Friday, June 29, 2018

Delayed and overlong Update because we've been in London and Paris. In London we saw evidence of the impact of the EU on the UK - it appeared everyone working in the service industry was from the EU and not local. In Paris, we were only in the most tony or touristic neighborhoods. Shockingly, scattered around the Tuileries Garden and Place de la Concorde we saw at least 3 families (with both parents and small children), apparently Middle Eastern, getting ready to sleep on the street. There were also some new Banksys. 


Human Rights: Other Views - Part III Refugees and the Arab States - Denis MacEoin (Gatestone Institute) "The six Gulf countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain - have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees".

Unless you're a fan, you might have missed the story that Israel won Eurovision. This is apparently a big deal and should mean the next context moves to Jerusalem. Turkey and other anti-Israel entities are upset. 
Should Ireland Boycott Next Year's Eurovision in Israel? - Editorial (Irish Examiner) There is in this campaign, endorsed in Ireland by notable gay and feminist activists, the refrain of hypocrisy. The boycott brigade, marching for human rights and social justice, sees Israel's defense of itself as a primarily Jewish state as a war crime. We look forward to reporting its demands for an international boycott of, say, Saudi Arabia or Iran where, when we last looked, gay and feminist activists would not be tolerated.

Indonesia Lifts Ban on Israeli Tourists - Michael Bachner (Times of Israel)

Iran Has Cultivated Militias in Southern Syria to Act Against Israel - Abdulrahman Al-Masri (Cairo Review of Global Affairs-American University in Cairo)
Iran Reopens Uranium Feedstock Plant in Preparation to Boost Enrichment (Reuters) The move is symbolic and permissible under the nuclear deal, which allows Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67%.

Priest Stabbed in Bethlehem  - Joey Millar (Daily Express-UK)  Father Fadi Shalufa was knifed on June 1 as he tried to stop a group of men abusing Christians visiting the birthplace of Jesus at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Note: Hamas is still sending incendiary devises into Israel.




The Significance of Prince William's Visit to Israel Cannot Be Overestimated  – Editorial (Telegraph-UK)  international pariah.
What Prince William Did Not See in Ramallah - Bassam Tawil (Gatestone Institute)
Prince William's Visit to Israel - Elliott Abrams (Council on Foreign Relations) 

Israel and U.S. Collaborate on Tunnel Detection - Seth J. Frantzman (Defense News)
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Friday, June 15, 2018

Note: For those that are new to this Update, "Green" print usually includes my comments.

Attention French speakers, Honest Reporting has a new news site: http://honestreporting.com/france/?e=1Paris Puts Final Touches to Eiffel Tower Anti-Terror Walls (AFP) Does everyone want a wall?

IPT Exclusive: U.S. and Turkish Ties to Malaysia's Hamas Lobby - Abha Shankar (IPT) 

Where’s the Coverage? Hezbollah Helps Hamas Build Terror Camps, Israel Calls for U.N. Help (CAMERA) Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed terrorist group is helping Hamas build rocket factories and terror training camps in southern Lebanon, according to a Jerusalem Post report. Hezbollah’s assistance violates several United Nations Security Council Resolutions. But it does not, apparently, merit news coverage.
Report: Hizbullah Training Hamas Operatives in Lebanon - Daniel Siryoti (Israel Hayom)

Gaza Incendiary Kites Cause 45 Fires in Israel on Friday, 10 on Saturday - Matan Tzuri and Liad Osmo (Ynet News) Kites,balloons, and explosive laden condoms continue to be launched through today!

UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Agree on $2.5 Billion Aid Package for Jordan - Suha Maayeh  (The National-Abu Dhabi)

The US Congress has not declared war in decades, yet the Long War Journal has compiled a list of US strikes in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and Libya from 2002 through 2018.




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Friday, June 8, 2018

An especially harsh opinion from Mr. Joscelyn at the Long War Journal...

Analysis: A misbegotten ‘ceasefire’ in Afghanistan - Thomas Joscelyn & Bill Roggio (The Long War Journal) 

Historic reconciliation in Libya ends seven years’ vendetta between Misurata and Tawergha (Libyan Express) In a separate development over the weekend, the Foreign Ministry in the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) signed an agreement with its southern neighbors Chad, Sudan and Niger to monitor the borders.

Doubt Rattles Tehran over Putin's Intentions in Syria - Adil Al-Sahni (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)
Iran Wants to Stay in Syria Forever - Borzou Daragahi (Foreign Policy)


News from Gaza/Israel border (Honest Reporting):
– 600: burning kites launched by Palestinians
– 300: fires on the Israeli side started by burning kites
– 1,235: acres of crops destroyed
– $1.4 million: value of crops destroyed
– 518: acres of Jewish National Fund forests in flames
– 988: acres destroyed in Besor Forest Nature Reserve
– thousands: acres of other woodland and brushland destroyed

Moscow Links Southern Syria Battle to Iran's Withdrawal- Saeed Abdelrazek and Atef Abdul Latif (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)


A Week of Infamy at the United Nations - David Gerstman (The Algemeiner) 

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Friday, June 1, 2018
Israel destroys ‘unique’ Hamas tunnel extending into Israel via Egypt (Times of Israel) -- that reached 900 meters into Israel

Palestinian Authority Threatens to Cut Security Ties with Israel if Gaza Blockade Lifted (Middle East Monitor)
-Note: In a typical week like one week in March 2018, 2,728 trucks entered Gaza from Israel carrying 74,202 tons of supplies. In addition, Israel supplies electricity to Gaza via ten power lines. And Israel supplies water to Gaza via two pipelines. Some "blockade."




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Friday, May 25, 2018

The death of Bernard Lewis just short of his 102nd birthday is a great blow to Middle East scholarship. Speaking and reading twelve languages including Arabic, Turkish and Hebrew, he had a remarkable grasp of Muslim history and politics, and was uniquely insightful in his writings. 


The Middle East's New Battle Lines (European Council on Foreign Affairs) There's a lot of information here, including a great map of the Pro-Iran Front and Anti-Iran Front.
The Iraqi Elections: A Slap in the Face to Iran - Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) The results of the Iraqi legislative elections have taken both Iran and the U.S. by surprise. The party of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American and anti-Iranian Shiite cleric, succeeded in winning 54 out of the 329 seats to become the biggest parliamentary faction. 

I Agree with Hamas, Says Israel's UK Ambassador - Mark Regev  (Daily Mail-UK) I agree with Hamas that its strategy of labeling events in Gaza as "peaceful protests" was a deliberate "deception." 


Video - Col. Kemp to UN Human Rights Council: Hamas Seeks Destruction of Israel and Murder of Jews Everywhere  (UN Watch) Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told the UN Human Rights Council on Friday: "Hamas, a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel and murder of Jews everywhere, deliberately caused over 60 of its own people to get killed. They sent thousands of civilians to the front line - as human shields for terrorists trying to break through the border."
    "I ask every country in this Council: You have all been telling us that Israel should have reacted differently. But how would you respond if a Jihadist terror group sent thousands to flood your borders, and gunmen to massacre your communities? Your failure to admit that Hamas is responsible for every drop of blood spilt on the Gaza border encourages their violence." 
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Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Simon Wiesenthal Center
Inconvenient Truths About Gaza, Hamas and Israel's Border
May 16, 2018

• Why is there a border fence between Israel and Gaza? 

Israel captured Gaza from the Egyptians during the 1967 Six-Day War. For decades, there were no border fences. Many Israelis shopped in Gaza and many Arabs worked in Israel proper. In 2005, then Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, unilaterally removed all military posts, as well as the thousands of Jews who had settled in the Gaza Strip, and gave Palestinians full control of the territory.

In 2006, Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, a terrorist organization whose Charter calls for the total destruction of the Jewish State. Soon, suicide bombers and thousands of missiles targeted Israel leading to military confrontations.  In recent years, Hamas built a network of underground terror tunnels to circumvent the border fences.  Israel, like any other nation in the world, cannot be expected to tolerate an attempted invasion of its land.

• Why are the conditions in Gaza so bad? 

Hamas diverted building materials and other aid intended for civilians, and instead chose to build massive underground tunnels to launch attacks against Israel. Rather than turning Gaza into an international tourist destination on the Mediterranean and dramatically improving the economy and the life of the people, Hamas’ only interest is its radical terrorist ideology, which chooses to create severe shortages of goods and services vital to the pursuit of a normal future.

Rather than admit their culpability in allowing this unbearable situation to fester, the international community, including the United Nations, and the European Union, continue to cynically blame Israel and Israel alone.  But the simple fact is that none of those nations, faced with a similar crisis would act any differently than the Israelis.

• Don’t Palestinians have the right to peaceful protest without fearing they would be killed? 

Of course, everyone has the right to protest both individually and collectively, but what if the Million Man or Women’s March decided to violently storm the White House or Congress?  What would our police and soldiers do?  How much more critical is the situation at the Gaza border, which has a long history of terrorists blowing up restaurants, buses, and schools.   Hamas admits now that 50 out of the 60 deaths on Monday, May 14, 2018, widely condemned by leaders and the media as an Israeli "massacre" or "slaughter", were in fact, members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups. Meanwhile, the Israeli government continues to send leaflets warning Palestinian protesters to stay a safe distance from the border.

• Don’t Palestinians just want to live in peace?

Without question, many Palestinians want peace. But under Hamas rule, their children are taught otherwise in United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools. Textbooks never mention the word Israel, maps show only Arab names for cities and sites in Israel proper. The new Hamas Charter says, “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. The initiatives, proposals and International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.”

Even UNRWA, the single largest employer in Gaza, has been co-opted by a Hamas-driven agenda. In fact, UNRWA closed schools on May 14-15, knowing full well many of the children would be put in harm’s way.

• Are women and children targeted at the border? 

There has been video evidence showing that women and youngsters are being brought into the fray to act as human shields and cannon fodder. Hamas’ hope is that the most vulnerable amongst them will be shot by the Israelis, which would lead to headlines denouncing Israel as carrying out massacres against innocents.  It is the worst form of child abuse to deliberately place children in danger, just to score a few paragraphs in the international media and social media.

• Would these events have occurred if President Trump hadn’t moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem? 

Hamas needs little excuse to engage in their most profitable enterprise — terror — especially when they know anything involving President Trump would garner international headlines. Proof of this is that these marches actually began on March 30th, six weeks prior to the US Embassy move.
Hamas selected May 14th, Israel’s 70th anniversary and the inauguration of the new US Embassy to gain maximum coverage. And it worked – rioters rushed the border, Israeli soldiers defended their nation, and the media, continues to give a moral pass to Hamas while denouncing Israel,again and again.  
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Creating a False Image of Israeli and Republican Insensitivity

Taking "moral equivalence" to a new extreme; multiple news channels use the split screen to show the staged and often real violence perpetrated by Hamas against the celebration in Israel of a new embassy.

 Israel has legitimate security concerns and needs to protect its population. Showing the split screen/split images of the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem with the violent protests at the Gaza border is a victory for Hamas's propaganda campaign. One has nothing to do with the other. The US moved the embassy to an undisputed portion of Jerusalem. Hamas (a terrorist organization) is rushing the border with the hope of eliminating Israel and murdering civilians. Hamas’s cynical eagerness to exploit its own people should not be fodder for the news. All that smoke you see in the photos... that was created by Hamas to hide terroristic actions.

Where is the investigative journalism or the outrage at Hamas's use of human shields in the headlines? 

 Hamas and the PA/Fatah share the position that all of Israel is occupied and only the elimination of Israel will satisfy them. Where the US embassy is in Israel is irrelevant to their interests.
See also: Hamas official: 50 of the 62 Gazans killed in border violence were our members  - Judah Ari Gross and TOI Staff (Times of Israel) Additionally, the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad had said on Tuesday that three members of its Saraya al-Quds military wing were killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis.
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