This update will be suspended for the next two weeks. I've been trying to practice French for my upcoming vacation, but never expected to study: "le roi du silence". 

US Takes Casualties in Helmond Fighting - Bill Roggio (Long War Journal)  We're nearing the end of President Obama's second term in office, and yet the US still has troops in Afghanistan.

French Pupils Aged 3 to Play 'Silence Reigns' in Terrorist Attack Training - Henry Samuel (The Telegraph)

Iran Targets Latin America - Yleem D.S. Poblete (World Affairs Journal) 

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Building Military Camps in Northern Iraq - Dalshad Abdullah (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)

Israeli Delegation Arrives in Cairo to Discuss Egyptian Initiative to Revive Peace Talks  (Daily News-Egypt)

Egypt Announces Russian Willingness to Host Israel-Palestinian Negotiations - Roi Kais and Itamar Eichner  (Ynet News)

Hamas Set to Take West Bank Cities in Local Elections - Alex Fishman (Ynet News)

Viceland Delivers Warped Narrative Through Gaza's Tunnels - (CAMERA)

Turkish Parliament Approves Deal to End Diplomatic Rift with Israel  (AFP)

Russia Presses Turkey for Access to NATO's Incirlik Air Base  (Sputnik-Russia)

Islamists Crossing U.S. Border from South America - Bill Gertz (Washington Free Beacon) "In 2015, we saw a total of 331,000 migrants enter the southwestern border between the U.S. and Mexico, of that we estimate more than 30,000 of those were from countries of terrorist concern," Army Col. Lisa A. Garcia, a Southcom spokeswoman, said. The Southcom intelligence report revealed that the threat of Islamist terror infiltration is no longer theoretical. 

From Honest Reporting.com:  An article in the Economist titled Politics hogs the Olympic spotlight in the Middle East looks at Arab hostility towards Israel in the Olympics, but then becomes guilty of its own charge. You might think an article in the sports section would reinforce the message of the Olympics and how treatment of the Israeli athletes is unsportsmanlike. But an anti-Israel agenda hogs the article, suggesting that Israel is to blame for bringing on the racism it endures. See also: New York Times Casts Olympians' Anti-Israel Hostility As Mutual Animosity (CAMERA)

China Seeking Closer Military Ties with Assad (RT-Russia)

The Burkini Battle: What really happened in Corsica (Clarion Project)

ISIS Launches Wave of Suicide Attacks on Libya Forces (AFP)

Articles in Saudi Press: End the Anti-Semitic Discourse, Learn from the Jews' Success(MEMRI)

Hizbullah Drone Is a Warning to the U.S. and Israel - David Axe (Daily Beast)

Torture, Inhuman Conditions and Mass Deaths in Syria's Prisons (Amnesty International)

Report: U.S. Transfers Nukes from Turkish Airbase - Georgi Gotev and Joel Schalit (EurActiv.com-Belgium)   A source said U.S.-Turkey relations had deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer trusted Ankara to host the weapons.

German Report Calls Turkey "the Central Platform of Action for Islamist Groups in the Middle East" - Jack Moore (Newsweek) The German government has accused Turkey of being a hub for Islamist groups, according to a leaked confidential document from Germany's Interior Ministry. The document alleges that the government of Turkish President Erdogan supports the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and "groups in the armed Islamist opposition in Syria," all of which follow Sunni Islam. "As a result of Ankara's domestic and foreign policy that has been Islamized step-by-step above all since 2011, Turkey has developed into the central platform of action for Islamist groups in the Middle East region." 

In linking Black Lives Matter with Palestinians, Miami lawmaker riles pro-Israel activists – Ron Kampeas (Times of Israel)

Belgian school ‘proud’ of teacher honored at Iran Holocaust cartoon show - Cnaan Liphshiz (Times of Israel)

German Intelligence Head Warns of ISIS "Hit Squads" Disguised as Refugees - Jessica Chasmar (Washington Times)

Where's the Coverage? The Latest Untold Story: The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, rejected claims that his country would decelerate its nuclear activity, instead promising a "tsunami" in Tehran’s nuclear industry. (CAMERA)

Lebanese Olympians 'refuse to ride in bus with Israelis'(Times of Israel) see also: Lebanese Olympic Team Scolded by IOC (Jerusalem Post)

The Palestinian Olympic Swimming Pool-Sized Lie - Liel Leibovitz (Tablet)  The media reported that Palestinian swimmer Mary al-Atrash didn't have access to an Olympic-size swimming pool to train in because of Israel. Actually, she had access to several. There is one in Gaza, one in Nablus, and one in her home town of Beit Sahour. Israel also offered to let her train at one in Jerusalem, which she refused to do.

PA Fires Palestinian Who Helped Jewish Terror Victims - Efrat Forsher (Israel Hayom) 

Received an interesting collection of stories about Hamas and Gaza this week.

Thursday morning's USA Today  had page 5A devoted to Abeer Ayyoub's Thousands in Gaza still displaced two years after war with Israel. Delays in promised international aid slow area's reconstruction.  While other news outlets reported corruption at World Vision where foreign aid was being diverted to Hamas. Then Hamas itself releases this video: 

Video: Hamas Now Says Gaza Is Thriving- Ahmed Al-Maqadema (YouTube)     While the common image of Gaza is one of ruins and poverty, a new Hamas video - produced for the upcoming local elections - shows Gaza as a place of impressive buildings and new neighborhoods, wide parks, lakes, plazas, sun-drenches beaches, and smiling people holding up signs reading, "Thank you Hamas."

State Department Criticizes Blasphemy Laws in Muslim Nations - Carol Morello (Washington Post) 

Pollard Loses Challenge to U.S. Parole Conditions - Nate Raymond (Reuters)

More Slaughter You Probably Haven't Heard About (Clarion Project) While the West worries about terror attacks on its soil, Islamist extremists are massacring people across the Middle East and Africa.

Egypt Fuming over Hamas' Continuing Ties to Islamic State - Avi Issacharoff (Times of Israel)

Golan Druze Leader Disputes UN on "Hardship of Israeli Occupation" (JTA)

Fatah brags it killed thousands of Israelis - Itamar Marcus (PMW) Fatah yesterday posted a list of Fatah's achievements on behalf of Palestinians. Significantly, Fatah did not cite even one peace-seeking or peace-promoting achievement, but only listed Fatah acts of violence and terror. Fatah even boasted that its attacks have killed 11,000 Israelis. While Fatah and the PLO have been killing Israelis since 1965, this number is a gross exaggeration.  

PA TV falsifies video to hide handshake between Israeli soldier and boy - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW) see also Palestinian Father Pushes Son to Attack Israeli Soldiers (Prime Minister's Office)

Russia, Iran Discuss Broader Military Cooperation (Sputnik-Russia)

Syrian Women Who Escaped From ISIS Filmed Burning Niqab – Elliot Friedland (Clarion Project) Syrian women have been filmed burning a niqab (face veil) and chanting anti-ISIS and anti-Semitic slogans after escaping from Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) territory.

Syrian Opposition TV Host Takes Palestinian Activist to Task over "the World's Number One Cause" (MEMRI-TV)

BBC Still Won’t Call Munich Olympics Massacre Perpetrators Terrorists (CAMERA)

U.S. Air Campaign in Libya Will Last Weeks - Andrew Tilghman (Military Times)

Boston Jewish Community Relations Council Rejects Black Lives Matter Platform on Israel - Adam Suttin and Jeremy Burton (Jewish Community Relations Council-Boston) We are deeply dismayed by elements of this platform that advance a biased and false narrative about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. To conflate the experiences of African-Americans and Palestinians oversimplifies complex matters and advances false equivalencies that diminish the unique nature of each.