Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Military Expert: Hamas was Defeated and Can’t be Trusted, ISIS Threatens New 9/11
In an interview on Israel’s Channel One television news the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan said that Hamas was defeated during Operation Protective Edge.
The key achievement was to defeat Hamas, and that’s effectively what has happened, although Hamas, as you would expect, have had their victory celebrations and parades. Of course the truth is far different from that. …. Hamas has been defeated. They haven’t been destroyed, they haven’t been annihilated, but they’ve been defeated, in as much as they have had to accept the terms of a ceasefire, which had been offered to them right at the beginning of the conflict. So they have been responsible for perpetuating the conflict that has killed a large number of their civilian population when they could have accepted these terms before. But they’ve now been forced by Israeli military action … to stop their offensive against Israel. And of course the other achievement, as well as stopping the rockets, is the destruction of all those attack tunnels, which were designed to come in and massacre, murder, kidnap, drug Israeli citizens and to take some of them back into Gaza. So two major, major achievements.
Why Europe Must Not Be Trusted to Monitor Hamas
Hamas would likely resort to violence to thwart any attempts to disarm the group. It is therefore highly unlikely the Europeans would confront Hamas in any meaningful way.Elliott Abrams: Which side is UNRWA on?
Spanish intelligence agents met secretly with Hezbollah operatives, who agreed to provide "escorts" to protect Spanish UNIFIL patrols. The quid pro quo was that Spanish troops would look the other way while Hezbollah was allowed to rearm for its next war with Israel. Hezbollah's message to Spain was: mind your own business.
If the European experience with Hezbollah in Lebanon is any indication, not only will Hamas not be disarmed, it will be rearmed as European monitors look on and do nothing.
What is clear is that European leaders have never been committed to honoring either the letter or the spirit of UN Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701, all of which were aimed at preventing Hezbollah from rearming.
Which side is UNRWA on? Its supporters would say "on the side of Palestinian refugees," but instead the agency appears to be on two other sides: its own, always expanding its own empire and responsibilities, and on the side of Hamas.We Used Palestinian Rhetoric To Express A Zionist Point Of View. You’ll Never Believe How It Turned Out
Any transition to UNHCR would need to be slow and careful, but it should begin. One good way to start is to demand independent studies and planning for such a step (independent because you obviously can't leave this work to UNRWA itself, nor should all of it be conducted within the U.N. system). For example, a plan might start in one country (such as Jordan or Lebanon) rather than in Gaza. Or it might start by redefining "refugee" the normal way. The United States should begin, after a set future date, to move funding from UNRWA to UNHCR. If UNRWA or the U.N. refuse, so be it: let those who insist on retaining UNRWA, its pernicious definition of "refugee," and its ties with Hamas pay the freight.
Such a transition will be extremely difficult and take years. That's clear -- but it's time to begin. The Gaza war has illuminated once again the ways in which Hamas has been acting as a parasite feeding on this U.N. agency -- to which the United States is the largest donor. Time for a change.
Jerusalem, September 1 – Israeli efforts to shake off the yoke of Muslim occupation of Jewish land continued today in the form of an announcement that the government intends to appropriate nearly 1,000 acres of uninhabited territory in the Etzion Bloc of communities south of Jerusalem.
The move comes after Occupation forces kidnapped and murdered several Israeli teens in July, sparking a series of violent attacks that culminated in the launching of thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians. To drive home the point that the Resistance will not be defeated by such war crimes, the government decided to initiate the largest appropriation of land in Judea and Samaria in decades.
“Our noble Resistance has shown that the anti-Zionist enemy is only thwarted by measures that demonstrate the futility of his continued attacks,” Minister of Housing Naftali Bennett. “Through farming and development we shall liberate you, Judea and Samaria,” he continued, using a common Resistance slogan.
Applying International Law to the Israel-Hamas Conflict
The U.N.’s investigations of Israel are typically controversial ventures—none more so than the 2009 Goldstone commission, a paradigm of baseless accusations not grounded in law. The circumstances of the 2008-9 Gaza war were all but identical to the current clash, complete with substantiation of civilian abuse by Gaza terrorists. The Goldstone Report still concluded that there was no evidence of such conduct, instead opting for labeling Israel as a human rights violator.Netanyahu: 'Enough UN Israel Bashing, Oppose Terrorists'
Judge Richard Goldstone retracted his report in April 2011, admitting that civilians were not intentionally targeted by Israel “as a matter of policy,” and that the fact that Hamas intentionally committed crimes against civilians “goes without saying.” Goldstone exposed the commission’s partiality, stating that it did not have “evidence explaining the circumstances in which we said civilians in Gaza were targeted, because it probably would have influenced our findings about intentionality and war crimes.”
The meticulous documentation by the IDF and the foreign independent media of the facts on the ground leaves the presently appointed three-person U.N. commission with an opportunity. The panel is presented with a case in which it can competently frame Hamas’s terrorist tactics as illegal. Rather than poisoning the well against Israel and Jews, an unequivocal consequence of the Goldstone Report, the panel can prove to be on the side of the law. In doing so, it can begin to steer the U.N. back onto the road towards credibility and to reclaiming its authority as the arbiter in matters of human rights and international law.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with US congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY) on Monday, and remarked on the threats to Israel while receiving their pledges of continued American support.Israeli Strike on Hamas Leader Raed Attar Foiled Gaza-Area Paraglider Attack — ‘Attar’s Assassination Has Disrupted Everything’
Netanyahu began by mentioning the intense fighting between the Syrian army and rebel forces on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, which has spilled over several times onto the Israeli side and seen rebels capture 43 Fijian UN peacekeepers.
"What we see is that Al-Nusra (Front), Hamas, Hezbollah – backed by Iran, Al Qaeda and these other terrorists groups, are basically defying all international norms, breaking them whether in Lebanon, in Syria or in Gaza," noted Netanyahu.
The prime minister fired "I think the UN would do itself a great favor if instead of the automatic Israel bashing, they actually turn their attention and their investigative committees against these terrorists who trample every norm on which the UN was founded."
An Israeli army strike against a senior Hamas military leader in Gaza two weeks ago may have thwarted a deadly paraglider attack on Israel, the country’s Channel 2 News said Monday.A Guided Tour at a Hamas Terror Tunnel
“It could have ended in disaster,” a senior Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency – ISA) offical said of the combined IDF-ISA air strike in Rafah on August 21st that killed Raed Attar, along with Muhammad Abu Shamalah and Muhammed Barhoum.
“Attar’s assassination has disrupted everything,” the official said of the Izzadin al-Kassam chief, who set up a 15-member paragliding squad four years ago.
How Hamas’ Casualty Figures Became News
This is the real news. An official of Hamas acknowledges that he was the ultimate source of casualty figures. He works for a terrorist organization whose announced intent is to mislead the media and yet Booth makes no mention of any reason to doubt Kidra’s numbers.Abbas plan calls for Israeli pullout from West Bank within three years
Aside from Hamas’ deceptions there’s another reason to trust Israel’s figures: recent history. After Operation Cast Lead in late 2008 and early 2009, Israel claimed that roughly half of those killed were combatants. Nearly two years later Israel’s numbers were confirmed … by Hamas. Initially Hamas’ intent is to demonize Israel so it exaggerates the number of civilian deaths, but eventually Hamas wants to give its martyrs their due.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will seek Arab League approval next week for his diplomatic initiative that calls for a nine-month negotiation window that will eventually lead to an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank within three years.Ya'alon: West Bank withdrawal will lead to rocket and mortar fire on Ben-Gurion Airport
Abbas is scheduled to present his plan to Arab League foreign ministers on September 7.
Details of the Palestinian leader's peace plan was revealed on Tuesday by the former religious endowments minister, Mahmoud al-Habash.
According to the plan, Israel and the PA would begin discussions on the borders of a future Palestinian state. The two sides would devote three months to the issue.
In the second stage of talks, the parties would focus on the remaining core issues, including the future status of refugees, control of Jerusalem, the settlements, security, and water.
He said the example of Hamas's takeover of Gaza following the disengagement was clear, and that terror sprouted in the West Bank as well until Israel restored order at a heavy price.Another Illegal Settlement–Where is the Outrage?
Ya'alon suggested that Israel look for a diplomatic process "outside of the box" before withdrawing from the West Bank, mentioning new-found strategic interests shared with moderate Arab states.
Discussing the defense budget, Ya'alon said defending the country had become more expensive, with the need to gather intelligence on a number of small organizations, rather than one state.
The defense minister said reducing civilian casualties requires more technology and more precise weaponry which costs money.
Another illegal settlement has arisen in the Judea-Samaria (West Bank) territories, the New York Times reports. Surely there will soon be an expression of “deep concern” from the Obama Administration, a furious resolution from the United Nations Security Council, and a letter from twelve angry congressmen mobilized by J Street.Infant Among Two Wounded in Rock and Firebomb Attacks
Oh, wait. It’s not a Jewish settlement – it’s an Arab settlement. Cancel the outrage!
A feature article in the New York Times on August 31 reported that the Palestinian Authority is building a new settlement called Rawabi. The first 600 apartments are already complete, out of a projected 6,000 units that will house an estimated 40,000 people.
While Jewish communities in the same area, with even larger populations, are called “settlements” by the Times and the rest of the world news media, Rawabi is for some reason characterized as a “town” and a “city.”
A three-year-old toddler was lightly wounded on Monday night by Arab terrorists that hurled rocks through the window of the bus she was riding in, as it passed through Uzi Narkis Street in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat.As Israeli School Year Begins, Kids Clamber Over Rocket-Struck Playground (VIDEO)
Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics rushed to the scene to provide the baby girl with medical treatment, transferring her afterwards to the Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center.
The toddler was wounded while riding on the Egged 143 bus line from Tel Tzion, located north of Jerusalem in the Binyamin area of Samaria, to the Israeli capital.
Police forces were dispatched to scour the area for the attackers.
Just shortly afterwards a bus driver was also lightly wounded on the road between Migdalim and Kfar Tapuah in Samaria, after Arab terrorists threw two molotov cocktails at him.
Almost a week after a Hamas rocket from Gaza ripped through a kindergarten’s playground in Israel’s coastal Ashdod, excited kids were once again climbing on repaired slides and tunnels as more than 2 million Israeli schoolchildren returned to school nationwide on Monday.Anti-Israel MK Proves That Israel is a Free, Democratic Country
“This is a victory for all of us,” Mayor Yehiel Lasry told Israel’s Channel 2 News. “We’re putting the traumas behind us, and are turning over a new page and beginning a new year.”
Despite parental and administrative safety concerns in the – hopefully – receding shadow of 50 days of Operation Protective Edge and over 4,000 rockets and mortar shells fired towards Israel, school officials here are confident.
Zoabi entered the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, in 2009 as a member of the Balad Party, an all-Arab party. She became famous when she rode on one of the flotilla ships that was stopped by Israel on May 31, 2010. The flotilla was an act of war against Israel, an attempt to break the security blockade that Israel was enforcing to protect itself by preventing arms from entering Gaza. If there had been no blockade, the rockets launched by Hamas during the recent war would have been significantly more destructive. Their only purpose, after all, was to kill Israeli civilians; the rockets had no strategic or military value.Ireland demands review of UN Golan Heights mandate
Has any other country in the world allowed a member of its parliament to participate in an act of war against the country? Only Israel is free enough to allow someone like that to be part of the government.
Ireland may not replace its 130-person rapid response force in the Golan Heights, where 44 peacekeepers from Fiji are being held by militants, until the United Nations reviews its mandate for its forces there, the defense minister said on Monday.Al-Qaeda rebels issue demands for captive UN troops
Islamist fighters involved in Syria's three-year-old civil last week overran a crossing point in the line that has separated Israelis from Syrians in the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Ireland's contingent, which is the most heavily armed element of the 1,200 strong multinational UN mission, was due to be replaced by new Irish troops next month, but Ireland is to freeze the rotation, Defense Minister Simon Coveney said.
"I have made it very clear, that if the UN wants Ireland to continue to support this mission...then we need a full review and we have to get assurances about how the mission will change to adapt to the new realities," Coveney told state broadcaster RTE.
Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels holding 45 Fijian peacekeepers hostage have issued a set of demands for their release, including the extremist group’s removal from a UN terrorist list and compensation for the killing of three of its fighters in a shootout with international troops, an official said Tuesday.Turkey's new PM sees no hope of normalization with Israel
The Nusra Front seized the Fijians on Thursday in the Golan Heights, where a 1,200-strong UN force monitors the buffer zone between Syria and Israel. The rebels also surrounded two Filipino units, but those UN troops escaped over the weekend.
Turkey's new prime minister said on Monday he would pursue strong economic growth and EU ambitions, while in the Middle East he saw no hope of "normalizing" ties with Israel unless it ended its blockade of the Gaza Strip.Israel said to seize PA tax revenue over debt dispute
Ahmet Davutoglu offered no suggestion of any change of emphasise in policies pursued with greater or lesser vigor over the last 11 years by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was elected to a new, more powerful presidency last month.
The Israeli government has been withholding over NIS 200 million ($56 million) in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported Monday.PA replaces prisoners ministry with PLO body
The report, which quoted an unnamed senior Palestinian official, said that Israel had withheld approximately NIS 90 million ($25 million) to cover the debts of the Palestinian electric company, an additional NIS 90 million related to other Palestinian Authority debts, and NIS 30 million ($8 million) to pay for the medical bills of Palestinians who were referred to Israeli hospitals by the PA.
In accordance with the Oslo Accords of 1994, an Israeli government agency has been acting as an official tax-collecting apparatus working in conjunction with the PA to collect taxes from Palestinian residents of the West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority decided on Tuesday to replace its Ministry for Prisoners Affairs with a commission that would report directly to the PLO and PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s office.Abbas Reportedly Tells Emir of Qatar: Hamas Tried to Assassinate Me
Former PA Minister for Prisoners Affairs, Issa Qaraqi, would head the new body, which is called the Higher National Commission for Prisoners and Detainees Affairs.
The decision to abolish the Ministry for Prisoners Affairs was announced by the PA government following its weekly meeting in Ramallah.
At a recent Qatari-hosted summit, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly asserted that rival group Hamas has attempted to assassinate him in the past, Israel’s NRG News said on Monday.PA Denies Reports It Will Pay Hamas Salaries
“In 2006, they tried to take my life, placing a bomb on the route I was supposed to have traveled – they tried to blow me up,” he claimed. “They dug a tunnel that reached beneath my residence in Gaza – I have photographic proof!” Abbas contended, suggesting that the evidence was on a CD he held.
The embarrassing newly leaked details of the August 21st summit between Fatah and Hamas leaders hint at the sour state of relations behind the “Palestinian Unity Government,” NRG said.
The report first appeared in the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Akhbar newspaper, published on Monday.
According to Abu Marzouk the PA agreed to pay the salaries, and was being backed in its decision by Washington.11 Egyptian policemen said killed in Sinai blast
However, the PA's Finance Ministry in Ramallah said it had no information or instructions about making such payments, and was not planning to do so. A PA source said that Hamas terrorists in Gaza were to be given grants, not salaries – and that no date for this payment had been made as yet.
Some 40,000 Hamas members in Gaza are supposed to get paid, with the outlay being 30-40 million shekels per month.
Qatar reportedly had promised to give the PA $25 million per month for the next six months for the payment of the salaries, but the PA and its banks refused to accept the money, out of concern of being placed under sanctions for transferring money to a recognized terror organization.
Eleven Egyptian policemen were killed when a roadside bomb blast struck their armored vehicle in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said.How to Hurt Iran, Even Without Airstrikes
An officer and 10 conscripts were killed in the attack that took place on a road leading to the town of Rafah bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Four conscripts were wounded.
Iran is not as united or as naturally integrated as some Westerners presume. While Persia has ancient roots, modern Iran is an artificial state in that it is not comprised of mainly one nation. It is rather an amalgam of many ethnic groups, most of which suffer from harsh repression from the central government and which have responded to such aggression by resisting through armed struggle. Supplying weapons, training, and other types of military and humanitarian aid to these minorities will pave the way for Israel to have multiple military and intelligence footprints within Iran’s borders, and increase its ability to disrupt the machinations of the mullahs until the theocratic regime is severely weakened or toppled.Iran vows to ‘save’ al-Aqsa mosque from ‘Zionists’
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Monday that his government would continue efforts to “save” Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli control.UN provides aid for record 4.1 million in Syria
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s government, as before, will use all of its capabilities to save al-Aqsa Mosque, to liberate Muslims’ first qibla (the direction toward which Muslims pray) and will spare no efforts to help the oppressed people of Palestine,” Rouhani said in a conference in Tehran attended by diplomats from the Muslim world.
According to the official Tasnim News Agency, the 65-year-old leader added, “We are certain that the ultimate victory belongs to Muslims.”
The World Food Program provided assistance to a record 4.1 million people inside Syria last month, reaching more of those in need with shipments traversing borders and front lines, the agency said Tuesday.French, Saudis ‘finalizing’ $3b Lebanon arms deal
Syria’s civil war has touched off a massive humanitarian crisis, with some 10.8 million people in need of assistance, including 4.7 million in hard-to-reach areas, according to the UN.
Getting humanitarian aid to them has proven a massive challenge for the international community. The Syrian government refused to allow the UN to ship assistance to those in need without Damascus’ approval, ensuring that rebel-held areas remained off-limits.
France and Saudi Arabia are close to signing a $3 billion arms deal for Lebanon, the Elysee Palace said Monday following talks between President Francois Hollande and the Saudi crown prince.While Holding Lebanon hostage, Hezbollah Slams ISIS for Designs on Country
“It will not be signed Monday but it is being finalized,” an aide to the president said.
The deal is for military equipment and arms to be supplied to Lebanon’s army.
Hollande told an official dinner at the Elysee presidential palace attended by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, who is also the Saudi deputy prime minister and defense minister, that Lebanon was a “great but vulnerable country” which “needs security.”
The Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah made the case against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on August 31, suggesting the Sunni militia “wants Lebanon.”Fidel Castro says Mossad behind Islamic State
The threat of ISIS to Lebanon cannot be underestimated, a Hezbollah official warned Sunday, stressing that occupying the country was part of the group’s expansionist plan.
“The terrorist threat on Lebanon is actual, real and continuous,” said Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s executive council. “And whoever doubts or underestimates [this threat] is either ignorant or negligent, and he harms the high national interest of Lebanon.”
“The world has seen no respite in recent years, particularly since the European Economic Community, under the strict and unconditional leadership of the United States, decided the time had come to settle scores with what was left of two great nations (Russia and China) that…had carried out the heroic deed of putting an end to the imperialist colonial order imposed on the world by Europe and the United States,” said the 88 year old leader.IS within 30 km of Ezekiel's tomb
He accused the West of “cynicism” and said the trait had become “a symbol of imperialist policy.”
He singled out McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, saying he had supported Israel’s Mossad and “participated together with that service in the creation of the Islamic State, which today controls a considerable and vital portion of Iraq and reportedly one-third of Syria as well.”Turning to NATO, Castro said the alliance’s representatives were reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s SS.
Islamic State (IS - formerly known as ISIS) has advanced to within just 30 km of Ezekiel's tomb at Al-Kifl. Ezekiel's tomb was the place of pilgrimage most revered by Jews when Iraq had a community.French court upholds nuclear ban on Muslim engineer
Last week, Islamic State (IS) elements in Iraq detonated two truck bombs in the city of Hillah, about 30 km. from al-Kifil. Although these attacks and others near the Imam al-Hussein Shrine in Karbala show IS's reach into southern Iraq, analysts think that IS's goal is to further foment Shi’a-Sunni sectarian tensions. The region is home to many Shiite shrines, especially one belonging to the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
Iraq's five remaining Jews live in Baghdad, where IS suicide bombers routinely target Shi'a mosques. Dozens are killed daily.
A French court Monday upheld a ban on a Muslim engineer from accessing nuclear sites, citing his links with militant networks but his lawyer said it was a case of Islamophobia.ISIS Is Obviously Mocking Me, by Nearly Headless Nick by Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (satire)
The 29-year-old working for a firm subcontracted by energy giant EDF had been granted access to nuclear installations as part of his job throughout 2012 and 2013.
But in March 2014 the man, who cannot be named according to French law, had his pass to enter the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power station revoked.
Officials said he had links with a jihadist terrorist group and that he was in touch with an imam involved in recruiting youngsters to fight in Iraq.
Beheading is a brutal method of execution, as I well know. Especially if performed improperly. But insult is a more grievous offense. It therefore injures me, in ways that an axe can no longer, to witness the cavalier use of beheadings in Iraq and Syria, as if declaring that any respectable execution would involve total decapitation. As opposed to that of you-know-who, wink wink. It hurts, I must confess.Saudi Arabia detains 88 preparing 'terrorist' attacks
No, not that You-Know-Who. Don’t be silly. And in the context of the previous paragraph it should say you-know-whom. Object of a preposition, you see. Basic grammar is one of the hallmarks of a dignified bearing, which I always strive to maintain. It can be difficult sometimes, when one’s head is not fully connected to one’s neck, but we of noble lineage long ago learned to shrug off, as it were, the petty indignities.
Saudi Arabia has arrested 88 people plotting "terrorist" attacks at home and abroad, Arab media reported on Tuesday, citing the interior ministry.Demolition of Mohammed's Grave Site Could Spark Race War In Middle East
The ministry said the suspects had been monitored for months before their arrest and "were on the verge of carrying out operations". Fifty-nine had been detained previously, it added.
Plans to demolish the final resting place of the Islamic prophet Mohammed could further inflame the sectarian conflict developing between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
The site in Medina is threatened because the al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque is desperately in need to expansion but the site of the tomb - which is principally venerated in Shia Islam - is part of a site that has already seen 95 percent of its history wiped away in recent years, according to Saudi academic Dr Irfan al-Alawi.
Under plans out for consultation the prophet's body would be moved to an unmarked grave. This would prove offensive to Shias but Sunnis do not believe in worshipping saints and as a result do not pay homage to the grave. The buildings housing the body are under the green dome, and are a series of arched buildings.
Shias also venerate Mohammed's daughter Fatima, who is believed to have lived in the threatened rooms. Whatever the intentions of the rebuild the destruction of this part of the Mosque might be seen as an attempt by Sunnis to denigrate a respected figure of Shia Islam.
The two branches of the religion are increasingly at loggerheads in the Middle East, effectively fighting a war in Syria and Iraq, with ISIS being Sunni and both the Iraq and Syrian governments being dominated by Shias.
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