Palestinians Praise Terror Attack - Bassam Tawil

by Bassam Tawil

This is the twisted logic of Abbas and his people: How dare Israeli police officers shoot terrorists armed with knives and a submachine gun and prevent them from killing more Jews?

• President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA), which is funded by Americans and Europeans, has once again chosen to maintain silence following a terror attack perpetrated by Palestinians. This silence of Abbas and his PA leadership, specifically their refusal to condemn the terror attack, can only be interpreted as an endorsement of the killing of Jews.
• This is the twisted logic of Abbas and his people: How dare Israeli police officers shoot terrorists armed with knives and a submachine gun and prevent them from killing more Jews?
• One wonders: how does this public endorsement of the Jerusalem terror attack and the terrorists stand up to Abbas's promise to President Trump to stop anti-Israel incitement and "promote a culture of peace" among Palestinians?

For many Palestinians, the stabbing murder of a 23-year-old Israeli Border Police officer in Jerusalem on June 16 is an act of "heroism" that proves that the "revolution against the Zionist entity will continue until the liberation of Palestine, from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river."

For many Palestinians, the three terrorists who murdered the young woman, Hadas Malka, are "heroes" and "martyrs" who will be rewarded by Allah in Paradise.

President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA), which is funded by Americans and Europeans, has once again chosen to maintain silence following a terror attack perpetrated by Palestinians. This silence of Abbas and his PA leadership, specifically their refusal to condemn the terror attack, can only be interpreted as an endorsement of the killing of Jews.

The silence of Mahmoud Abbas following the Jerusalem terror attack, specifically his refusal to condemn the attack, can only be interpreted as an endorsement of the killing of Jews. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

Moreover, in a move reminiscent of a demented Alice in Wonderland, Abbas's ruling Fatah faction, which is often described by Westerners as "moderate" and "pragmatic," publicly blasted Israel for killing the three terrorists who murdered the policewoman and wounded several others.

In a statement published in Ramallah shortly after the terror attack, Fatah "condemned the Israeli occupation forces for killing three young Palestinian men in East Jerusalem." It said that the killing of the three terrorists "proves that the Israeli government is pursuing its policy of escalation." Fatah called on the international community to "seriously look into providing protection for the defenseless Palestinian people."

The Fatah statement failed to mention that the three Palestinian "young men" were armed with knives and a homemade submachine gun. Nor did Fatah mention a word about the Border Police officer who was stabbed to death in the terror attack.

Such a statement could never have been published without the approval of Abbas and his top cronies in Ramallah. They even seem to have endorsed the Fatah communiqué by publishing it on the website of the PA's official news agency, Wafa. This agency is managed and funded by the PA, which also appoints the editors and journalists working there.

This is the twisted logic of Abbas and his people: How dare Israeli police officers shoot terrorists armed with knives and a machinegun and prevent them from killing more Jews?

Fatah spokesperson Osama Qawassmeh went as far as accusing Israel of committing a "war crime" by killing the terrorists and thwarting a bigger attack. He called on the international community to condemn Israel for the "cold-blooded" killing of the three terrorists in Jerusalem, dubbing it a "cruel crime." Qawassmeh, who is considered a trusted advisor and confidant of Abbas, seized the opportunity to heap praise on the terrorists, describing them as "martyrs." Palestinians, he added, should remain faithful to the "blood of the martyrs" by "holding on to their lands and holy sites and defending them."

One wonders: how does this public endorsement of the Jerusalem terror attack and the terrorists stand up to Abbas's promise to US President Donald Trump to stop anti-Israel incitement and "promote a culture of peace" among Palestinians?

This is but further proof in an endless string of damning evidence concerning the 'peace lies' spouted by Abbas and his PA. The PA president is always among the first to denounce terror attacks around the world, including Britain, France and Germany. Yet when Palestinians murder Israelis, they suddenly become "heroes" and "martyrs."

How would the British government and public have reacted had someone condemned the British police for killing the three terrorists who carried out the recent London Bridge attack?

How would the British government and public have reacted had the international media run headlines such as, "British policemen kill three Muslim men in London attack?" This is precisely how Abbas's media outlets -- and the BBC -- reported on the Jerusalem terror attack: "Israeli policemen shoot dead three Palestinians in Jerusalem" and "Three Palestinian youth martyred at the hands of Israeli occupation policemen."

It is no wonder, then, that many Palestinians have been celebrating the terror attack in Jerusalem. If these are the messages Abbas and his PA and Fatah cronies are sending to their people, why should it come as a surprise that many Palestinians have been glorifying the terrorists and calling for more attacks against Jews?

Hamas, notably, was the first party to applaud the Jerusalem terror attack, saying it proves that the Palestinian intifada was continuing and would escalate.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist Palestinian terror group, also joined the chorus of those heaping praise on the terrorists for murdering the Israeli policewoman. Hamas and the PFLP have claimed responsibility for the "heroic operation" and dismissed as "false" a statement by ISIS taking credit for the attack.

To be clear: the two terror groups are furious with ISIS for attempting to rob them of the "honor" of murdering a young policewoman on the streets of Jerusalem. This is the surreal reality in the Middle East today.

Not to be left behind in the promotion of Jew-killing, Palestinians across the political spectrum took to social media to applaud the latest terror attack and express their jubilation over the murder of the policewoman.

In innumerable postings on Facebook and Twitter, dozens, if not hundreds, of Palestinians praised the terrorists, describing them as "heroes" and "martyrs." They particularly expressed excitement over the use of a homemade submachine gun (often referred to as a "Carl Gustav"). This type of weapon is often produced in workshops in various parts of the PA-controlled territories in the West Bank.

The Palestinians also expressed deep satisfaction that the terrorists chose to carry out their attack during the holy month of Ramadan. They pointed out that the three terrorists, who were fasting, had chosen to carry out their attack during Ramadan because this was the surest and fastest path to Paradise. "There is nothing more pure and sacred than killing the infidels and Jews than when one is fasting during Ramadan," remarked some of the Palestinians.

There is documented, widespread jubilation in the Muslim world about this and other terror attacks perpetrated not only by Palestinians against Israelis, but -- contrary to the statements of many in the West -- by many Muslims against all "unbelievers": if "infidels" are murdered during Ramadan, their killers expect to be "doubly rewarded in Paradise."

In Israel, this joy over Jew-killing does not emerge from nothing. It can be traced directly to the Palestinian leadership, beginning with President Abbas and his Palestinian Authority friends. When he and the PA leadership next mouth their lies about a "culture of peace," perhaps the world will pause for a moment, not just to think of a murdered young woman, Hadas Malka, but also of what the Palestinian leadership really wants.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim based in the Middle East.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10545/palestinians-praise-terror-attack

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Is Bob Mueller the Establishment’s Stalking Horse? - Bruce Thornton

by Bruce Thornton

The threats to our constitutional posed by the special counsel investigation.

Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

The appointment of Robert Mueller, James Comey’s BFF, as special counsel stinks to high heaven. Forget the bipartisan encomia to Mueller’s “ethics” and “professionalism” and “integrity” and all the other usual question-begging praise the elite shower on each other to justify their power and privilege. Such mutual admiration and reciprocal puffery is just one of the ways that DC is “Hollywood for ugly people,” given that both industries are in the business of selling sows’ ears as silk purses. We heard all the same praise about Comey, who has been exposed as self-righteous, conniving, and cowardly, his ethics trimmed to his careerism. He proves that all political appointees and “public servants” should be judged guilty until proven innocent.

And right now Mueller demands particular scrutiny and suspicion. Why should we ordinary citizens, who don’t know him from Adam, believe that he can set aside his friendship with Comey and be fair and objective? Especially after Comey confessed he leaked his memo about Trump’s comments because he “thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,” and he is likely to be a witness? And mirabile visu, that special counsel just happens to be his close friend? And a Democrat, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, just happens to be the one making the appointment of a man under whom he served from 1990-93? And what about new information that Mueller was interviewed by Trump to replace Comey? Was the topic of why Comey was fired part of the interview, which could make him a witness in his own investigation?

Worst of all, this same DOJ, along with the FBI and maybe Mueller’s team, is still springing leaks that are poisoning the integrity of the nascent investigation. It seems to me that a man of such high integrity as Mueller would have put the investigation on hold until the leakers were rooted out, in order to insure the integrity of the investigation. But then, a man of integrity wouldn’t agree to head up an investigation that involves one of his closest friends, who has an axe to grind against the target of the investigation. Nor is Mueller’s past record of substituting his will for the law reassuring. In 2006 he raided the offices of Representative William Jefferson without getting permission from the legislative branch. He seized documents not pertinent to the investigation, and refused to return them when asked by the executive. As the Wall Street Journal writes, Mueller “let his prosecutorial willfulness interfere with proper constitutional and executive-branch procedure,” a bad habit he shares with Comey.

Or consider the staff Mueller has assembled, comprising lawyers from old his law firm, and Andrew Weissmann. All are contributors to the Democrats, though in their defense, it serves the interests of lawyers to have Democrats in power. After all, the regulatory Leviathan is a Klondike of lucrative litigation. Weissmann, however, is a particularly suspicious choice. As the Journal points out, he headed up the five-year-long Enron investigation, which led to the prosecution of the Arthur Anderson accounting firm. The 2002 conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court––after 28,000 employees lost their jobs. More interestingly, one of Weismann’s harshest critics was the New York Observer, which in 2015 called Weismann a “Stunningly Bad Choice” on the part of the DOJ for Chief of Criminal Division Fraud Section. The owner of the Observer at that time was, wait for it, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and aid, who leakers now tell us is in the investigatory crosshairs.

Again the Journal nails it: “With that history, can Mr. Weissmann fairly judge the actions of the Trump family and campaign? And knowing that history, why would Mr. Mueller choose Mr. Weissmann for his prosecutorial team when the appearance of fairness is crucial to public acceptance of the result?”

Finally, as Andy McCarthy has steadfastly documented, Rosenstein’s appointment of a special counsel “failed to follow regulations that permit a special counsel only for criminal investigations— Rosenstein instead put Mueller in charge of the Russia probe described in Comey’s March 20 testimony. Again, that probe is a counterintelligence investigation.” As a consequence, there are no limits to the investigation, which can now encompass whatever Mueller wants. In short, as McCarthy continues, it is a “fishing expedition”:

It is already straying far afield from suspicions about Trump collusion in Russia’s election-meddling — which, we need to remind ourselves, is the purported rationale for the probe, and thus for Mueller. The probe’s focus has morphed from collusion to obstruction: the chief-executive’s weighing in on Flynn’s prosecution, pushing for disclosure of true information that he was not a suspect in the Russia investigation, and firing of the FBI director — all actions Trump was constitutionally entitled to take.

It reminds me of Stalin’s head of the secret police, Lavrentiy Beria, who infamously said, “Show me the man, and I can show you the crime.”

Trump, of course, must shoulder some of the blame for allowing this to happen. He should have cleaned house at the DOJ and FBI the day after he took office. Given the obvious hatred of him on the part of Democrats, and given the amount of leaks and vitriol aimed at him since election day, Trump should never have left Democrat appointees or agency lifers in their jobs. Furthermore, since the Russia investigation is a counterintelligence, not a criminal one, Jeff Sessions did not legally have to recuse himself, and so should not have, leaving Rosenstein in place to appoint Mueller. And as much as Trump’s tweets delight his base, there’s no need to throw fuel on an already raging fire.

But the real issue here is not Trump’s missteps. It is the tidal wave of illegal leaks coming from the bipartisan minions of the Leviathan state who refuse to accept the outcome of a legal election, and who will seek to reverse it by any means necessary––fake news, vulgar and vitriolic rhetoric, simpatico federal judges, Democrat fifth columnists in the federal agencies and bureaucracies, and now the powerful weapon of a special counsel unaccountable to the people or their representatives in Congress.

Contrary to some of Mueller’s fans, no one “deserves respect” because of the recommendations of friends and colleagues, least of all a political appointee unknown personally to the vast majority of voters. Respect is earned by doing the right thing not as defined by partisan, professional, or ideological interests, but because it is lawful, moral, and just. As the Journal writes, “The country needs a fair investigation of the facts, not a vendetta to take down Mr. Trump or vindicate the tribe of career prosecutors and FBI agents to which Messrs. Mueller and Comey belong.”

I hope Mueller proves his critics wrong. I hope he quickly confirms the obvious: that there was no collusion by the president with Russia, nor was there any “obstruction of justice” in Trump’s comments to Comey. By doing so Mueller can reaffirm the Constitutional order now being undermined by Trump’s enemies.

On the other hand, I for one will not be surprised if the investigation drags on until October of 2018, and a damning report is released just in time for the midterm elections. If so, the contrast with the failure to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the criminal behavior of Hillary Clinton––for which, unlike the case of Trump, there is ample evidence already in the public domain––will be a glaring example of the Democrats’ and some Republicans’ hypocrisy and disdain for the bedrock principles of equality before the law, and the sovereignty of the people rather than federal agencies and their clerks.

If there are facts unknown that damn Trump, then they should be discovered and publicized. But if the investigation descends into innuendo, interpretative sophistries, and a toxic cloud of rumor that lead to a legally elected president being brought down solely for partisan gain, then Mueller will share the blame for such an assault on the Constitutional order.

Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, a Research Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, and a Professor of Classics and Humanities at the California State University. He is the author of nine books and numerous essays on classical culture and its influence on Western Civilization. His most recent book, Democracy's Dangers and Discontents (Hoover Institution Press), is now available for purchase.

Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267033/bob-mueller-establishments-stalking-horse-bruce-thornton

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IRGC Commanders: Our Main Aim Is Global Islamic Rule - MEMRI

by MEMRI

In recent statements and speeches, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders have emphasized that the Islamic Revolution in Iran is only the first stage on the path to the spread of the rule of Shi'ite Islam in the Middle East and worldwide

In recent statements and speeches, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders have emphasized that the Islamic Revolution in Iran is only the first stage on the path to the spread of the rule of Shi'ite Islam in the Middle East and worldwide, and that the mission of advancing the Islamic Revolution to these heights falls to the IRGC commanders. 

The commanders reiterated the argument that the U.S., the leader of the "world of arrogance," opposes Islam, and thus also Iran, which is, they say, the standard-bearer of the Revolution and its global vision. The U.S., they added, is acting to sabotage the plan to institute Islam worldwide, and is doing so by infiltrating the circles of decision-makers in Iran in order to impregnate them with Western cultural values and spark internal disputes among the Muslims. This is aimed at changing the direction of the Revolution and diverting it from its path. However, the robustness of the Revolution remains, they said, thanks to Iranian Supreme Leader 'Ali Khamenei and the IRGC. 

The following are translations of recent statements by senior IRGC commanders  on this matter: 

IRGC Commander Ja'fari: "We Are On The Path That Leads To The Rule Of Islam Worldwide" 

On March 11, 2017, IRGC commander Ali Ja'fari said of the worldwide Islamic regime: "The history of Iran is replete with agreement on the Rule of the Jurisprudent [velayat ] which has [already] crossed Iran's borders, and the united Islamic nation is being formed... We are on the path that leads to the rule of Islam worldwide."[1]

On March 15, 2017, Ja'fari added on the same subject: "The Islamic Revolution is aimed at creating an infrastructure of the religion of God on earth, and it will wait for no man on its path advancement. All [Iranian] officials must adapt to the accelerated progress of the Revolution.

"The Islamic Revolution is now in its third stage – that is, [the stage] of assembling the Islamic government, and with God's help it will pass this stage successfully despite the ups and downs that constantly occur.

"As IRGC commander, and as one of the commanders during the era of the Sacred Defense [i.e. the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war], I believe that today the young people's yearning to unconditionally defend the Revolution has expanded greatly relative to the era of the Sacred Defense. Their repeated requests to play a role alongside the defenders of the holy places indicate this.

"The religious seminaries and the IRGC bear the joint mission to advance and deepen the Islamic Revolution. This is God's promise for the salvation of humanity, and we are charged with it. The senior revolutionary clerics and the IRGC will without a doubt actualize God's promises, while implementing a comprehensive plan of the Islamic Revolution for shaping the picture of the Islamic world.

"Our internal spiritual and material potential for creating [such a global regime], and the robustness of the [Iranian] regime, which constitutes the main nucleus of this plan, are expanding in might. According to the words of [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini, if the revolution and the regime stop on the path, this will cause damage to Islam."[2]

On April 30, 2017, at a teachers' conference, Ja'fari said: "Some [people] have a flawed perception of the Islamic Revolution, for they think that its aim was only to defeat the regime of the Shah and to establish the Islamic regime [in Iran]. [But] if we look at the words of the Imam [Khomeini], we will discover a correspondence between the Islamic Revolution and the spread of the religion of Islam. In order to build the Islamic regime, there is no other path but to advance the Islamic Revolution... As the Imam said: If this Islamic regime is defeated, Islam is defeated.

"The framework of our activity is the Islamic Revolution, and first we must know what its aims are... The external dimension of the Revolution is based on the principle of Islam [as] derived from the lesson of the Ashura. This is in effect the principle of enmity towards evil and enmity towards the arrogance [the West, led by the U.S.]. This is actualized by means of the Islamic awakening against evil, and it is waged in the best possible way thanks to the Leader [Khamenei], who is its standard-bearer."[3]

Supreme Leader's Representative In The IRGC Saeedi: "The Islamic Revolution Is The Prelude To Islam Becoming Global" 

Similar statements were made on March 15, 2017, by Ali Saeedi, Supreme Leader Khamenei's representative in the IRGC: "There is no doubt that the Islamic Revolution is a prelude to Islam becoming global. Therefore, the Revolution must be strengthened in the best possible way, in order to create the framework for the revelation of God's promise."[4]

Deputy Qods Deputy Force Commander Esmail Qaani: "The Main Aim Is Global Rule" 

On March 1, 2017, IRGC Qods Force deputy commander Esmail Qaani said: "Without a doubt, our martyrs and those of the dear ones like you Fatimiyyoun[5] will not settle for less than the global rule of the Imam Mahdi. Our martyrs inaugurated a great path. Syria and Aleppo are the temporary aims, and the main aim is global rule, which I hope is not far off."[6]

IRGC Navy Commander Fadavi: "Today We Are Fighting Not At Home But Thousands Of Kilometers Beyond [Our] Borders" 

IRGC Navy commander Ali Fadavi said on March 3, 2017: "Today, the thinking of the Islamic Revolution has expanded. Today, we are fighting not at home, but thousands of kilometers beyond [our] borders. Although our equipment does not compare to that of the enemy, with the blessing of faith in God and the martyrdom-seeking spirit, the enemies will fear us."[7]

 

---

[1] Tasnimnews.com (Iran), March 11, 2017.

[2] Tasnimnews.com (Iran), March 15, 2017.

[3] ISNA (Iran), April 30, 2017.

[4] ISNA (Iran), March 15, 2017.

[5] A pro-Iranian Afghan militia fighting on Iran's behalf on the Syrian front. 

[6] Tasnimnews.com (Iran), March 1, 2017.

[7] ILNA (Iran), March 13, 2017.

MEMRI

Source: https://www.memri.org/reports/irgc-commanders-our-main-aim-global-islamic-rule

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Some European Countries Take Firmer Stance Against Anti-Israel NGOs - Joseph Puder

by Joseph Puder

A glimmer of hope in the darkness.

The recent terrorist attacks in Europe by Muslim jihadists using car (truck) rammings and knifings to kill innocent civilian bystanders may have jolted some European governments to recognize that Israel is indeed “the canary in the coal mine.”  The car rammings and knifings first occurred in Israel with Palestinian jihadists using this method to kill Israelis.  It has been emulated by Jihadists in France, Germany, and Britain. It was however, the regime of Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and Hamas in Gaza who have used their mosques, media, and educational systems to spread incitement and hate of non-Muslims, particularly Israelis and Jews, in what amounts to blatant anti-Semitism.

Some European governments have finally awakened to the reality that their charities, particularly those funding Palestinian NGO’s, are in essence supporting incitement to hate and anti-Semitism. The Swiss parliament decided to change the country’s policy with regards to funding Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) that are involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The new policy would bar funding of organizations that participate in incitement and spreading of hate propaganda, racism and anti-Semitism.  The measure was introduced by Christian Imark, a National Council deputy from the conservative Swiss People’s Party. It passed 111 - 78.

The Swiss Council of States or Upper House of Parliament passed the resolution with modest modifications of the bill introduced by MP Christian Imark, which was previously approved in the Lower House of Parliament three months ago.  The passing of the bill will result in ending official Swiss funding of NGO’s that participate in incitement against Israel, and use anti-Semitic language

Professor Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem based NGO, which analyzes and reports on the output of the international NGO community, had this to say…This decision marks a fundamental change.  When we first approached the Swiss government officials, including the Foreign Ministry, their response was denial.  For the first time now, a European country has passed legislation to end funding for NGO’s that are vehicles for incitement and hate speech, specifically including anti-Semitism.”

NGO Monitor has shown that the primary channel for Swiss funding of NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict is the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, which is a joint funding mechanism involving the governments of Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. The Secretariat has funded over 40 Israeli and Palestinian NGO’s, including groups that engage in “lawfare” against Israeli officials and companies that do business with Israel.  It also funded NGO’s that promote Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) campaigns against Israel, and exploit the false analogy of “apartheid” to vilify Israel in what amounts to anti-Semitic propaganda. The NGO Monitor has moreover, documented the extent to which the Secretariat disbursed over $14 million to NGO’s in 2014-2016 that supported the BDS campaigns.  For example, 15 out 24 core funding recipients, and 11 out 20 project funding grantees promoted BDS. 

The newly enacted Swiss law has set the criteria against funding NGO’s that have ties to terrorist organizations or promote anti-Semitism, as well as those organizations with connections to BDS.  The net result of the law is likely to impact on anti-Israel Palestinian organizations such as Badil, which is the Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, based in Jerusalem.  Badil (pronounced in Arabic as Badeel, meaning Alternative) supports Palestinian “right of return” and refuses to recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Badil is also engaged in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda. 

Addameer (Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association), founded in 1992, is a Palestinian NGO that defends murderous terrorists.  In an April 17, 2015 release, it stated that “Israel is committing nothing short of a modern-day ethnic cleansing before our eyes.” It refers to the Israel Defense Force (IDF) as the “Israeli Occupying Forces,” and accuses Israel of “collective punishment,” “war crimes,” and a “policy of using Palestinian prisoners as pawns to achieve political and military gains.”

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), founded in 1995, is based in Gaza.  It is hardly an unbiased Palestinian “human rights” NGO, portraying Israel as an “apartheid” state.  It regularly denies the existence of terrorism against Israeli civilians, depicting a narrative of Palestinian suffering.  Raji Sourani, founder and director of PCHR, was convicted of being a member of the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and an anti-Israel Palestinian-Christian propagandist, formed Miftah in 1998.  She is using her “Christian” but not her radical background to appeal to the West.  Miftah seeks to disseminate the Palestinian narrative and influence policy legislation.  Miftah received $330,000 from the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat in 2014-16.  Canada terminated its grants to Miftah in 2014.  Miftah has accused Israel of “massacres,” “Apartheid” and “summary execution of Palestinian youth.”  Another libelous false accusation by Miftah has been that Israel is “Judaizing Jerusalem.”  Ashrawi has also addressed the notoriously anti-Semitic UN Durban Conference in 2001, where she charged that Palestinians were “a nation in captivity held hostage to an ongoing Nakba, and a pervasive expression of persistent colonialism, apartheid, racism and victimization.”

Denmark, like Switzerland, took the first step in ending funding to Palestinian NGO’s who glorify convicted terrorists.  Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported (June 4, 2017) that the Danish government cancelled aid to a Palestinian NGO following a PMW report on its glorification of terrorists.  Palestinian NGO Women’s Technical Affairs Committee (WTAC) named a youth and women’s center in the town of Burqa after a terrorist murderer named Dalal Mughrabi, who led a bus hijacking and the murder of 37 Israeli civilians, including 12 children, in 1978. 

On June 2, 2017, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsson stated, “I am outraged that the Palestinian NGO WATC, which claims to work for human rights, has not only glorified a terrorist but also abused the trust of a generous people like the Danish…It is completely unacceptable and I can’t distance myself strongly enough from it.  Denmark and Danish tax kroner must, under no circumstances, be used for anything that glorifies or promotes terrorists in any way. Therefore, we will now also demand that WACT return Danish aid.”

A Danish Foreign Ministry press release stated that the ministry has ended cooperation with the center because it “withheld crucial information” about the naming of the women’s center “after a female Palestinian terrorist.” Similar condemnations were issued by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Norway’s Foreign Minister Borge Brende.

The governments of Switzerland, Denmark and Norway have finally recognized that they have been duped by numerous Palestinian NGO’s.  These NGO’s have shown that behind their innocuous names and advertising façades lurks hateful missions to do harm to Israel and Jewish people.  NGO’s like Miftah have engaged in vicious anti-Semitic incitement that ends up in violence and death.  The actions of the above mentioned European governments is a welcomed sign that they are waking up to the evil of Islamic jihadism, be it against Europe or Israel.

Joseph Puder

Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267034/some-european-countries-take-firmer-stance-against-joseph-puder

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Hamas: Striking the Right Balance - Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror

by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror

What is the right balance between pressure on Hamas and the building of hope for the citizens of Gaza?

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 502, June 19, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip, is under pressure from three sides: less electricity, lower salaries, and reduced economic aid. It might be tempting for Israel to take advantage of these pressures to compel Hamas to rein in its military expenditures – but the less Hamas feels it has to lose, the more combustible Gaza becomes. 

The first and most important element currently putting pressure on Hamas is the loss of Qatar. Under pressure from its Arab Gulf neighbors, Qatar has expelled several Hamas leaders and is leaving open the possibility that the organization’s entire leadership will eventually need to leave the country. If Qatar ceases to provide economic aid to the Gaza Strip due to this pressure, residents of Gaza and Hamas will have lost what has been their primary source of help in recent years.

The second source of pressure is the recent decisions of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. First, the PA will reduce or has already significantly reduced salaries to people it considers its enemies in Gaza, and these cuts will have a considerable impact on the economic situation.

Abbas has also decided not to pay for a large portion of the electricity Gaza consumes, leading to the Israeli cabinet’s decision on Sunday to reduce the amount of electricity Israel transfers to Gaza. As a result, the people of Gaza will be left without electricity for much of the time.

There is no alternative to Israeli electricity, because the Egyptians, too, are denying Gaza more electricity. As to who will supply the salaries, there is no alternative there either. No one will fill the void left by the PA on this matter and it does not appear that anyone will step into Qatar’s shoes if it has to discontinue its economic support.

All these factors will lead to immense pressure on the Gaza Strip in general and on Hamas, which is responsible for Gaza, in particular.

This is a classic example of a situation in which Israel has no “good decision” to make.

On the one hand, Israel has a great interest in pressuring Hamas to sacrifice its military investments.

On the other hand, the worse the situation in Gaza becomes, and the less Hamas has to lose, the greater the risk of a violent outburst from inside Gaza. This outburst will be aimed at Israel, not Hamas.

What is the right balance between pressure on Hamas and the building of hope for the citizens of Gaza? The answer to this question is entirely unclear. How can pressure be applied without causing an eruption? To do so is an art, and it is difficult to provide good advice.

It is exceedingly clear, however, that once the three prongs of pressure – less electricity, lower salaries, and reduced economic aid – affect life in a tangible manner, the Gaza Strip will become far more combustible. This has to be taken into account.

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This article was originally published in Israel Hayom on June 13, 2017.
 
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family


Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror is the Anne and Greg Rosshandler Senior Fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He is also a distinguished fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy.


Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/hamas-balance/

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Israel secretly assisting Syrian rebels, report claims - Israel Hayom Staff

by Israel Hayom Staff

Syrian rebels tell Wall Street Journal that Israel regularly provides them with cash, food, fuel, medical supplies • Assistance also reportedly includes salaries and weapons purchases

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on the northern border [Archive] | Photo credit: Ariel Hermoni / Defense Ministry

Syrian rebels are claiming that Israel has been regularly supplying them with cash as well as food, fuel and medical supplies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

According to the report, which has not been confirmed by Israel, the IDF maintains regular communication with rebel groups and its assistance includes undisclosed payments to commanders, salaries for fighters and purchases of ammunition and weapons.

The operation, codenamed "The Good Neighbor," has reportedly been active for several years, while an unnamed source told The Wall Street Journal that Israel has established a military unit to oversee the support in Syria.

According to the report, the operation began under the tenure of former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon but is still ongoing, alongside Israel's humanitarian efforts on its northern border with Syria.

Israel has said it has discreetly treated some 3,000 wounded Syrians, and although that number comprises only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of casualties caused by the six-year Syrian civil war, both doctors and patients in Israeli hospitals say the program has changed perceptions of Israel and helped ease tensions across the hostile border.

However, rebels and other sources familiar with Israel's policy told The Wall Street Journal that the country's involvement runs far deeper and is more coordinated than previously thought.

"Israel stood by our side in a heroic way," said the spokesman for the rebel group Fursan al-Joulan, or Knights of the Golan, which operates near the city of Quneitra in the Syrian Golan Heights. "We wouldn't have survived without Israel's assistance," he said.

The groups' commander, who goes by the nickname Abu Suhayb, told The Wall Street Journal that his group gets roughly $5,000 a month from Israel. According to the report, Fursan al-Joulan is not linked to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army and is not a recipient of western funding or arms.

Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=43223

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Mueller's Real Mandate - Jared E. Peterson

by Jared E. Peterson

-- already, almost before his army of lawyers has swung into battle, the Special Counsel’s inquiry has metastasized from its original focus

The Washington D.C. nomenklatura advanced forward last week with its slow-moving coup d’état against America’s constitutionally elected President.

But even after the federal bureaucracy’s further progress toward undoing the 2016 election, I confess to a faint hope that Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III -- supposed embodiment of upper class, non-partisan, lawyerly virtue -- might actually conduct a fair, focused and swift inquiry into the matter assigned him. 

In the end, though, the sensible old lawyer’s voice in my head whispers that this hope is more pipedream than prediction of events. 

Here’s the latest state of affairs, no doubt soon to be out of date:

After staffing up during the week preceding last with heavy Democrat contributing lawyers of dubious objectivity, last week Mr. Mueller appeared to abandon, or at least heavily downgrade, the alleged raison d’etre for his office -- investigating the Russia collusion fantasy. Now, per the Washington Post -- always eager to provide a stage for someone leaking ill about the President -- Mr. Mueller will focus on whether the President “obstructed justice” and on the business dealings of the President’s close advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

So already, almost before his army of lawyers has swung into battle, the Special Counsel’s inquiry has metastasized from its original focus -- sleuthing out whether President Trump or his campaign “colluded” with the Russian government during the election -- into entirely new subjects.

Keep in mind the language of Mr. Mueller’s assignment, as articulated on May 17 by Rod Rosenstein: To investigate:

“any links and/or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from that investigation.”

The new subjects of Mueller’s inquiry are not only remote from that recent but apparently forgotten assignment, but they begin to sketch the outline of a lawyer who is stocking up on matters of inquiry for a long-haul investigation.

In sum, as each week passed following Mr. Mueller’s May 17 appointment, the man has behaved less like an independent counsel and more like the designated agent for America’s Trump-despising Washington-New York would-be rulers -- like someone who knows he is charged with providing a colorable legal predicate for a long-ago decision by America’s elites to destroy the President and prevent him from serving out the term he was accorded by America’s electorate and Constitution.

As of, today, Monday June 19, 2017, here is where matters stand for the President of the United States:

Though constitutionally and decisively elected to office, President Trump must carry out his duties -- that include sole responsibility for protecting the American homeland in a world where North Korea fires missiles every month and Islamic fanatics commit atrocities on a near daily basis -- while a former FBI Director, unrestrained by budget, personnel, duration of authority, or substantive area of inquiry, deliberately harasses, hounds, and distracts him and his appointed officials while attempting to find something -- after last week, apparently anything -- that could be twisted into a warrant for the President’s impeachment and removal from office.

Mr. Mueller could at least partially rebut the growing belief that he is the agent of those who despise the President, his agenda, and his supporters, by making a clear public statement that reaffirms his commitment to the inquiry he was assigned, and to its speedy completion. But without such a prompt reaffirmation -- directly from Mr. Mueller -- the belief will harden and become widespread among those who elected President Trump that Mr. Mueller is nothing but the Washington-New York corridor’s designated legal hit man. Were that to occur, the Special Counsel’s findings and recommendations would have no legitimacy; and were Congress to act adverse to the President on them, doing so would plunge the nation into chaos.

How did the American Republic come to this ridiculously self-destructive pass?

In brief summary:

Desperate to deflect blame for his failed efforts after the 2016 election, Clinton campaign Chair John Podesta, risibly and with neither specificity nor evidence, accused President-elect Trump of “colluding” with the Russian government to bring about Trump’s election. 

From the time of Podesta’s tirade right up through today not a shred of evidence has emerged to support the claim of Russian collusion. This gaping void is all the more damning for the “Russia collusion” fantasists, given that Congress has investigated the claim for at least six months and the FBI for over nine months.

Given the ubiquitous atmosphere of anti-Trump leaking in Washington, if any such evidence had been discovered, by Congress or by the FBI, it’s a certainty that by now it would have been leaked and be widely known 

A side question: How many FBI agents spent how much time over the last nine months on this groundless smear, and how many potential Islamic terrorists could those agents have identified and neutralized if they had devoted their energies and skills to that rather more pressing concern? Just wondering.

So, in the total evidentiary vacuum for the “Russia collusion” allegation, how did America move from John Podesta’s non-specific and unsupported claim of such collusion, to Robert Mueller’s appointment to investigate that claim?

Enter, stage left, America’s corporate media.

On a daily basis since the election, the New York Times and Washington Post, followed in lock step by all the corporate television news networks, have breathlessly written and talked about Trump’s “alleged Russia collusion,” on page one or on the nightly “news” --and without any specificity as to what allegedly was done, who the alleged “allegers “are, or evidence to support the charge.

Our corporate media’s performance was an amazing feat of “Journalism,” keeping the “Russia collusion allegation” on page one, and on the nightly news, every day without letup, all the months since the election -- always unsourced as to who was alleging, unspecified as to the conduct alleged, and, of course, without identifying a shred of proof.

But that kind of news story is not evidence, a bright little child might observe.

“Maybe not to you kid, but it was good enough for Rod Rosenstein.”

Because repeated “news” stories in the corporate media about allegations by unnamed persons … about unspecified conduct … for which there was no evidence, were all Rosenstein had to justify appointing a Special Counsel.

Special Counsel Mueller should not have been appointed at all.

Even in a country whose legal system has been as debased by politics as ours, it’s simple prosecutorial ethics that a massive and in itself damaging investigation into an allegation should be turned loose only when the charges are specific and after at least some evidentiary cause to believe they are true has been adduced.

Both specificity and evidence were completely absent at the time of the Rosenstein appointment.

Now that Mr. Mueller has been improvidently appointed, he has a slender chance to save his own reputation for professional integrity, and the nation from further political disintegration -- by sticking to his assignment and rapidly and fairly concluding his work.

We will soon learn whether he has any interest in such an approach to his duties.

Jared E. Peterson is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and has been a practicing attorney in California for over forty years.

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/06/muellers_real_mandate.html

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Washington Ignores Saudi "Involvement in Supporting Terrorism and Terrorist Groups" - A. Z. Mohamed

by A. Z. Mohamed

-- the Saudi government, which has been monitoring its nationals in the U.S., is fully aware of the fact that many of them are joining ISIS and not only has done little to stop it, but has kept information about it from American authorities

• Saudi Arabia is the second largest source of ISIS fighters from Muslim-majority countries, with an estimated 2,500, according to a working paper produced by the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to a report by the Institute for Gulf Affairs, a whopping 16% of these fighters were in the U.S. when they joined ISIS.
• An equally disturbing finding of the report is that the Saudi government, which has been monitoring its nationals in the U.S., is fully aware of the fact that many of them are joining ISIS and not only has done little to stop it, but has kept information about it from American authorities.

A new investigative report reveals that hundreds of Saudi and Kuwaiti nationals residing in the United States -- many of them students with dual citizenship and receiving government scholarships -- have joined ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq during the past three years.

Titled "From American Campuses to ISIS Camps: How Hundreds of Saudis Joined ISIS in the U.S.," the report -- released June 1 by the Washington-D.C.-based think tank the Institute for Gulf Affairs (IGA) -- provides details of the flow of students leaving American institutions of higher learning to fight in the Middle East.

According to a 2016 working paper produced by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Saudi Arabia is the second largest source of ISIS fighters from Muslim-majority countries, with an estimated 2,500. If the IGA report is accurate, a whopping 16% of these fighters were in the U.S. when they joined ISIS.

An equally disturbing finding of the report is that the Saudi government, which has been monitoring its nationals in the U.S., is fully aware of the fact that many of them are joining ISIS and not only has done little to stop it, but has kept information about it from American authorities.

This completely contradicts the 2014 State Department assertion that "Saudi Arabia has continued to cooperate with the United States to prevent acts of terrorism ... through information exchange agreements with the United States."

Meanwhile, according to the report's authors -- IGA director Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi Shiite expatriate critical of the Sunni regime in Riyadh, and researcher Mohamed Dhamen -- the FBI failed to notice the steady stream of would-be jihadis exiting the U.S. and heading for Iraq and Syria in the three years since then. This failure should not come as a surprise, given that one of the FBI's own employees -- Daniela Greene, a translator with top security clearance -- absconded to Syria in June 2014 and married an ISIS recruiter she had been assigned to investigate. The rogue agent lied to the FBI about where she was going, alerted the terrorist that he was the subject of an FBI probe and shared classified information with him.

In a May 10 letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley requested additional information on how Greene, who eventually turned herself in and reached a lenient plea deal, was able to slip through the system undetected. Two days later, Grassley released a statement about it:

"I'm troubled that a relationship between an FBI employee and a prominent ISIS recruiter went unnoticed, and more troubled that there wasn't a safeguard to successfully catch this incident... It's important for the public to understand how this happened and how similar problems will be prevented in the future. We also need to know how prosecutors settled on the charges in this case. A sentence of two years seems unusually light for such a potential threat to national security."

Greene's case sheds light on the findings of the IGA report and its claim that Saudi influence on American administrations, and relationships between senior officials in both countries, is behind Washington's ignoring Riyadh's "well-established... involvement in supporting terrorism and terrorist groups."

The number of Saudi students in the United States in 2016 reached 125,000, the "most in the world," according to a June 14 Arab News report. Those who leave to join a terrorist group and subsequently return -- enabled by their U.S. citizenship, combined with lax monitoring of and leniency with them -- present a clear and present danger to America's home front.

As then-FBI director James B. Comey said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in September 2014,

"Foreign fighters traveling to Syria or Iraq could... gain battlefield experience and increased exposure to violent extremist elements... they may use these skills and exposure to radical ideology to return to their countries of origin, including the United States, to conduct attacks on the Homeland."

The IGA report, covering the three-year period since then and including extremely serious charges against both Saudi Arabia and the previous U.S. administration and security officials, indicates the urgency with which the current administration needs to treat the issue and act upon it. American blood is at stake.

ISIS fighters, featured in a propaganda video by the group.

A.Z. Mohamed is a Muslim born and raised in the Middle East.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10542/saudi-arabia-terrorism

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Saudi navy intercepts Iranian boat, captures elite force members - Mordechai Sones

by Mordechai Sones

Three captured belong to Revolutionary Guard, intended to use explosives for ‘terrorist act’, says Riyadh.

The Saudi navy has captured three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards from a boat seized last week as the vessel approached Saudi Arabia’s offshore Marjan oilfield, according to official Riyadh sourced quoted in the Guardian.

“This was one of three vessels which were intercepted by Saudi forces. It was captured with the three men on board, the other two escaped,” the Saudi Information Ministry said in a statement today (Monday).

“The three captured members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are now being questioned by Saudi authorities,” it said, citing a Saudi official.

The vessel, which was seized last Friday, was carrying explosives and the those captured intended to conduct a “terrorist act” in Saudi territorial waters, it claimed.

An earlier report from the Saudi Press Agency said the Saudi navy had fired warning shots at two boats that managed to escape.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on Saturday that Saudi border guards opened fire on an Iranian fishing boat in the Gulf on Friday, killing a fisherman. It said the boat was one of two Iranian boats fishing in the Gulf that had been pushed off course by turbulent waters.

UPDATE: Iran denies the captured individuals are IRGC members; they say they are fishermen.


Mordechai Sones

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/231271

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Gaza in the Dark Is Not So Terrible - Prof. Efraim Inbar

by Prof. Efraim Inbar

Maybe a bit of darkness will help the Gazans see the light.

Gaza skyline, image by proIsraeli via Flickr Creative Commons

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 501, June 18, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Hamas wants Israel to supply it with electricity “or else”, but there is no reason why Israel should submit to Hamas extortion. It is not Israel’s obligation to satisfy the needs of a population that continues, through its ongoing support of Hamas, to pursue Israel’s destruction. 

The Hamas leadership in Gaza has threatened Israel with “an explosion” if it does not supply electricity to Gaza at the expense of Israeli taxpayers.

Blackmail is, of course, part of the Hamas repertoire. One of the main reasons why Hamas launched thousands of rockets and sent terrorists into Israel via tunnel in the summer of 2014 was to solve its dire economic problem. Hamas needs electricity to build terror tunnels and produce weapons.

Voices in Israel and abroad are advocating “moderation” – meaning capitulation – and insisting that Israel has no interest in an escalation. While Israel naturally prefers quiet along its borders, giving in to Hamas demands and granting it a victory will only lead to further demands. Supplying electricity to Gaza in exchange for a promise that Gazans refrain from shooting at Israeli civilians is no different from paying protection money to the Mafia.

There is no strategic or moral reason why Israel should supply free electricity to Gaza.

While Israel does not desire escalation, it has no reason to fear it. Israel is the stronger side. Moreover, the essence of war is a competition to inflict pain on the opponent in order to change patterns of behavior. Pain has a positive value in that it affects the learning curves of the warring sides. Israel has made use of force to teach the Palestinians that aggression against Israel does not pay, and that continued support for Hamas can be costly.

Another round of violence – one that exacts a high cost from Hamas and the Gazans – may lead them to more peaceful behavior. It is true that it is difficult to influence the learning processes of large collectives, but it is by no means unprecedented. For example, it took much suffering in WWI and WWII to transform Germany into a less militaristic and belligerent society. While not politically correct, such treatment might help turn the Palestinians into peaceful neighbors in the long run.

In any case, it makes no strategic sense to ease the situation of Hamas at just the moment that the Arab Sunni states have put Qatar (the backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a part) under diplomatic and economic siege. Moreover, the US seems to support the steps taken by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The Palestinian Authority (PA) itself, which initiated the electricity crisis by refusing to continue to pay for energy supply to Gaza as part of the internal Palestinian struggle for dominance, is unimpressed by warnings of an impending human disaster.

Hamas exploits the suffering of Gazans to extract humanitarian aid and sympathy for their cause. But the Gazans cannot be exempted from responsibility for the consequences of Hamas’s actions. Unfortunately, Hamas remains popular in Gaza, and all polls show that Gazans support continued violence against Israel.

The Gazans are, in short, not good neighbors, and they do not deserve Israel’s sympathy. What moral justification exists that compels Israelis to assist people who support an organization intent on destroying them?

Moreover, plans to ease the economic situation in Gaza – either by supplying electricity and water or by building a port – send the wrong signals. They tell the Palestinians that their leadership can make grave mistakes, but outsiders with good intentions will bail them out. They also signal to Hamas that it might as well continue shooting at Israel. Why not? If Israel takes military steps in response, merciful donors will repair the damage yet again.

The billions of euros transferred to the Palestinians over the past two decades have been squandered through ineptitude and misappropriated through corruption. Like many Third World countries, Gaza lacks the legal and institutional infrastructure needed for the effective dispersal of economic aid. Very little aid has filtered down to the people. Hamas leadership, however, continues to be enriched by it. Those with arms always get the first and best cut of foreign aid sent to the poor. Humanitarian aid to Gaza is also siphoned off to build better military capabilities with which to fight Israel.

The authoritarian rule of Hamas dooms the Gazans to continuous poverty, ignorance, and protracted war with Israel. Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, are not educated to seek peace, but to make sacrifices and martyr themselves in a holy war against the Jewish state.

Israel has no choice but to reject Hamas demands, even if that refusal brings about another round of violence that will add to the suffering in Gaza. Even the friends of the Palestinian national movement should realize that it is time for some tough love for Gaza. Maybe a bit of darkness will help the Gazans see the light.

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BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family


Prof. Efraim Inbar, professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and founding director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (1991-2016), is a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum.


Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/gaza-dark-not-terrible/

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