Thursday, October 10, 2013
Douglas Murray: New Extremist Foxes Welcomed into U.S. Chicken Coop
And say hello again to two of the most appallingly over-promoted and sinister figures involved with the current U.S. government: Mohamed Elibiary and Dalia Mogahed.Wishful thinking is not a strategy
Of course, you may not want to: as the terror goes on worldwide, and the situation around the globe slips continuously in the Islamists' general direction, there is a growing and terrific ennui among much of the West. Among much of the Western world, terrorists' marauding is another case of, "Oh, just that Islamism again." You say a person is not good? Well, we can't be bothered to find out. The very condition that so few people can raise themselves to be bothered is part of the problem: "The trouble with all the nice people I knew in Germany," the British author Stephen Spender wrote in his Berlin diary in the 1930s, "is that they were either tired or weak."
Thankfully there are a number of people who can still rouse themselves to point out how outrageous Western governments' hiring policies are these days -- as when Mohamed Elibiary was promoted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council. Yet despite these heroic individuals pointing out Elibiary's track record of support for Islamists worldwide, the appointment held -- and so it was that the U.S. government welcomed another fox into its chicken coop.
A fundamental principle of foreign policy is that if you will an end, you must will the means to that end. To achieve a "big turn in foreign policy" requires more than wishful thinking, it requires a strategy. In this case, it might begin with the recognition that, throughout recorded history, there have been nations committed to acquiring power over others. Iran today is self-evidently such a nation. Is there a way to persuade Iran's rulers to constrain their ambitions?Poll: Majority of Israelis believe US projecting weakness on Syria, Iran
Those who study Iran disagree on many points, but there is broad consensus on this: Consistent with Khomeini's teaching and practice, the regime has no higher priority than its own survival -- because without revolutionary leaders no "revolutionary dreams" can be realized.
Asked whether the US was projecting weakness on Iran, affirmative answers were given by 60% of Israelis, including 64% of Jewish respondents and 40% of Arab respondents. Only 22% of Israelis said the US was projecting power, including 20% of the Jewish respondents and 31% of the Arab respondents.IDF strikes Syrian target in response to shelling
When asked the same question about Syria, the results were similar. Sixty three percent of Israelis said the US was projecting weakness. Among Jews, 66% answered affirmatively and 49% of Arab respondents said yes. Twenty three percent said the US was projecting power, including 22% of Jewish respondents and 28% of the Arabs surveyed.
The IDF fired a Tammuz missile Wednesday at a Syrian target across the northern border, in response to mortar shells from Syrian territory landing near an army position in the Golan Heights and injuring two soldiers.Knesset Members Thwart Anti-Israel Move at Geneva Meeting
According to the IDF, the target in Syria took a direct hit. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the Syrian side.
Members of Knesset Meir Sheetrit (Hatnuah) and Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) were able to thwart an anti-Israel initiative promoted by Palestinian representatives at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva this week.Shock in Samaria: Israeli Leftists at Anti-Semitic Rally
The Palestinians tried to insert an “emergency motion” into the agenda that called for all parliaments to boycott Israel and condemned settlement construction, Israel Hayom reported.
Israeli leaders in Samaria were horrified to learn this week that Israeli leftists with the Yesh Din organization took part in an Arab celebration on the ruins of the Jewish community of Homesh.BBC Watch: Makeover by BBC’s Knell produces ‘conservative’ northern Islamic Movement
During the celebration Jewish symbols at the site were replaced with PLO flags, and a banner was waved that depicted a man in religious Jewish garb with a spear through his mouth.
Knell’s efforts to persuade readers that the northern Islamic branch has a policy of confining itself to “the struggle for Palestinian independence at home” also seem distinctly bizarre in the context of the recent demonstrations the movement held in support of its parent movement in Egypt.Fatah Spokesman Reiterates Refusal to Recognize Israel as Jewish State
But it is Knell’s euphemistic description of the Islamic Movement as “conservative” and her failure to inform readers of its ideology, its activities and its Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood links which stand out most in this article. Her ‘makeover’ actively prevents BBC audiences from gaining any information or insight which might “[e]nhance UK audiences’ awareness and understanding of international issues” as defined in the BBC’s ‘Public Purposes’.
The Sharjah-based Al Khaleej newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas reiterated its rejection of the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any peace deal must include the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by the Palestinian Authority.Khaled Abu Toameh: PLO official: Palestinians 'seriously considering' declaring failure of peace talks
“This is the language of acquiescence and we won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf was quoted as saying. “Let Israel go to the United Nations and demand changing its name into the Jewish state.” If the objective behind Netanyahu’s speech is to ask the Palestinians to give up their rights, he added, “then we all refuse to give up our rights.”
Hanna Amireh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that this was one of the scenarios that were discussed during the last meeting of the Palestinian leadership.Mashaal: Stop Peace Talks, Start Armed Struggle
Amireh accused Israel of seeking to “win time” and blame the Palestinians for the failure of the US-sponsored talks.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has called for an end to Palestinian Authority peace talks with Israel and for an armed struggle to “liberate Jerusalem”.Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas calls for meeting with Fatah to counter Israel’s ‘schemes’ on Jerusalem
The Maariv daily newspaper quoted on Wednesday the comments that Mashaal made during a visit to Turkey.
"Hamas's military power is the only way to liberate Jerusalem," the head of the group’s political bureau was quoted as having said.
Mashaal said in his speech that no Palestinian or Arab or Muslim leader is authorized or has a mandate to sign an agreement that “harms” Jerusalem and the holy sites.We Gave Iran an Antique as a Token of Goodwill. Only Problem? It’s Fake
“Protecting Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque against Judaization, demolition and division should be a shared national goal,” he said.
Mashaal called for a decisive Palestinian, Arab and Islamic stance toward Jerusalem that rejects any concessions in the city.
Not only is it a fake, it’s a bad fake. The saga of the griffin, from its production to its much-touted return to Iranian President Rouhani during his recent visit to New York, demonstrates how fakers of ancient art fool the gullible wealthy with the connivance of museums and scholars. More profoundly, it shows how ancient (or not so ancient) artifacts are made to carry cultural and diplomatic weight, in this case for a deeply problematic opening in relations between the United States and Iran.Iranian Speaker: We Have a Surplus of Uranium
Iran's parliament denied on Wednesday remarks made by its speaker, according to which the country has a surplus of enriched uranium and plans to use this as a bargaining tool at nuclear talks.US cuts hundreds of millions in aid to Egypt
The speaker, Ali Larijani, told The Associated Press in an interview the surplus uranium would be discussed with Western powers in the context of whether Iran will halt its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent.
While the State Department did not provide a dollar amount of what was being withheld, most of it is linked to military aid. In all, the US provides $1.5 billion in aid each year to Egypt.Egypt: US Aid Threats Won't Stop Us from 'Fighting Terror'
Officials said the aid being withheld included 10 Apache helicopters at a cost of more than $500 million, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The US also is withholding $260 million in cash assistance to the government until “credible progress” is made toward an inclusive government set up through free and fair elections. The US had already suspended the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and canceled biennial US-Egyptian military exercises.
Egypt, government officials said Thursday, will “not be pressured” by the United States into changing its policies on how to deal with Islamist radicals. “Egypt will not submit to American pressure,” a government spokesperson said in the wake of an announcement by Washington that it would withhold some military assistance.JPost Editorial: Egypt, US aid and Israel
Hundreds of billions of dollars have not cinched for the US the loyalty of Nouri al-Maliki’s regime in Iraq or Hamid Karzai’s regime in Afghanistan.‘Arab Spring’ to Cost $800 Billion
Money and aid and networking, it appears, do not buy influence.
Therefore, Israel should not be overly concerned with the prospect of the US cutting aid to Egypt.
As long as Cairo has an interest in maintaining good relations with Israel it will do so, regardless of US aid. If on the other hand for whatever reason Egypt’s leaders cease to see peace as important, the $1.5b. in aid will do little to stop the slide.
The Arab Spring will cost Arab countries roughly $800 million, according to a report by Dubai-based economists with the banking giant HSBC.Libyan prime minister released after brief abduction
Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria, where the Arab Spring uprisings led to leaders’ depositions or civil war, were, unsurprisingly, among the hardest-hit countries. Jordan, Lebanon and Bahrain were also estimated to have suffered serious financial losses due to political turmoil.
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan was freed from captivity just hours after gunmen abducted him Thursday at dawn from the hotel where he resides in the capital, Tripoli, according to the state news agency.
The brazen abduction — apparently in retaliation for the US special forces’ raid over the weekend that seized a Libyan al-Qaida suspect from the streets of Tripoli — reflected the deep chaos and lawlessness gripping Libya.
