Sunday, June 18, 2017

 
 
 
 
 
 
Palestinians to Claim Tomb of Patriarchs at UNESCO - Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post) The Tomb and the city of Hebron is the second holiest site in Judaism, after the Temple Mount and its Western Wall.
Red Cross on Missing Israelis: Hamas Must Abide by International Humanitarian Law  (International Committee of the Red Cross-Times of Israel)     Hamas is thought to hold three Israelis who entered Gaza illegally as well as the remains of two soldiers killed in fighting in 2014.
 
 
Turkey: Activists Killed in 2010 Flotilla Incident "Should Have Foreseen...the Risk" - Sevil Erkus (Hurriyet-Turkey)     Compensation worth $20 million provided by Israel over the killing of Turkish activists onboard the Mavi Marmara in May 2010 has yet to be paid.     The Turkish Finance Ministry told a court that it "rejected the exorbitant amount of material and moral compensation asked" by the families. The ministry said the victims "should have foreseen that they may be subject to such an attack because the problems between the Israeli state and Gaza are well-known. They took the risk of any attack or intervention."

 
 
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Friday, June 9, 2017

 
ISIS's Mass Killings of Civilians in Mosul - Yasmeen Serhan (The Atlantic)  The UN called the slayings of at least 230 Iraqis trying to flee the city a “significant escalation.”
 
Jordan Repels Attack on Syria Border (Agence France Presse/Daily Star - Lebanon)
 
Distinction between Hizbullah and the "Lebanese State" now Meaningless - Tony Badran (Foundation for Defense of Democracies)  The goals of strengthening the Lebanese state and disarming Hizbullah are at odds with each other. Hizbullah has completed its takeover of the Lebanese state, including and especially its political institutions and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), along with other security agencies.
 
 
ISIS Attacked near Northeastern Israeli Border - Roi Kais (Ynet News) The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Tuesday, "unidentified" aircraft attacked ISIS forces at the Syrian-Jordanian-Israeli border. The attacks were directed against the ISIS branch in the Golan, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, and at least 12 members of the organization were killed and many were injured. In addition, it was claimed that the focus of the attacks was the village of al-Jamala and areas close to it in the Yarmouk basin.     It is not clear whether these planes belong to the international coalition against ISIS.
Israel Steps Up Fight against ISIS, as Terror Group Wages 'War' for Control of Egyptian Border - Adam Kredo (Washington Free Beacon)

Top Palestinian Official: Western Wall Should Stay under Jewish Sovereignty  (Jerusalem Post) Senior Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub said on Saturday evening that Palestinians recognize that in any peace agreement the Western Wall should stay under Israeli sovereignty but the Temple Mount should not.  In an interview on Channel 2's Meet the Press, Rajoub said: "We understand that the Western Wall must be under Jewish sovereignty, but the Temple Mount is ours....I hope that you understand that we recognize your right to exist. It is your right to build your state and live in it in peace and security, but in line with the 1967 borders."    Hamas Slams Rajoub for Acknowledging Western Wall Is Jewish (Times of Israel)
 
 
 Kurdish-backed militia launches Raqqa operation as another declares war on Turkey - Aberin Zaman (Al-Monitor) Coming just days after the Pentagon began distributing weapons to the YPG, Turkey could easily construe threats of escalation by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons as proof that US support for the Syrian Kurds emboldens the Kurdistan Workers Party.
 
NY Times's Ode To Palestinian Violence - Ricki Hollander and Gilead Ini (CAMERA) The New York Times devoted the front page of its Sunday Review section to a 2000-word opinion piece by Nathan Thrall that appears to justify Palestinian violence and terrorism as an effective means to chase Israel out of the West Bank. In the process, the article twists the facts and makes incoherent, internally contradictory arguments.


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Friday, June 2, 2017

Iran to Bankroll Pro-Government Militia Fighters in Syria - Mehdi Jedinia and Ahed Al Hendi  (VOA News)
Iran's Growing Casualty Count in Yemen - Joshua Koontz (War on the Rocks)

Oren: Netanyahu Is Very Serious about a Peace Deal with the Palestinians - Raoul Wootliff (Times of Israel)
Israel's Finance Minister Briefs PA Prime Minister on Steps to Improve PA Economy - Herb Keinon  (Jerusalem Post) Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met Wednesday in Ramallah with PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to brief him on the steps Israel is taking to improve the economic situation in the PA. The meeting comes amid efforts by the U.S. to jump-start the diplomatic process. The steps include opening the Allenby Bridge crossing to Jordan 24-hours-a-day for the next two months, upgrading crossing points in the West Bank, establishing an industrial zone near Tarqumiya, and easing restrictions on Palestinian building in specific parts of Area C in the West Bank that adjoin Areas A or B.

A video by the Kuwaiti telecommunications giant Zain that depicts a would-be suicide bomber confronted by the Muslim faithful has gone viral at the start of Ramadan. It had over 2 million views when I saw it; in case you missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49nOBFv508 As per BBC on Wed. morning, this video has generated some controversy because iconic image of boy injured by Syrian govt. airstrikes and not by terrorism is shown. There doesn't seem to be anything controversial about the video being an advert!

Lebanon Bans Wonder Woman (Ynet News)The ban is in accordance with a decades-old law that boycotts Israeli products and bars Lebanese citizens from traveling to Israel or having contacts with Israelis.  Some in Lebanon criticized the call for the ban, but their voices were faint compared to the boycott campaign that featured in primetime television in Lebanon.

Unacceptable Glorification of Terrorist Attacks (Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Norway Demands PA Return Funds for Women's Center Named after Terrorist

Palestinians Paid Terrorists $1 Billion in Past 4 Years  (Times of Israel)

Russia Arrests Four ISIS Terrorists Preparing Attack in Moscow  (RT-Russia) Four members of an ISIS terrorist network managed from Syria, who were preparing attacks on the Moscow public transport system, were detained on (last) Thursday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported. "An explosives production laboratory, a ready-to-use improvised explosive device with shrapnel and components for its production have been found during searches," the FSB said, adding that they also found "automatic firearms, ammunition, grenades, as well as literature and videos of extremist and terrorist orientation." 

Turkey Builds a Military-Industrial Complex to Match Its Ambitions (Stratfor) The rise of Ankara's homegrown defense industry is impressive, but its reliance on critical foreign components means that true autonomy remains a pipe dream for now

Oil Tanker Targeted with RPGs near Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)

John Brennan, Former CIA Director -Typically people who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they're along that path until it gets a bit too late -

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Thursday, May 25, 2017

ISIS targets ‘dangerous women’ in Manchester attack  - Lauren Wolfe (Women Under Siege) Grande represents a society in which women can choose what they do, wear, and say. 


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Friday, May 12, 2017

Air India's Tel Aviv Service Delayed by Denial of Overflight Rights - Ashwini Phadnis (The Hindu-India)   Air India has delayed the launch of its direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan have denied it overflight permission.
 
 
Gaza Is a State - Samuel Nurding interviews IDF Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland  (Fathom-BICOM)
Hamas Official Denies Softened Stance toward Israel (Reuters-VOA News)  "When people say that Hamas has accepted the 1967 borders, like others, it is an offense to us," he said.
Gaza Power Cuts Affect Sewage Treatment - Nasouh Nazzal (Gulf News-Dubai)     In April, the Palestinian Authority stopped paying Gaza's electricity bill. This means sewage treatment plants are receiving 3-4 hours of electricity a day, not enough to process Gaza's sewage.     Gaza municipalities are now dumping 70,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage into the Mediterranean daily and the pollution has started reaching Egypt and Israel. 
Video: Abbas, UNESCO, and the Test of Diplomacy - Dore Gold (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) In its latest resolution on Israel, UNESCO speaks about the Bilal Bin Rabah mosque in Bethlehem. Where did they get this? From the Palestinian Authority, which has taken Rachel's Tomb, a famous Jewish holy site, and converted it into an exclusively Islamic site. The irony is that in the documents of the Ottoman Empire, an imperial firman (decree) by the Ottoman Sultan describes Rachel's Tomb as a Jewish site. Moreover, Bilal Bin Rabah, the first muazzin of Islam, was buried in Damascus, not in Bethlehem, according to Islamic tradition. UNESCO is supposed to be responsible for maintaining educational truth, but it doesn't do so.
 
Despite Heavy Losses, ISIS Structures Remain Resilient - Hassan Hassan (The National-Abu Dhabi)
Tabqah, Syria liberated from the Islamic State - Thomas Joscelyn (Long War Journal)

U.S. Should Help Egypt in Its War on Terror - David Schenker (Foreign Affairs)  Notwithstanding its 440,000-strong standing army and $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military assistance, over the past five years Egypt has been unable to contain - much less roll back - some 600-1,000 insurgents. During the same time, ISIS has killed 2,000 Egyptian soldiers and policemen in Sinai.
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Thursday, May 4, 2017

FYI - I was wondering what happened to Bret Stephens column in the Wall Street Journal - turns out with much brouhaha he's landed at the New York Times!
 
IS affiliated militants slaughter woman, kidnap her family in Rafah (Egypt Independent) The incident is the third one to take place against a woman in North Sinai.
 
Iran Is Building Two Land Corridors to the Mediterranean - Ehud Yaari  (Foreign Affairs)  


Fatah and Hamas Agree, Israel Has No Right to Exist  - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  (Palestinian Media Watch)
Human Rights Watch Condemns Hamas Treatment of Two Israeli Civilians (Human Rights Watch) Two Israeli men with serious mental health conditions who crossed separately from Israel into Gaza in 2014 and 2015 have apparently been held by Hamas, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
 
 
Qatar's Support for Terror - Jonathan Schanzer (New York Post)
 
Russia is Arming the Taliban- Michael J Totten (World Affairs Journal) The Russians say they are arming Al Qaeda’s ideological twins so that the Taliban can fight ISIS. It’s a dubious claim. Heavy Russian machine guns are showing up in Taliban hands far from ISIS positions. More important is that Russia isn’t even denying that it’s arming the Taliban.


Chinese Jihadis' Rise in Syria Raises Concerns at Home - Bassem Mroue and Gerry Shih (AP-Washington Post)The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there are about 5,000 Chinese fighters in Syria, but Li Wei, a Chinese terrorism expert, said the number was about 300, who brought with them about 700 family members.
Explainer: The 'Very Bad History' Of Safe Zones - Alan Crosby (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

On (Israel) Independence Day, UNESCO okays resolution ignoring Jewish links to Jerusalem- Raphael Ahren and Alexander Fullbright (Times of Israel)
 
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