Trump.

"MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love," Biden said in Philadelphia. "They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country."

Meacham himself invoked a similar battle over the nation's "soul" in August 2020, when he received a prime speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention after endorsing Biden months earlier.

At the DNC, Meacham, author of "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels," called the 2020 presidential election "a choice that goes straight to the nature of the soul of America." (Meacham also helped with Biden's speech accepting the Democratic Party's nomination.)

That November, Meacham also helped write Biden's victory speech after the election. The president-elect spoke — again — of a "battle for the soul of America," echoing language from Meacham's book.

Meacham came under fire for appearing on MSNBC as an official network contributor both before and after Biden's acceptance speech and praising it without disclosing he'd been involved in writing it.

Hanson pointed to Meacham concealing his role in helping Biden to argue it's important for his colleagues to be transparent if they consult with those in or seeking the White House.

"Historians are free to talk to presidents about the contemporary relevance of the past," said Hanson. "But those who go an unfortunate step farther and either help to draft speeches or advise on specific policy strategies, then should not editorialize in the public square about the wisdom of a president's subsequent actions — without disclosing their own role in and credit for the very policies they are so often praising to public audiences.

"Jon Meacham, to take one example, was chastised for his role in helping draft a Biden speech while offering public praise of its content," continued Hanson. "Given that ethical lapse, it is bewildering Biden would once again seek his help — or that he would even now consider offering it."

The speechwriting help didn't stop when Biden entered the White House. Meacham, who's not a member of the Biden administration, reportedly had a hand in shaping, among other speeches, Biden's address earlier this year marking the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

That same day, Meacham was featured at an event to "establish and preserve" the narrative of the Jan. 6 riot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also participated.

Days later, Biden pushed a host of ambitious policies — most notably Democrats' proposals for sweeping changes to election law — through another speech written with the help of Meacham. Biden invoked the specter of what he described as an existential threat to democracy to advocate his agenda, dismissing those who disagreed with him as racists and dangers to the country. Even Democrats in Congress criticized Biden's rhetoric for going too far.

In his remarks, Biden said Trump "and his supporters" want "to suppress your vote, to subvert our elections," and "to disenfranchise anyone who votes against them," describing Republican election integrity reforms as "Jim Crow 2.0," a reference to state laws that enforced racial segregation in the South.

"That's the kind of power you see in totalitarian states, not in democracies," he continued. "Will you stand against election subversion? Yes, or no? Will you stand for democracy? Yes, or no? ... Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?"

Meacham wasn't the only nationally known historian to endorse Biden's speech. A month later, Doris Kearns Goodwin noted on CNN that one of Abraham Lincoln's last speeches called for giving freed slaves the right to vote.

"And here we are, 150 years later, and there are people in the country now trying to get the idea that voting rights should be pulled back, rather than pushed forward," she continued.

It isn't new or inappropriate for historians to advise presidents, according to historians who spoke to Just the News. However, they explained, historians can risk their reputations if they make themselves fair game for public scrutiny.

"There is nothing wrong with historians getting involved in politics," said Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "The famed historian Arthur Schlesinger established the model for this when he served as court intellectual in the Kennedy White House. However, when historians do get involved, they need to recognize that their comments and actions will be evaluated just like anyone else in the public arena."

Others argued Trump presents a unique challenge that gives historians license to enter the political fray.

"Presidents have long called on historians to offer their guidance," noted Mark Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation. "Who better to advise them than those who understand our nation's ideals and the events and figures in our history who reflect them? But especially given the current state of our democracy due to Donald Trump's perpetual lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, I don't see historians using their platforms to help our sitting president as being problematic. They are simply doing what they believe is in the best interest of preserving our democracy and upholding our most basic principles."

Updegrove added that the study of history is "inherently subjective" and impossible to do in a "neutral" or "objective" way.

"It's fair, for instance, for a historian to write about Lincoln as being morally courageous in promulgating the Emancipation Proclamation and championing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution," he said.

In Meacham's case, he's been serving as an informal adviser of sorts to Biden, using his knowledge of history to push the president's agenda.

Beyond speechwriting, Meacham helped organize a meeting in March 2021 between Biden and a group of historians at the White House. The group included Beschloss, Goodwin, Yale University's Joanne Freeman, Princeton University's Eddie Glaude Jr., Harvard University's Annette Gordon-Reed, and author Walter Isaacson.

At the meeting, they discussed several topics, including how Biden could and should push through historic legislation to change America. They also discussed Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At one point, Biden reportedly said, "I'm no FDR, but ... "

After the March meeting, Beschloss told Axios that Biden may be this century's analogue of Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson "in terms of transforming the country in important ways in a short time."

Then last month, Meacham joined another group of historians at a White House gathering with Biden, according to the Washington Post. (The group has recently faced criticism from other historians for being all white.)

Among those present were University of Virginia historian Allida Black, who campaigned for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential race and currently works as an adviser and historian to Clinton. She had previously quit her job in 2013 to organize for Clinton.

Another historian at the meeting was Princeton professor Sean Wilentz, another outspoken Clinton supporter who advised her in 2016.

The gathering proved to be a sounding board for Biden's Philadelphia speech, with historians again comparing today's situation to the lead-ups to the Civil War and World War II and, according to the Post, painting "the current moment as among the most perilous in modern history for democratic governance."

About a week later, Politico reported, the writing of the speech began — with Meacham helping.

"The fear of that kind of work is you get labeled a court historian and are seen as being hyperpartisan," Brinkley told the New York Times in November 2020. "But if anyone can pull it off, Meacham can. He's liked by moderate Republicans. He's a best-selling writer. He's a wordsmith, and that's what Biden needs. He's probably able to keep a foot in both worlds."

Meacham and Brinkley didn't respond to requests for comment. Just the News couldn't get in touch with Beschloss.

Aaron Kliegman

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/prominent-historians-jump-political-arena-advising-biden-attacking-maga

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Incoming U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss and Israel - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

by Hugh Fitzgerald

One of the most ardent supporters of the Jewish state in British politics.

 

Liz Truss has just been elected by her fellow Conservatives to be the new Prime Minister of Great Britain. This is good news for Israel, for Truss has long been one of the Jewish state’s most ardent supporters in British politics. On August 18, I posted a piece about her views, which included this:

British Foreign Secretary of State and Parliament member Liz Truss promised to consider moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem if she is elected Tory leader and becomes prime minister in September.

The Conservative Party leadership candidate made the promise in a letter written to members of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). She also participated in a CFI event on Monday night in which she addressed voters and answered questions about Israel-UK relations.

“I understand the importance and sensitivity of the location of the British Embassy in Israel,” Truss wrote in her letter, adding that she has had “many conversations with my good friend,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, on the topic. She then vowed to “review a move to ensure we are operating on the strongest footing with Israel.”

Truss said she “remain[s] committed to standing up to Iranian hostility and the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons” and that “the safety and security of Israel is of the utmost importance.”

She additionally voiced support for Lapid’s recent criticism of the United Nations regarding its Special Committee to Investigate Israel Practices. She called it “institutionally biased and a waste of money,” saying “UN representatives with a history of anti-Semitic remarks should have no role in reviewing the activities of Israel.”

Now that Truss has been elected by her fellow Conservatives to be Prime Minister, other pieces on her pro-Israel views have just appeared, including this one: “Liz Truss’s world view and its implications for UK-Israel relations,” by Toby Greene, Fathom Journal, September 2022:

In Truss’s mental map of the world, in which decent, honest, sovereign free-trading nations are pitted against aggressive authoritarians, Israel sits firmly in the former category. Israel’s inclusion in Truss’s list of ‘friends and allies’ in her October 2021 conference speech was not an isolated example, with Israel referred to repeatedly as an example of a (non-EU) democratic partner that excels in innovation.

Truss has proudly trumpeted her November 2021 bilateral agreement with Yair Lapid to develop a UK-Israel Bilateral Roadmap. The agreement envisages not only a ‘higher ambition free trade agreement’ but enhanced cooperation in a host of fields including defence, cyber, diplomacy, climate innovation and international development. The agreement was celebrated with a Truss co-authored article with Lapid published in The Telegraph, in which they declared: ‘Israel and the UK are the closest of friends, and today we become even closer. Together we ensure the future is defined by liberal democracies who believe in freedom and fairness.’…

Truss rhetorically extends the problem beyond Labour. She drew fire from civil service unions for referring to ‘woke civil service culture that strays into antisemitism.’.In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, and again in a speech to Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), Truss proudly described putting her foot down with Foreign Office diplomats by insisting they stand up to an anti-Israel agenda in the UN Human Rights Council. Truss even told CFI she would ‘review a move’ of the embassy to Jerusalem. This was hardly a commitment, nor will it be a priority, but it appears to signal that you cannot be too pro-Israel in today’s Conservative party. During the CFI hustings she felt no need to even refer to the Palestinians.

Like much of Truss’s politics, her philosemitism carries echoes of Thatcher…

Truss’ election is very good news for Israel. Her philosemitism, her palpable affection for the Jewish state, her admiration for Israel’s economic advances as the “Start-Up Nation,” her eagerness to promote U.K.-Israel ties on trade and security, her understanding that Israel is a potent military asset, her willingness to consider moving the British Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, her repeated warnings about Iran’s nuclear threat, are all clear signs that as far as Israel is concerned, both her heart and mind are in the right place. 

Particularly of note is her scathing criticism of how the UN mistreats Israel at its kangaroo court, singling out for denunciation the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israel Practices, which she has called “institutionally biased and a waste of money,” saying “UN representatives with a history of anti-Semitic remarks should have no role in reviewing the activities of Israel.” What more can Jerusalem ask for?

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/09/incoming-uk-prime-minister-liz-truss-and-israel-hugh-fitzgerald/

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Thatcher aide: Liz Truss' shift to right in Britain might upstage Biden's socialist agenda - Charlotte Hazard

 

by Charlotte Hazard

Former Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner says that the new UK prime minister may upset Biden's socialist agenda.

Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner talked about how the UK's new prime minister Liz Truss may upset U.S. President Biden's socialist agenda with her right-leaning politics.

I think expectations are very high for the new prime minister," Gardiner said on Tuesday's edition of "Just the News, Not Noise."

"She is a Thatcherite," Gardiner stated. "She's a strong conservative. She has vowed to to lead Britain  with conservative principles and policies. So everything she said so far has been very encouraging. She has modeled herself on Margaret Thatcher."

Gardiner referred to Truss as the opposite of U.S. President Joe Biden. 

"It's a very good thing to see the complete opposite of Joe Biden, who is pushing socialist style policies," Gardiner continued. "Those have been very destructive, as we've seen in many other parts of the world."

Despite Boris Johnson no longer being prime minister, Gardiner still believes that he will continue to be involved in politics.

"If it wasn't for Boris Johnson, we wouldn't have Brexit today," Gardiner credited the former prime minister. "We wouldn't be free from the shackles of the European Union. So I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to Boris Johnson for that.

"I had the privilege of meeting Boris on many occasions," Gardiner concluded. "I hosted him here in Washington. He's a very, very nice fella. He's a good man. I will miss Boris Johnson as prime minister. I'm sure he will be back in politics at some stage."

Charlotte Hazard

Source: https://justthenews.com/world/thatcher-aide-liz-truss-shift-right-britain-might-upstage-bidens-socialist-agenda

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UN warns of 'credible allegations' of children being kidnapped from Ukraine into Russia - Just the News Staff

 

by Just the News Staff

Reports have surfaced of older civilians being ordered into Russia as well.

The United Nations this week warned of what it said were credible reports of Ukrainian children being kidnapped and transported into the Russian Federation, with claims surfacing also of older civilians enduring the same. 

Ilze Brands Kehris, the assistant secretary-general head and of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said during a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday that "there have been credible allegations of forced transfers of unaccompanied children to Russian occupied territory, or to the Russian Federation itself," the international organization reported. 

Kehris also noted reports of "a significant number of cases of civilians who were displaced to the Russian Federation," including "a dozen cases where members of the Russian armed forces ordered civilians in Mariupol to leave their homes or shelters and brought them to territory in Ukraine under their control, or to the Russian Federation."

The office has further reportedly received reports of "arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance" of Ukrainian civilians suspected of having ties or sympathies to anti-Russian forces. 

 
Just the News Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/world/un-warns-credible-allegations-children-being-kidnapped-ukraine-russia

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Russia says it’s shutting off natural gas to Europe indefinitely, citing ‘mechanical problems’ - Just the News Staff

 

by Just the News Staff

Experts have warned of possible looming energy crisis on continent.

Citing alleged "mechanical problems" with the Nord Stream pipeline, Russian authorities on Friday said they were shutting off natural gas to Europe indefinitely, a move that further puts the continent on a possible path to an energy crisis.

State-controlled energy concern Gazprom said technical issues with the 750-mile-long pipeline necessitated the extended closure. Authorities had already scheduled the closure of the pipe for what they said were less-significant repairs to the system. 

Officials did not give a timeline for the repairs. 

The Nord Stream has become one of the global focus points of Russia’s chafing against the rest of the world as it continues its offensive measures in Ukraine. 

The Kremlin has claimed that needed repairs to the pipeline are being stymied by Western sanctions against Russian exports, though western officials have disputed those claims. 

The tighter energy market has uncomfortably squeezed an already energy-strapped Europe and have raised fears that European authorities may have to ration energy in the winter months. 

Reports have abounded, meanwhile, of German citizens stockpiling significant quantities of wood in order to avoid freezing out during the winter.

Just the News Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/world/russia-says-its-shutting-natural-gas-europe-indefinitely-citing-mechanical-problems

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