Did you get a chance to read “Defending Islam from Free Speech” by Robert C. Blitt  in the Monday, January 12, edition of USA Today? He points out that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League are responsible for spreading the  belief that any insult directed against the Muslim faith or its profit demands absolute  suppression. Until leaders of the Muslim world stop endorsing turning blasphemy into a  crime, I think we can continue to expect incidents like those in Paris, Pakistan,  Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, etc.  Some have compared the right to free speech with laws against Holocaust denial –  do you also find this argument specious? I support freedom of expression, not freedom  to lie and deny the truth – hence, this blog. I am not opposed to people  holding any opinion they want, but I am opposed to people freely spreading lies  without consequence or encouraging murder and violence against others. France Did a Time Article Justify Terror Attack in France? (Honest Reporting) Where's the Coverage? Only Woman Murdered at Charlie Hebdo Was "Definitely  Killed Because She Was Jewish" (CAMERA) You may have learned from the coverage  that the Kouachi brothers knew exactly who they were looking for, that they called out the names of their victims and methodically executed them. But very few media outlets have reported on Elsa Cayat. Paris: Grand Mosque Open, Grand Synagogue Closed - Lawrence A. Franklin  (Gatestone Institute) Iran Iran Eclipses U.S. as Iraq's Ally in Fight Against Militants (AP-Washington Post) Partners for Peace? In Gaza, Hamas and the PA Are at Each Other's Throats Again - Avi Issacharoff  (Times of Israel) Abbas' terror-hypocrisy continues - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW) Islamists killing 16 French civilians is terror. Palestinians killing 37 Israeli civilians is  heroism. Saddam Hussein - Fatah and PA hero - - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  (PMW) Saudi Arabia Saudi ISIS Members Attack Saudi Border Guards on Iraqi Frontier -  (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) Saudi Arabia Provides $60M for PA as Financial Aid Plummets (WAFA-PA) Saudi Arabia's "Great Wall" to Keep Out ISIS - Richard Spencer (Telegraph-UK)   The Saudis are building a 600-mile-long "Great Wall" - a combined fence and ditch - to  separate the country from Iraq. Syria Missile-Manufacturing Firms in Syria Are Built by Iran - Adam Kredo (Washington  Free Beacon) Turkey Turkey Says It Helped Hamas Become "Mainstream"  (Hurriyet-Turkey) Reception for Palestinian President in Turkey Mocked as Ottoman Circus (Al-Masry  Al-Youm-Egypt) United States Joan Peters will be missed. See video: http://www.levitt.tv/media/watch/680 U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem to Arm Palestinian Guards in Breach of Agreement - Itamar Eichner (Ynet News) The ISIS of Africa – Michael J. Totten (World Affairs Journal) The United States isn’t  directly involved in all these wars—Israel battles Hamas and Hezbollah, and the French  took out the proto-Islamic state in Northern Mali—but if a huge swath of Africa collapses  and Boko Haram metastasizes fully into an ISIS-linked entity with staying power, what  happens in Sub-Saharan Africa may no longer stay in Sub-Saharan Africa. Limits On Liberty?: Nearly 20 Percent Of Americans Think Religion Should Not Be  The Subject Of Satire – Simon Brown (Americans United for the Separation of Church  and State)

JE SUIS CHARLIE – A lovely sentiment, but sentiment alone isn't enough to vanquish those that would kill children (most recently 130+ in Pakistan), kidnap and sell girls (in Nigeria and Syria), and commit terrorist acts. As Daniel Henninger pointed out this week, “...if more of the world's people are to be protected from … Islamic terror, then the political and intellectual status quo will have to be changed or reversed.”

Egypt

Egypt's Sisi: Islamic "Thinking" Is "Antagonizing the Entire World" - Raymond Ibrahim (Islam Translated) ”We are in need of a religious revolution....This umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost - and it is being lost by our own hands."
Sisi First Egyptian President to Attend Coptic Christmas Mass (Al-Ahram-Egypt)

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States United Against Islamic Terror- Zvi Mazel (Jerusalem Post) Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are all desperate to ward off the combined threats of a nuclear Iran and Islamic State.

Iraq

Iran-Backed Militias Are Getting U.S. Weapons - Josh Rogin and Eli Lake (Bloomberg)

Lebanon
Hizbullah's Global Intelligence War with Israel's Mossad - Ana Maria Luca (NOW-Lebanon)

Partners for Peace?

Six Palestinian Factions Reject Palestinian UN Resolution (Xinhua-China) The Hamas movement, Islamic Jihad, and four left-wing PLO groups said "the draft resolution opens the road again for the absurd bilateral talks."

Party Time: Fatah's Founding Myth (CAMERA) “Moderate” Fatah scheduled rallies to celebrate the anniversary of Fatah's first armed mission against Israel.

BBC finally links a Hamas article to their charter 

Hamas, Palestinian Authority Step Up Human Rights Violations - Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Labor Ministry Denies Permitting Jews To Work In The Kingdom (MEMRI)

Syria

Islamic State uses US-made anti-tank missile near Damascus – Caleb Weiss (The Long War Journal)

Turkey

Turkey's Gov't-Aligned News Outlets Blame Victims in Paris Attack (The Clarion Project) Turkish and regional Islamist newspapers have blamed the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ("Charlie Weekly") for the attacks against it.

United States

U.S.: Palestine Does Not Qualify for Membership in International Criminal Court (State Department)

Will we ever learn? Obama White House can't admit Paris attacks 'Islamic terrorism' - Steve Emerson (IPT)

Top Ten Worst Anti-Semitic/Anti-Israel Incidents 2014 (Simon Wiesenthal Center)

Egypt

Egypt to Expand Gaza Buffer Zone (AFP-Al-Arabiya)

Report: Egypt Demands Extradition from Gaza of 13 Hamas Terrorists - Adnan Abu Amer (Al-Monitor)

France

The SPCJ watchdog on anti-Semitism recorded 527 attacks in France from Jan. 1 to July 31 of this year. In all of last year, SPCJ documented 423 incidents.

Paris suburb honors jailed Palestinian leader – JTA (Times of Israel)

Iraq

Iran Has 1,000 Military Advisers in Iraq - Missy Ryan and Loveday Morris (Washington Post)

Iraq violence killed 15,000 in 2014, worst in 7 years (International The News)

ISIS

How to Raise a Jihadi Baby – Chris Pleasance (The Daily Mail) The “Sister’s Role in Jihad” has been posted online to jihadist websites.

Israel

Our Videotaped Year (Times of Israel)

Israeli Startup Turns Air into Water - Nadan Feldman (Ha'aretz)

Growing Jordan Valley Crocodile Threat Worries Israelis, Palestinians – (Algemeiner)

Lebanon

Iranian Revolutionary Guards at Lebanon-Israel Border (MEMRI)

Libya

Ansar al Sharia Libya showcases spoils of war, key personalities in video - Thomas Joscelyn (Long War Journal) A newly released Ansar al Sharia video features Wissam Ben amid, a key figure in the security failures surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi. The video also shows Mohammed al Darsi, who appears to be the same jihadist released in exchange for a Jordanian ambassador earlier this year.

Palestinians

Hamas Leader Mashal Calls to Join with Turkey to "Liberate Palestine and Jerusalem" (Hurriyet-Turkey)

Hamas Circulates Instructional Video on Proper Stabbing Techniques- Justin Jalil (Times of Israel)

Fatah promotes violence and Martyrdom-death to mark its 50th anniversary - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

PA minister says 3.5 million shekel fine imposed by Israel upon murderer of one-year-old infant and his father is "delegitimizing the [Palestinian] national resistance" - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Saudi Arabia

Report: Saudi Arabia to Allow Jews to Work in Kingdom(MEMRI) Israelis still banned.

Syria

In Photos: 48 Hours Under Siege by Islamic State Militants In Kobane (Vice News)

Islamic State Fighters Are Moving Closer to Israel - Jonathan Spyer (Jerusalem Post)

Turkey

Hamas' New Base in Turkey - Yoni Ben Menachem (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)