Thursday, August 31, 2017

While in Israel last week, I learned a new term: Deconfliction. It's used to describe the contact between Russia and Israel in Syria. It's a very tense time because of the expansion of Iranian influence near Israel's border with the apparent tacit approval of the USA and Russia. Israel is doing everything possible to stop this and not get into a war with Russia. As per David Lesch of the New York Times:  The Trump administration has so far seemed willing to cede Syria to Russia, but this really means ceding it to Iran.
Expert: Hizbullah Has Built Tunnels into Israel - David Schenker (Cipher Brief)
Hamas Leader: Iran Is Our Largest Backer Financially, Militarily (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) with Iran's help, Hamas is accumulating military power in preparation for a battle for the liberation of Palestine.
Netanyahu Raising Alarm on Iran, Again - Ben Caspit (Al-Monitor)

Iran Commands 70,000 Combatants in Syria - Zvi Bar'el (Ha'aretz)   Iranian troops and militias have been given Syrian army bases and civilian facilities, like a university located between Damascus and the southern town of Sweida where the Iranians installed SAM-1 anti-aircraft batteries.
Hizbullah Has Been Active in America for Decades - Colin P. Clarke (National Interest)
------------


Al Jazeera Exposed: Blood Libels, Defamation and Lies - Daniel Pomerantz (Honest Reporting)

Opposing U.S., France Says No Need to Change UN Lebanon Force Mandate  (AFP) Anne Gueguen, France's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said Wednesday that France wants the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to stick to its current mandate, opposing U.S. calls to strengthen the force's authority to deal with arms movements by Hizbullah. France contributes 800 troops to UNIFIL's 10,500-strong force. A Security Council vote on renewing UNIFIL's mandate is expected on August 30.

Washington Institute Hires Fired WSJ Reporter - Michael Wilner (Jerusalem Post) Solomon, in a phone call, said that virtually every single missile system in the Arab world has some tieback to the regime in the North. He will also examine the DPRK’s role in developing the chemical and nuclear weapons programs in Syria and Iran.

Military Training in PA Summer Camps Run by Jibril Rajoub - B. Chernitsky and S. Schneidmann  (MEMRI)
How an Underground Wall Can Save Lives - HR in a Minute (Honest Reporting Video)

At the Golan border, I listened to one of the UN troops talking to tourists. He was stationed safely inside the Israeli border and his team was looking at Syria through a type of binocular. He made a point to say (with great disdain) that the Israelis are now advertising their assistance to Syrian refugees. Looking at his position, his tone was puzzling. 

After summer vacation, Middle East gears up for conflict as usual- Avi Issacharoff (Times of Israel)  This week the United Arab Emirates made its first monthly transfer of $15 million to Hamas in Gaza in exchange for allowing Abbas' rival Mohammed Dahlan a foothold there.  The Emirates, never previously known for affection toward Hamas, offered the money to help Dahlan and, mainly, to weaken Qatar's influence upon Hamas.

There will be no Update next week as I will be traveling and have very limited internet access.

Hope you all have a fabulous Labor Day weekend.
Posted by at

Friday, August 18, 2017

It's unlikely there will be an Update next Friday because of my travel schedule.

The Fight of His Life - Brian Castner (Esquire) Afghan Army Captain Noorullah Aminyar


Iran-Backed Cyber-Espionage Group Uncovered - Mohammed Alkhereiji (Arab Weekly-UPI)

Arab League echoes PA lies and libels - Itamar Marcus (PMW) 
Hamas Is Restoring Its Alliance with Iran - Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Russia Foils ISIS Bomb Plot, Discovers Moscow Explosives Lab - Jack Moore (Newsweek) Russia estimates that 2,500 Russian nationals have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2015. 

Barcelona Suspect Ranted Online Against Israel - Joshua Taylor (Mirror-UK)

Kurds Fear Western Sellout after They Defeat ISIS in Raqqa - Fabrice Balanche (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)     When the U.S. ended its support for Syrian rebels earlier this summer, it demonstrated bad faith to its purported allies. The PYD and Arab proxies will now be reluctant to wholeheartedly support any U.S. strategy in eastern Syria without serious long-term guarantees.

Turkish Education: Jihad In, Evolution Out - Burak Bekdil (Gatestone Institute)

UNRWA Closes Hamas Tunnel under Gaza Schools - Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post) UNRWA announced Monday that it had sealed a Hamas tunnel it found two months ago built under two of its schools in the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza. 

Alternative Facts under NY Times Editor Matt Seaton  (CAMERA) Under New York Times editor Matt Seaton, the paper has published false claims that Eilat was an Egyptian port, Mahmoud Abbas accepts a Jewish state, Israel has built no Arab cities, and no Palestinian faction supports a one-state solution.

'If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention,'  Heather Heyer


Posted by at

Thursday, August 10, 2017

How does this square with all the Islamic terrorist groups, jihad, etc. -- The Muslim Prophet in his Final Sermon: "Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you"?

Taliban retakes eastern Afghan district from Afghan forces - Bill Roggio (The Long War Journal)

Iran condemns its soccer players for match with Israeli team (AP) Denunciation comes after two Iranian nationals on Greece’s Panionios played in a game against Maccabi Tel Aviv
Iran Exporting Radical Islam to Latin America - Emanuele Ottolenghi and Michaela Frai  (Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Iranian preachers and their local enablers have gained footholds in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru. Iranian-backed Spanish-language media such as HispanTV also spread revolutionary themes.

    North Korea's ICBM Test Is a Win for Iran - Ted Poe (National Interest)

    Who Are the Palestinians? - Pinhas Inbari (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat frequently claims that the Palestinians are descended from the Canaanites who lived in the land of Canaan before the Israelite tribes settled there. The name "Palestine" is not Arab. The Roman Emperor Hadrian named the land "Palestina" after defeating the Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE, erasing the name "Judea" in order to negate any connection of the land with the Jews.
        According to Palestinian historian Muhammad Y. Muslih, during the entire 400-year period of Ottoman rule (1517-1918), "There was no political unit known as Palestine." In Arabic, the area was known as the holy land or southern Syria. After the First World War, the Palestinians defined themselves as part of Syria. The Zionists called themselves "Palestinians" - with institutions such as the Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Palestine Post - while the Arabs simply identified themselves as Arabs, with institutions such as the "Arab Higher Committee."
        Almost every Palestinian family describes its origins as either from Egypt, the northern Arabian tribes or Yemen. We did not find a single Palestinian family or tribe that referred to a Canaanite origin, including the Erekat tribe, which locates its lineage in the northern Arabian tribes. A study published in 2017 by the American Journal of Human Genetics reports that descendants of the Canaanites have indeed been found - they are "modern Lebanese."
    Palestinian Girls Who Attended Coexistence Summer Camp in U.S. Face Ridicule at Home - Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute)  The Palestinian girls being castigated on social media are the latest victims of a culture of hate into which Palestinians have been inculcated. This environment is the direct result of an ongoing campaign of incitement and indoctrination that aims to delegitimize and demonize Israel and Jews. Such campaigns will surely warn any Palestinian leader against seeking real peace with Israel. 
    Posted by at

    Friday, August 4, 2017

    This week I had the opportunity to attend a presentation on the making of a terrorist by Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).  I’ve often sited their reports in these posts. You can find out more at www.palwatch.org. Here’s what I learned:
    -Hamas, Fatah, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are all terrorist organizations. 
    -The Palestinians (over 90% of those both in Gaza and the West Bank) are deeply religious people. 
    -The PA has used: its messaging to motivate (create the belief that the Palestinians and Islam are in danger, i.e. the false narrative about the Temple Mt being under attack); religious obligation; and incentives to entice its people to kill Israelis and Jews specifically.
    -A disturbing fact documented by PMW is that beginning in pre-k, children are indoctrinated into a world of hate. They are taught (and it is reinforced throughout their lives) that salvation can only happen once the Jews are dead. They are taught that the Jews are Satan’s minions and the cause of every disaster (including Shia fighting Sunni). Those who die in this pursuit receive numerous honors from having summer camps, trophies, and schools named after them to pensions and monetary awards to their families. And when someone commits suicide in this pursuit, the community does not go to a funeral, but rather is proud to attend their wedding!
    -Unfortunately the same false threats and religious teaching are happening throughout most of the Muslim world.  Many of the vile children’s cartoons and poems that are memorized originate in Egypt.
    It sounds a lot like what ISIS has done. I don’t know how the world can reprogram these people to seek peace instead of death and more violence.

    Amnesty International calls on Hamas to free Israeli hostages (Times of Israel) In a first, human rights organization publicly criticizes terror group, and campaigns for release of Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed
     
    Australia Plane Terror Plot Linked to ISIS Fighters in Syria - Siobhan Kenna and Lara Pearce (Huffington Post-Australia)
     
     
     
    Iran and Turkey Fueled Temple Mount Crisis - Eyal Zisser  (Israel Hayom)
     
    Fatah summer camp named after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi - Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW) Dalal Mughrabi led most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70
     
    Russia's Army in Syria: Testing a New Concept of Warfare - Sarah Fainberg and Viktor Eichner  (Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University)  Russia's ground personnel in Syria help portray Russia as a provider of efficient military support in hotspots across the Middle East. Speculation about the deployment of Russian special operations forces and military advisors at an air base in western Egypt near Libya in March 2017 may be another manifestation of this phenomenon. 
     
    Senate Panel Approves Bill to Cut Off Funds to Palestinians over Terrorism - Sumner Park (The Hill) The Taylor Force Act, which passed the committee in a 16-5 vote, is named after American West Point graduate Taylor Force, 28, who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian last year in Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Authority spends as much as $300 million a year on financial compensation to the families of terrorists. 

    Posted by at
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)