Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Alan Dershowitz: United States Attack in Syria Parallels Israel's in Gaza
The air attack by American and Arab forces against ISIS and other terrorist targets parallels Israel's air attacks against Hamas terrorist targets in Gaza. According to retired General Wesley Clark, the United States air attacks are designed to degrade and destroy the infrastructure of the terrorist groups, including the electricity grid, the sources of their finance and other mixed military-civilian targets.Douglas Murray: Are Syria air strikes legal? Perhaps not, but why should we care?
When Israel attacked Hamas military targets, including some that had mixed uses, it was condemned by the same Arab nations that participated in the joint United States-Arab attack in Syria. The difference of course is that the threat posed by ISIS is not nearly as imminent as the threats posed by Hamas. This is certainly true in relation to the United States and may also be true in relation to its Arab partners.
Among the most hypocritical nations participating in the US attack is, of course, Qatar, which not only condemned Israel for defending its civilians against Hamas rockets and tunnels, but actually funded the Hamas attacks and provided asylum for the Hamas terrorist leaders who ordered them. Hypocrisy is nothing new when it comes to the double standard applied by the international community against Israel. The United States and its Arab partners have the right to take preemptive action against terrorist groups without fear of UN condemnation, a Goldstone report, or threats to bring its leaders before the International Criminal Court. Yet everything Israel does, regardless of how careful it is to minimize civilian casualties, becomes the basis for international condemnation.
If the US attacks in Syria continue, there are likely to be civilian casualties, because ISIS will embed its fighters among civilians and the many hostages it has taken. When that happens, American and Arab bombs will kill some civilians. It will be interesting to compare the world's reaction to those civilian deaths with its reaction to deaths caused by Israeli rockets hitting human shields deliberately employed by Hamas. If the past is any predictor of the future, the ratio of civilian to terrorist deaths may be considerably higher in the American-led air attacks than it was in the Israeli air attacks. In past wars, such as those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia, the ratio of civilian to combatant deaths was far higher than the ratio brought about by Israeli firing into Gaza, where human shields are Hamas's tactic of choice.
‘Are Syria air strikes legal?’ asks the BBC as part of its lead story today. The answer is that nobody is very sure. But personally I do wonder: ‘Why should we even care?’Priest tells UNHRC to ‘end witch hunt’ of Israel
Is beheading people legal? Is crucifying people illegal? Probably not. But aside from some vague talk last month of international inspectors being sent in to Isis-controlled areas to try to collate evidence of war-crimes I have seen very little written about this.
This debate over the ‘legality’ of hitting Isis reminds me of nothing so much as the conversation after Osama bin Laden was shot in the head. I recall back then being on an edition of Question Time where, rather than expressing relief that a very bad man had been killed, everybody started talking about the legality or otherwise of the operation and then – save us – whether American forces had or had not buried the carcass of the dead terrorist with the proper Islamic funeral rites. Soon the conversation was not about the thousands of victims but about the niceties of Islamic sea-burial, whether they were wholly followed through and so on.
Personally I am not particularly bothered about whether it is ‘legal’ to strike Isis. International law is very far from being the set of Sinai-like tablets which young people in particular now seem to think it is. It is a very new, very flexible and completely evolving concept. Besides, lots of good things are not legal under international law. The campaign to save thousands of Kosovan Muslims in 1998 was not ‘legal’. In fact it was very much ‘illegal’ under international law. But it was still the right thing to do.
A Greek Orthodox priest from Israel defended the Jewish state before the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, arguing that it is the only country in the Middle East where Christians are not persecuted, and imploring the 47 member nations to “end your witch hunt of the only free country in the region.”Jihadi relative of Toulouse killer walks free after police bungle
“In the Middle East today, there is one country where Christianity is not only not persecuted, but affectionately granted freedom of expression, freedom of worship and security,” Father Gabriel Naddaf said.
“It is Israel, the Jewish state. Israel is the only place where Christians in the Middle East are safe.”
Confusion reigned Tuesday over the whereabouts of three suspected French jihadists arrested in Turkey who include the brother-in-law of Toulouse Jewish school killer Mohammed Merah after an apparent bungle by authorities.
The French interior ministry had announced that the three men, including the 29-year-old husband of Merah’s sister Souad, Abdelhoued Bagadhali, had been arrested by French police on their arrival at Paris’s Orly airport after being sent back from Turkey.
But it later turned out that the men had not landed in Paris at all, but were put on a flight to the southern city Marseille where they were — to their apparent surprise — able to walk freely from the airport.
The ministry claimed that after the pilot of the Paris-bound flight refused to allow them on board, the Turkish authorities put them on the flight to Marseille. But it insisted that Paris did not become aware of the change until after the men had landed on French soil.
'One Mistake': All Investigators Needed to Nab Teens' Killers
Intelligence agents worked "day and night" to locate the prime suspects, honing in first on peripheral accomplices and then drawing ever closer to the murderers themselves.Israeli Police Helmet Cam Captures Gunfight With Hamas Killers of Three Teens (VIDEO)
Yatom said the investigation was exceptionally intense, and focused first on Kawasmeh and Abu Eisha's immediate circles. The moment it became clear the notorious Kawasmeh clan was involved - with its deep roots in Hamas's network in the Hevron area - authorities already had a good idea of where to begin looking.
But even with all the leads and information available, intelligence services were placing their hopes on a single mistake by one of the suspects or their accomplices. Once they slipped up - as they inevitably would - agents would need to act quickly, efficiently and effectively to capitalize on their error.
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Moti Almoz, welcomed the news of the conclusion of the operation.IDF Footage: Battle With Teens' Kidnappers
“The security forces of Israel closed an open account this morning,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
“At the beginning of the New Year, a curse was cleared away, and – if ever there was a doubt – we will pursue terrorism until it is liquidated,” Almoz said, and wished the Frenkel, Shaer and Yifrach families, “a better morning.”
Head-Cam Captures Battle With Teens' Kidnappers
Palestinians Mourn Hamas Terrorists Suspected of Killing Israeli Boys
Thousands of Palestinians mourned the deaths Tuesday of two Palestinian men suspected of kidnapping and killing three Israeli students in June, the Jerusalem Post reports. A massive funeral procession honoring Marwan Kawasme and Amar Abuysha moved through the streets of Hebron, featuring mourners waving Palestinian and Hamas flags. Both Hamas-affiliated terrorists were killed after they opened fire on Israeli troops moving in to arrest them.Southern Residents Fear Hamas Rosh Hashana 'Surprise'
Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza celebrated the initial kidnapping of Eyal Yifrach, 19, and 16-year-olds Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel, in June. The terrorists were previously jailed in both Palestinian Authority and Israel and were actively involved in terrorist activities on behalf of Hamas.
The fears are based on the fact that Hamas's lethal array of terror tunnels was unveiled to deadly effect in the Gaza operation, with the IDF destroying over 30 tunnels, but with many others feared to still be in existence. Furthermore, reports have revealed that Hamas terrorists have already restarted digging the tunnels.'Hezbollah Doesn't Need a Tunnel to Breach into Israel'
During the operation, it was revealed that Hamas was planning to use its terror tunnels to commit a massacre against Jews in the region on Rosh Hashana.
Argantero concluded by saying "I trust the IDF (to ensure) there will be quiet and hope that my livelihood will return, because we never had such an (economic) hardship - for months we didn't work (due to the fighting)."
Roughly a dozen rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel during Operation Protective Edge, and residents of the north have reported signs of terror tunnels being dug into Israel from the country - but according to the head of the Upper Galilee, there's nothing to worry about.Captain Who Lost His Arm Gets Married
Upper Galilee Regional Council head Giora Zaltz told Arutz Sheva that in contrast to the worrying reports, "the opposite is true, we have a very nice period now of calm and quiet in the Galilee and the Golan, and all the scenarios they are talking about are scenarios they have been talking about for four years now."
One such "scenario" that Zaltz was asked by concerned residents about recently was raised in an odd security briefing last Sunday. In it, a senior IDF Northern Command officer caused concern by saying Hezbollah could possibly capture Israeli territory for several hours before being pushed back by the IDF, in a war that could take four months to win.
That appraisal is made the more troubling by a New York Times interview this week that revealed Hezbollah is benefiting from indirect military aid from the US.
Captain Ziv Shilon, who was badly wounded in a Hamas attack near Gaza in October 2012 and lost his arm, on Tuesday married his fiancée, Adi, in the city of Ofakim.Security minister calls to allow Jewish worshipers on Temple Mount
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recorded a video greeting for the newlyweds which was shown during the wedding ceremony.
"I am very excited. I remember visiting you, Ziv, after your injury, and being so deeply impressed by your valor, your spirit, your personality, and I must tell you - also from your family,” he said.
“I was also impressed with your deep connection with Adi and from the love you share, from the fact that you take life and move forward despite the pain,” added Netanyahu.
“I want to congratulate you and wish you on behalf of myself and my wife, Sarah, that you live in a happy partnership, you deserve it. Mazel Tov.”
Following clashes in and around the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch called for Jewish worshipers to have full access to the site.Police Ambushed by Muslim Rioters on Temple Mount
“It is important to open the [Temple Mount] to Jews, tens of thousands of worshipers come here,” he said while touring the area, according to Israeli news source Ynet.
The earlier clashes were apparently triggered by the early-morning visit to the site by a group of Jewish visitors ahead of the start of the two-day Rosh Hashanah holiday, which begins at sundown.
Two of them were arrested for violating an order barring Jews from praying at the site, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
She told AFP that Palestinian youths had thrown stones and petrol bombs at police, injuring several, who had “pushed the rioters inside the Al-Aqsa mosque.”
Police also blocked all access to the compound, which lies in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, to prevent the unrest from spreading.
Dozens of Arab rioters began shooting fireworks at police on the Temple Mount on Wednesday morning, just hours before the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) began, and as soon as the holiest site in Judaism was opened to Jewish visitors.Iranians with Fake Israeli Passports Claim to be Seeking Asylum
The rioters fired at police at the Mughrabi Gate, which is the only point of access for Jewish visitors to the site currently under the de facto rule of the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust).
Yassam police special forces and Border Patrol officers pushed their way onto the Temple Mount and pressed back the rioters.
Upon arriving on the holy site, police forces came face to face with dozens of rioters who had prepared obstacles on the Mount, from which they threw rocks and bricks at the officers while continuing to launch fireworks at them.
Two young Iranians arrested in Kenya last week trying to fly to Tel Aviv on fake Israeli passports appeared in a Nairobi court on Tuesday, where they pleaded guilty to being in possession of forged documents.Syrian fighter pilots shot down by Israel said to be dead
The accused were Hesamoddin Hatami, travelling under the false Israeli name Avshalom Tsabari, and Zahra Kolabian, travelling as Adi Larian; they claimed to the court that they were attempting to seek asylum.
The court ordered the pair to be remanded in police custody until October 1, while awaiting official communication from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to establish if their claims were legitimate.
The prosecution team initially called for the pair to be deported back to Iran, but the accused argued that they would be in danger if returned.
The IDF said early Tuesday that the plane had infiltrated Israeli airspace when it was shot down with a Patriot missile.PreOccupied Territory: Report: Interior Ministry Supposed To Be Doing More Than Home Decor (satire)
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, one of the pilots was injured in the strike on his plane and died after parachuting to the ground. It did not mention the fate of the second pilot.
“Al Qunaytera Province: A military pilot died of wounds due to hitting his aircraft by the Israeli forces on the buffer strip between the liberated and occupied Syrian Golan,” the activist group posted.
However, a separate unconfirmed report, tweeted by an Israeli Foreign Ministry official citing a Syrian activist, indicated that the pilots had successfully returned to Syrian territory, only to be executed by Syrian military intelligence.
The report, issued this week, details the many areas that have been neglected by successive ministers of the interior and their staff who misunderstood the name of the office as referring only to the literal interior of buildings. In fact, it says, there are nine major areas of the ministry’s responsibility, only one of which, involving building codes, can be construed as remotely related to interior design.Fatah, Hamas renew reconciliation talks in Cairo
The report authors issued a scathing treatment of the ministry, calling its neglect of firefighting and rescue services especially reprehensible. “It is inconceivable that the ministry supposedly tasked with training, equipping, and overseeing such crucial aspects of citizen safety instead spends its time choosing color schemes and sponsoring Feng Shui classes for its employees,” read part of its conclusion. The slow and inadequate response of Israeli firefighters to various blazes has received much attention since the disastrous Carmel Forest fire of 2010.
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah began talks in Cairo on Wednesday aimed at resolving internal disputes and reviving their unity government.Official: Hamas Doing Everything Possible to Carry Out Attacks Since Gaza Operation (VIDEO)
The two-day talks will focus on “the return [of the unity government] in the Gaza Strip and the implementation of its authority without obstacles,” said the head of Fatah’s delegation, Azzam Al-Ahmad.
The talks come after a joint Palestinian delegation and Israel agreed to hold indirect talks in late October to thrash out a lasting truce in Gaza.
Despite sporadic rocket fire and trying to pull off terror attacks, Hamas in Gaza is primarily engaged in licking its wounds after 50 days of the Israeli air, land and sea pummeling it received in Operation Protective Edge, a senior army official told Israel’s 0404 news, Tuesday.PA Asks for $3.8 Billion to Rebuild Gaza
In the last few weeks since the Aug. 26th Cairo-brokered cease-fire went into effect, Hamas is still assessing the immense damage caused to the organization due to the IDF strikes.
Thousands of targets were destroyed, hundreds of terrorists and their networks were either killed or compromised, and 32 multi-million-dollar attack tunnels were discovered and either partially or totally collapsed.
Hamas, however, is still trying to show that it’s “business as usual,” and not desperate, according to the unnamed official.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Tuesday he has asked for $3.8 billion in urgent aid to help rebuild Gaza following the fighting this past summer.Radical Jordanian cleric acquitted on terrorism charges
Hamdallah told The Associated Press (AP) that Saudi Arabia has pledged $500 million and other nations have indicated they would join in.
He spoke at the end of a donor meeting lead by Norway on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.
The aid request comes as PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is preparing to submit a resolution to the UN Security Council seeking a three-year timetable for Israel’s withdrawal from Judea and Samaria.
A Jordanian military court on Wednesday acquitted radical Muslim preacher Abu Qatada on terrorism charges for his role in plotting attacks against Americans and Israelis.US can’t confirm death of Khorasan group leader
The ruling, handed down by civilian judges presiding over the hearings, capped a lengthy legal odyssey for the cleric known for his fiery pro-al-Qaeda speeches but who in recent months emerged as a harsh critic of the Islamic State militant group.
The court ruled there was insufficient evidence against Abu Qatada and his defense lawyer, Husein Mubaidin, said he expects his client to be released within hours.
Abu Qatada, described as a onetime lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, was charged with involvement in plans to target Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats in Jordan in 2000 — the so-called “millennium plot.”
US airstrikes in Syria have had an “important impact,” US national security adviser Susan Rice said Wednesday, but it is unclear if they have killed the head of the Khorasan group, an Al-Qaeda offshoot.Khorasan Terror Group Planned to Use Bomb Made of Toothpaste, Clothing
The strikes by US warplanes and cruise missiles targeted the Islamic State movement as well as the little-known Khorasan group, which Washington said has said was plotting attacks against US targets.
“We think the strikes had an impact, important impact,” Rice told NBC news, 36 hours after Washington expanded its bombing campaign from Iraq to Syria, backed by allies in the region.
“Obviously, this won’t be the last of our efforts. But this was a first wave.”
One of the main targets in the US bombing strikes in Syria was a dangerous Al Qaeda off-shoot known as Khorasan. Intelligence sources told CNN that a plot was discovered within the past week that "potentially involved a bomb made of a nonmetallic device like a toothpaste container or clothes dipped in explosive material."Syrian Foreign Minister: We Welcome Airstrikes on IS
A senior U.S. Official told CNN the group was planning to attack the U.S. and other Western targets. The same official said the threat was "imminent" although another U.S. official said it was not imminent and there was no "known targets or attacks expected in the next few weeks."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem recently said that his country would welcome foreign airstrikes against the “Islamic State” (IS, or ISIS) or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front.Rouhani: Airstrikes Against IS in Syria Are Illegal
The comments were made in an interview which aired Monday on Russia Today TV and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, said on Tuesday that airstrikes by the U.S. and a group of allies against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria are illegal, The Wall Street Journal reported.Hezbollah Rejects U.S.’s Anti-ISIL Coalition
Rouhani said military action could only be justified if authorized by the United Nations Security Council or if the measures were conducted with the consent of the Syrian government.
The comments came hours after the Pentagon confirmed that the U.S. had begun airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah rejected on Tuesday the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL or ISIS), despite the Lebanese terror group’s own violent opposition to ISIL.Al-Jazeera TV Report: Most Casualties in Coalition Air Strikes in North Syria Were Civilians
Narallah, whose terror group is committed to the destruction of Israel, said that Hezbollah opposes Lebanon joining the U.S.-led coalition to combat ISIL, according to a readout of his remarks provided to the Washington Free Beacon.
While Hezbollah has fought against ISIL forces on its own in recent months, Nasrallah stated that it is more important to take a principled stand against U.S. efforts in the region.
Dutch Jabhat Al-Nusra Fighter from Site of U.S. Air Strike in Syria: We Will Keep Fighting
Pro-ISIS Jordanian Lawyer: Obama Is a Slave, a Mule; We Will Rule the World
Tony Blair Says West Must Use Ground Troops Against ISIS
Tony Blair has urged Britain not to rule out sending ground troops to combat the Islamic State (ISIS), arguing air strikes are not enough to defeat the terrorist group.EU Chief Reveals A Tenth of ISIS's Terrorists are European
In a 6,500 word essay published on his website, the former Prime Minister said that with the consent of Iraq and Syria and a broad international alliance including Arab countries, David Cameron could avoid the “weaknesses” of Western strategy after September 11th.
The European Union (EU) counter-terrorism chief on Tuesday revealed that since declaring itself an Islamic caliphate in June, the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group has seen a surge of European jihadists whose numbers jumped from 2,000 to 3,000.Family of British Hostage Receives Message from Him
EU counter-terror head Gilles de Kerchove told AFP that the boost in numbers comes following the declaration of Islamic statehood in the areas of Syria and Iraq conquered by the group, along with a highly intensive social media campaign to recruit western jihadists.
"My own assessment is that we're about 3,000," divulged de Kerchove, in estimating the number of Europeans fighting for ISIS in the Middle East. "The flow has not been dried up and therefore possibly the proclamation of the caliphate has had some impact."
Intelligence estimates have stated the number of ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq stands at over 30,000, meaning that according to de Kerchove a full tenth of the Islamic State force is European.
The family of British hostage Alan Henning on Tuesday said they have received an audio file of him pleading for his life, the BBC reported.French PM vows ‘no negotiation’ with Algeria hostage-takers
In a "further message for Islamic State (IS)", Henning's wife Barbara said IS "continue to ignore our pleas to open dialogue."
"I and people representing me continue to reach out to those holding Alan," she added.
Henning, a taxi driver from Eccles in Salford, was delivering aid when he was captured in Syria in December.
France’s prime minister Tuesday vowed there would be “no discussion, no negotiation” with an Algerian group linked to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants that has claimed the kidnapping of a French citizen and stressed Paris would continue air strikes on the extremists.Filipino ISIS Group Holding Two Germans Hostage
Manuel Valls told French radio there would be “no discussion, no negotiation and we will never give in to blackmail. Even if we are of course very worried after the authentication of this video.”
The group, Jund al-Khilifa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), promised in a video message to kill the hostage, Herve Pierre Gourdel, within 24 hours unless France stopped its air strikes against ISIS in Iraq.
“If we give in, if we retreat an inch, we will be handing them victory,” Valls told Europe 1 radio while on a visit to Germany.
The Filipino terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf, which recently pledged loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS), is holding two German citizens captive and demanding 250 million Philippine Pesos (over $5.6 million) from Germany within 15 days - or they will kill the hostages.Norway: ISIS Terrorists 'Planned to Behead Entire Family'
The two Germans, aged 55 and 71, were abducted in April from their sailing yacht in Palawan in the western Philippines according to the German-language news source T-Online.
A Twitter account linked to the group called "IslamicStateMaldives" was cited by the German site as giving Germany until October 10 to pay up, and also demanded Germany stop "killing our brothers," a reference to the airstrikes Germany is supporting in the newly formed US coalition hitting ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
A group of Danish Muslim extremists sympathetic to the "Islamic State" terrorist group (IS) planned to murder an entire family and film it as a "warning" to Western states intervening against IS in Iraq and Syria.
According to Norway's NRK TV channel the group of Islamists intended to break into a random home, slit the throats of all the residents and post the footage online.
The horrific plot is reminiscent of a similar one recently foiled in Australia, where a group of pro-IS Islamist terrorists planned to kidnap and behead a random member of the public and distribute footage of the gruesome killing in "revenge" for anti-IS airstrikes. The jihadis reportedly planned to wrap their victim in the Islamic State flag before murdering him.
Norwegian officials have declined to comment on the terror plot in their country, but it comes after a major terror alert in July which forced mass searches at border crossings and the closure of Olso's main synagogue as a security precaution.
