Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Islamists: "Destruction is a Matter of Time"
What makes negotiations with Iran, ISIS, Hamas or any other Islamist group impossible is that their leaders believe they are acting according to the immutable word of God. America, Israel, other Muslims with whom they disagree, cannot do anything to satisfy them except "submit" (the Arabic word "Islam" means "submission"). As Egyptian cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya'qub said in a televised sermon in 2009, "If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. The Jews are infidels not because I say so but because Allah does... They aren't our enemies because they occupy Palestine; they would be our enemies even if they had not occupied anything."Caroline Glick: Iran's no China
Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups do not conceal their intentions. The Hamas covenant explicitly calls for Israel's destruction and does not distinguish between Israelis and Jews:
"Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious... It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine... It is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders...
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him'".... There is no solution for the Palestine question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. Palestine is an Islamic land."
Regrettably, this is why "solving the conflict with the Palestinians," or even recognizing a Palestinian State, will not bring peace and tranquility to the Middle East.
The problem is that in all cases, his use of US power has helped Iran more than it has helped US allies. And in the case of Libya, US power has directly threatened US allies and empowered al-Qaida and it associates.JCPA: Hamas-Fatah Rift Is Preventing the Rehabilitation of Gaza
With the rise of China today, some US analysts question the wisdom of Nixon’s opening to Beijing.
But there is little argument that his China gambit caused strategic damage to the Soviet Union and contributed to the US victory in the Cold War.
Not only will Obama’s Iran opening not redound to the US’s benefit in the short term. Its inevitable result will be a decade or more of major and minor regional wars and chronic instability, with the nuclear-armed Iran threatening the survival of all of America’s regional allies. It will also lead to shocks in the global economy and massively expand Iran’s direct coercive power over the word as a whole.
Not only is Obama no Nixon, compared to him, Neville Chamberlain looks like a minor, almost insignificant failure.
Meanwhile, though, Hamas has been stepping up its self-manufacture of rockets. Since the end of the Protective Edge campaign, it has also conducted several experiments involving the firing of rockets toward the sea, with an eye to increasing the range of the rockets.
The Palestinian Authority, however, believes Hamas now lacks the military capacity to resume the war against Israel, and that instead Hamas is interested in a long-term arrangement with Israel that will perpetuate its control of Gaza.
At the same time, Hamas has been intensifying its incitement of the residents of the Jerusalem and the West Bank. The aim is to stoke a “Third Intifada” against Israel that would also serve Hamas’ goal of undermining the status and stability of the Palestinian Authority.
Thus, declarations by senior Hamas officials that the movement has adopted reconciliation with Fatah as a strategy appear to be untrue. Instead, Hamas seeks to continue its absolute control of Gaza.
The strategic objective is to safeguard Gaza as a major asset for the Muslim Brotherhood which has succeeded to make it an independent stronghold acting as an “Islamic emirate” and as a stage toward the creation of the great “Islamic caliphate.”
PA and Fatah continue promoting violence
Official Palestinian Authority TV and Fatah continue to promote violence and terror in and around Jerusalem.PA TV welcomes rioters who are "preparing to throw stones" and "molotov cocktails"
PA TV’s Friday morning show sent greetings of encouragement to the Jerusalem rioters:PA TV song: "Massive armies are advancing on Jerusalem.. May our convoy die as Martyrs"
“Good morning to you, good morning to your pride, and to your hands preparing to throw stones and ignite the gasoline in the Molotov cocktails, greetings from the Good Morning Jerusalem program.”
[Official PA TV, Nov. 21, 2014]
Voice of Yasser Arafat:Sunni Political Islam: Engine of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
"Millions of Martyrs are marching to Jerusalem! Oh Lord, let me become a Martyr among the Martyrs of Jerusalem.”
Singer:
"Massive armies are advancing on Jerusalem.
They do not fear the attackers.
May our convoy die as Martyrs to redeem the forlorn Al-Aqsa.”
[Official PA TV, Nov. 9, 2014]
Modern Zionism may have been secular in nature, but it drew from these wellsprings in Jewish self-perception.Two Jewish men stabbed in Jerusalem’s Old City
The difference throughout has been that the Jews have, since the onset of the modern struggle, demonstrated a willingness to accept political plans proposing a sharing of the land under discussion: in 1937, 1947, 2000, and 2008. The Arab Muslim side has demonstrated no similar capacity.
The Jewish self-perception is that of a small nation, cautious, uncertain, defensive.
Arab Sunni Muslim identity, by contrast, is one predicated on triumph and conquest as the natural state of affairs, now accompanied by the humiliating, bewildering current state of failure and subjection. Hence the enormous, murderous rage at the present state of defeat to a people seen as naturally subordinate: the Jews. Hence the absolute refusal to accept history's apparent verdict, and the latest furious attempt to dislodge the enemy.
Religion, specifically Sunni political Islam, is driving it, as it has driven all previous attempts. It shows no sign of running out of energy, despite the meager results so far. A deep sense of its own superiority and the inevitability of its eventual victory informs its adherents. It is past time that the many obsessive Western observers of this conflict grasp the essential, religious driving force. Political religion, specifically Sunni political Islam, lies at its heart. It has always been there.
According to reports, the stabbings occurred during a fight between the students and local Arab youths.Israel protests Jordan’s condolences to terrorists’ families
A 45-year-old man was stabbed in his abdomen, and was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital in moderate condition.
The other victim, 32 years of age, suffered from a shallow knife wound in the neck and had his arm broken. He was also in Shaare Zedek, where doctors said he was lightly injured.
The students, from the Shuvu Banim yeshiva, claimed they were set upon by a group of Arab youths as they left their study hall.
They reached the Kishle police station in the Armenian Quarter, and were taken to the hospital from there.
Police have made three arrests.
The Israeli Embassy in Amman lodged a complaint with the Jordanian Foreign Ministry over a condolence letter sent by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to the families of the Palestinian terrorists who killed five Israelis in a Jerusalem synagogue attack last week.Temple Mount shooting survivor credits 'divine supervision'
In its formal complaint, the embassy included a collection of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel cartoons that have recently appeared in Jordanian media, highlighting the correlation between direct and public incitement and escalating regional tensions.
“I ask God to envelop them with mercy and to grant you with patience, comfort and recovery from your grief,” Ensour wrote in the letter sent Friday to the Jordanian family members of Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal.
Last week, the two Palestinian terrorists stormed a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem, and killed four worshipers and one police officer.
The Temple Mount activist who was shot four times by a terrorist in Jerusalem last month was released from Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Tuesday.Yeshiva University Rallies in Support of Israel
Rabbi Yehuda Glick held a press conference at the hospital before his release, which he began with a blessing for "He who revives the dead."
"The fact that I am sitting here before you and talking like this is not a given," Glick, who was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, said.
Glick thanked the medical team who saved his life, and said he was very fortunate.
"I had divine supervision. The fact is that four bullets hit my abdomen and none of them hit a major blood vessel," he said.
"A bullet hit my neck, but missed the main artery. The surgeon told me, 'You have no idea how lucky you are, had the bullet struck two millimeters away ... '
In response to the tragic terror attacks that have occurred in Israel in recent weeks, the student leadership of Yeshiva University organized a rally in solidarity with Israel in New York City’s Times Square on Sunday, November 23.IDF Blog: Arresting Terrorists & Rescuing Hostages: Just a Typical Week for the Lotar Unit
The rally, which was open to all denominations and faith groups, created a peaceful space for communal prayer, song and unity in support of Israel.
“Recognizing that terrorism in Israel affects all of us as Jews and Americans, Yeshiva University students came together in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, vice president for university and community life at YU.
“The rally impressed on the people around us that enough is enough—that there should be no more bereaved parents, no more widowed spouses, no more orphaned children,” said Shai Berman, president of the Yeshiva College Student Association.
“We stressed that terror is a problem that plagues the entire free world and that we all need to support Israel in her efforts to protect her citizens and end this senseless violence. At the same time, we also attempted to communicate our hope for a brighter future for the State of Israel.”
An infiltration into Israeli territory in order to kidnap civilians: this is the strategy favored by terrorist organizations attempting to harm Israeli citizens. The Lotar Counter-Terrorism Unit serves as the IDF’s response to these threats. The unit specializes in the release of hostages, is constantly training, and is prepared to face any scenario that may be thrown at it.Lotar Counter-Terrorism Unit Exercise
“Terrorists have infiltrated the Shavei Hebron yeshiva (a Jewish institution),” informs the commander of the Lotar Counter-Terrorism Unit during a briefing in the operations room, located in the center of Hebron near the yeshiva. “There are reports of four to six terrorists who have taken 20 people hostage.”
The soldiers slowly begin moving towards the yeshiva under the cover of the night. They find the room where the hostages are being held and take the terrorists by surprise. Then they systematically search the other rooms in the building. The operation to release the hostages has taken less than one minute.
This scenario is part of the Lotar Counter-Terrorism Unit’s final week of training, in which the soldiers of the unit are faced with different scenarios throughout the week.
Terror Attacks Killing Druze Policemen Spotlight United Front With Israeli Jews
In contrast with the positive reputation that the Druze community holds among Jews in Israel, Muslims in the Middle East have historically viewed Druze as an “unwanted minority,” Shamai said, and Israeli Arabs tend to see them as “collaborating with the state of Israel.”Culture Ministry threatens theater’s funds over Nakba event
Since this summer’s war in Gaza, some Muslims “have been inciting [against] the Druze all over the country,” Farhat said.
Fighting recently broke out between Muslim and Druze residents of Abu Snan, a small village in the Galilee. The village’s 13,000 residents include 7,000 Muslims, 4,000 Druze, and 2,000 Christians. More than 40 people were injured in the clashes.
The Druze Zionist Council for Israel was founded five years ago in response to incitement by Arab members of the Israeli Knesset. Currently, with the cooperation of the World Zionist Organization in Jerusalem, the Druze council takes members of the Druze community on tours of Israel to teach them more about Zionism and the history of the Jews in Israel, “from the bible to the Palmach (the elite fighting force of the pre-state Haganah forces).”
“The land of Israel is the ancestral land of the Jewish people,” Farhat said. “The Jewish people came back to their homeland to establish again the state of Israel. … The bond between Israel and the Jewish people is a historical thing. It is Isaiah, Abraham, Jacob. They are the fathers of the ancestral Jews and their homeland is here in Israel.”
“We [Druze] try to help the Jewish people,” he added, because among “the Jewish people here in Israel we feel freedom,” unlike in the Arab countries where “women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians [and other] minorities are persecuted.”
On Monday, the ministry’s legal adviser sent a request to the Finance Ministry, urging it to mull the rescinding of government funding for the Tel Aviv Cinematheque for hosting the “48 mm Film Festival: The 2nd International Film Festival on Nakba and Return.”Destroy Hamas in Gaza now, urges the ‘Green Prince’
“Nakba” is the term used by Palestinians for the 1948 founding of Israel, which they see as a national tragedy.
The Culture Ministry said that the theater’s use of government funds to support activities that “mark Independence Day or the day of the state’s establishment as a day or mourning” constitute a violation of Israel’s Budgetary Principles Law.
“It is unacceptable to my mind that a body supported by the State of Israel allows an entire festival to take place within its walls dedicated entirely to preaching as if the day of Israel’s establishment is a day of mourning,” said Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat. “It makes no sense for the state to bear the cost of funding a body supporting debate over what the Palestinians call ‘the right of return,’ which means the end of Israel’s existence as a Jewish, democratic state.”
“To get to peace with the Palestinians, Israel needs to go to war against Hamas in Gaza, and fast.” That’s the view of Mosab Hasan Yousef, better known as the “Green Prince,” the son of West Bank Hamas chief Sheikh Hasan Yousef.Hamas Threatens 'Holy War' Over Jewish State Law
Mosab Yousef, who was a Shin Bet agent from 1997 to 2007, at the same time as he ran his father’s office, is well aware of the significance of what he is saying. “I know that this will sound to some people like dangerous rhetoric, a push for war, but my motivation is precisely the opposite. I’m speaking out because you can’t deal with reality by running away from it. You can’t take refuge in temporary solutions. Hamas has to be tackled at its roots, uprooted once and for all, and now is the perfect moment to deal with Hamas militarily in Gaza. The longer Israel waits,” he warned, “the more dangerous an enemy Hamas will become and the harder the battle. This is the time to initiate a war against Hamas.”
Now based in the US, Mosab Yusef is currently on a visit to Israel, and I met with him in Tel Aviv. It was five years ago that I first revealed that he was an agent assisting the Shin Bet — Israel’s most reliable source in Hamas, central to the prevention of numerous suicide bombings and attacks, and to the exposure of Hamas terror cells — and the identity of his handler, “Captain Loai,” Gonen Ben Itzhak. As we sat together near the Tel Aviv beach, his criticisms of Israeli government policy were clear and fierce.
“Don’t wait for the summer for Hamas to surprise you again,” he urged. “Hit them this winter when they’re not ready. If you can solve the problem of Hamas in Gaza, that will pave the way forward regarding the Palestinians in the West Bank and Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas), who is currently replicating methods that remind me of the days of the Second Intifada and Yasser Arafat.
Hamas has an opinion on the 'Jewish State Law' making rounds in the Knesset, Channel 2 reports Tuesday - claiming that the law could provoke a "holy war."Hamas Threatens to Ban Israeli Fruit Imports
"The law sounds an alarm regarding Israel's ambitions in the region, and threatens to bring about a religious war," Hamas representatives in Gaza threatened Sunday.
"The Israeli occupation is trying to protect Zionist myths and take control of Arab-populated areas, steal resources and humiliate [Palestinians]," it claimed.
Hamas also appealed the international community to crack down on Israel for considering the law, which is claimed is "racist."
"The movement will continue to act against the Israeli occupation to overthrow the imperialist enterprise", stressed the organization's leaders.
Gaza's Hamas-run agriculture ministry threatened on Monday to stop importing Israeli fruit to the Palestinian territory in response to what it said was vegetable exports being blocked, AFP reports.IDF Developing Flying Pigs To Better Destroy Palestinian Agriculture (satire)
"If Israel doesn't reverse its decision to halt the export of Palestinian agricultural produce... we will ban the entry of fruit" from Israel, a ministry statement said.
It said Israel on Sunday refused to let through the Kerem Shalom goods crossing some 12 trucks destined for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Jordan and carrying 135 tons of vegetables worth $149,000 (120,000 euros). The export of farm produce is a key source of income for civilians in Gaza.
Palestinians have long accused Israel of releasing wild boars to wreak havoc with Palestinian farms. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas repeated the charge again several days ago, but as in the past, few international bodies have given the matter much attention. Until now the boar-release program has apparently been a private initiative, but to capitalize on the apparent apathy of the international community, the Israeli military entered into an arrangement with the country’s only pig-farming enterprise to launch a breeding program aimed at producing winged, flying swine capable of mobility and destruction that far outstrips the achievements of the current available animals.Huge Protests Demanding to ‘Impose Islamic Identity’ Expected Friday in Egypt
Kibbutz Lahav’s swine program has sparked controversy since its inception, given the Jewish dietary ban on pork and the cultural aversion to the animal. However, the army, which officially maintains Jewish dietary laws in its facilities, nevertheless sought out the program heads to develop this new kind of bio-weapon, which could be deployed much more flexibly to destroy Palestinian farms and property without directly implicating Jewish settlers.
The ultra-conservative Salafist Front, an Islamist political organization, has called for a “Muslim revolution” across Egypt on Friday, November 28 in order to “impose Islamic identity without disguise” and to “impose Islamic sharia” law.Syrian Child Preacher: Men Should Stop Chasing Half-Naked Women and Go for the Virgins of Paradise
The Salafist Front, formed after the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, also demands the reinstatement of President Mohammad Morsi, who replaced Mubarak and was ousted in July 2013 amid mass protests against his rule, the Al-Ahram newspaper reported.
The Muslim Brotherhood announced its support for the Friday protests. The Brotherhood, which was designated in December 2013 by the Egyptian government as a terrorist group, “called the protests a new wave of the glorious Egyptian revolution and urged others to fight for their identity and victory of peaceful freedom of expression,” Daily News Egypt reported.
Syrian Poet Adonis: Progress Impossible in the Arab World without Separation of Religion and State
JPost Editorial: Concerning Iran
The ensuing nuclear arms race would risk destabilizing the Middle East. Because Iran is also developing intercontinental ballistic missiles – missiles which are used only to carry nuclear payloads, as Netanyahu pointed out Monday – it would also have the ability to strike targets thousands of kilometers away, endangering large parts of the world.Another Man Publicly Hanged in Iran
Of course, Israel would be forced to act as well. Just a few weeks ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for “the elimination” of Israel. He urged Israel’s enemies to commit to “armed resistance” until the Zionist entity is destroyed.
The best way to prevent Iran from dragging the region into a war is by using non-military means, combined with a credible military threat, to pressure it to give up its aspirations for nuclear weapons. Signing a bad deal or dragging out talks for too long will only lead to conflict, a nuclear arms race, and perhaps even war.
The Iranian government publicly hanged yet another individual for an alleged crime. The hanging, which occurred last Thursday, was reported by Iranian Human Rights:Iran, world powers extend talks to July after failing to seal deal
November 20, 2014: One man was hanged in public in the city of Ghaemshahr (Northern Iran) today, reported the official Iranian news agency IRNA. The prisoner was identified as “R. M.” (32 year old) and sentenced to death convicted of rape, said the report.
Today’s public execution was the sixth so far in November 2014. A video footage from a public execution carried out 15. November in Southern Iran shows that the prisoners are slowly pulled up with a crane. It takes normally several minutes till the prisoner dies by this method.
In October, Iran hanged Reyhannah Jabbari, who was accused of killing her rapist.
A well-placed Western diplomat said that elements are falling into place for an agreement to allow talks on Iran’s nuclear program to continue for more than seven months.Iran's supreme leader: Arrogant world powers failed
The diplomat told The Associated Press Monday that a broad agreement should be completed by March 1, with the final details worked out by July 1.
The talks would be extended until July 1, 2015, AFP reported, citing a Western diplomat.
The comments matched earlier word that negotiations had now turned two-track, with the sides still racing to reduce differences at the negotiating table but also working on how long to extend the talks.
"In the nuclear issue, arrogants have made their best to bring Iran to its knees but they were not able and will not be able to do so," an English-language Twitter account believed to be run by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted on Tuesday, a day after world powers failed to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran by the self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline.Netanyahu Expresses Relief at Failure of ‘Terrible’ Iran Nuclear Deal, as Tehran Hints at ‘Plan B’
The term "arrogants" is used in Iran to refer to the United States and its Western and Israeli allies. Washington cut ties with Tehran a year after the 1979 revolution that ushered in Iran's Shiite Muslim theocracy.
Iran and the six powers -- the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany -- failed on Monday for a second time this year to resolve their 12-year confrontation over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and gave themselves seven more months to overcome the deadlock.
In a second tweet, Khamenei appeared to accuse the West of meddling in Middle Eastern turmoil, saying Islamic militants had turned Arab uprisings into Muslim infighting "in line with arrogants' goals."
As today’s deadline for a deal between Iran and the international community over Tehran’s nuclear program passed without an agreement being reached, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged international powers to pursue “the right deal… to dismantle Iran’s capacity to make atomic bombs,” while expressing relief that “the terrible deal that Iran was pushing for” was not agreed upon.As Nuclear Talks End in Stalemate, Iranian Commander Threatens to ‘Conquer Palestine’
But as negotiators departed Vienna, where the talks have been taking place, they pledged to extend the talks deep into next year.
Interviewed by the BBC, Netanyahu declared: “No deal is better than a bad deal. The deal that Iran was pushing for was terrible. The deal would have left Iran with the ability to enrich uranium for an atom bomb while removing the sanctions. The right deal that is needed is to dismantle Iran’s capacity to make atomic bombs and only then dismantle the sanctions. Since that’s not in the offing, this result is better, a lot better.”
Netanyahu underlined his view that Iran has “no right to enrich” uranium.
Fars news agency, an official mouthpiece of the Iranian regime, reported that Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Commander of the IRGC, declared in Tehran that “Americans have very clearly surrendered to Iran’s might and this is obvious in their behavior in the region and in the negotiations, and the enemies’ reservations vis-a-vis Iran are completely felt.”Rouhani Hails Extension of Talks as 'Victory'
Jafari warned “that if the US and its allies dare to launch a military attack on Iran, then our war will end by conquering Palestine,” Fars said.
Jafari asserted that “the entire region is within the range of resistance groups’ missiles,” a clear reference to Lebanese Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is, along with the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad, a key Iranian ally and the beneficiary of extensive Iranian military aid.
Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday welcomed the extension of talks between his country and six world powers, and hailed it as “victorious” for Iranians.Iran Admits to 1.7 Million Child Workers
“We have neither compromised over Iran’s nuclear rights, nor will ever do so, and there is no doubt that the Iranian nuclear technology will remain functioning,” he said, according to the IRNA news agency.
Rouhani once again repeated the slogan he used during his presidential campaign that the centrifuges will never cease rotating, while the wheels of the people’s lives, too, will rotate more smoothly.
"Our nation has emerged victorious and will be victorious," emphasized Rouhani.
As negotiations over the fate of its nuclear program continue in Vienna, Iranian officials have revealed shocking new statistics about the lives of women and children under the Ayatollahs’ regime, including the fact that 1.7 million children are currently working in Iran, according to the state-run News Network TV.Apprehensions In Gulf: Nuclear Agreement With Iran Will Come At Expense Of Arab Interests
Mostafa Fayzi, head of Inspection Organization of the Tehran Municipality, revealed that the city uses children to collect the trash.
Additionally, Rahmatollah Hafezi, an official of the Tehran Municipality, acknowledged that 3,000 women sleep are forced to sleep in the streets just in Tehran alone. According to Reza Jahangiri, Deputy Director of State Welfare Organization of Tehran Municipality, the average age of these women is 17-18 years old.
According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a France-based opposition group, the Iranian regime official also acknowledged that the government has not provided any shelter for these desolate women. Hafezi, Chair of the Health and Environment Commission on the Tehran city council, announced over the weekend that the homeless population in Tehran now reaches 15,000, with some of them living in cardboard boxes.
Articles published in the Saudi press ahead of this date expressed apprehension regarding a possible agreement, on the grounds that it would increase Iran's influence at the expense of the Arab states. Many of the articles warned that the U.S. might make far-reaching concessions to Iran regarding its nuclear program, or, alternatively, would reward it for making concessions in this domain by giving it a free hand in the region, to the Arabs' detriment. Other articles directed harsh criticism at Obama for preferring to cooperate with Iran and abandon his Arab allies, and called on the Arabs to perform a strategic reassessment and seek other partners instead of the U.S. Some writers also noted that Iranian progress towards the bomb could set off a nuclear arms race in the region by compelling Arab countries to arm themselves with such weapons as well.[1]Erdogan: Women not equal to men
Articles on this topic in the Qatari press were fewer, but made similar arguments. The London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi editorialized that, whatever happens, Iran will come out the winner – since an agreement would mean recognition of Iran as a legitimate nuclear power, and even if no agreement is signed, the negotiations themselves have placed Iran on a par with the world's leading superpowers. The editorial stated further that the Arabs will find themselves surrounded by nuclear powers, forcing them to reassess their strategies. Liberal Qatari journalist 'Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari assessed that Iran will not make real concessions in its nuclear program, adding that whoever thinks this program is peaceful is naïve. He also mentioned that Iran has managed to convince the U.S. that an Iranian fatwa banning nuclear weapons exists, though this fatwa is in fact entirely fictional.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan set off a new controversy on Monday, declaring that women are not equal to men and accusing feminists of not understanding the special status that Islam attributes to mothers.Britain said to foil 40 terror plots since 7/7 attack
Addressing a meeting in Istanbul on women and justice, Erdogan said men and women are created differently, that women cannot be expected to undertake the same work as men, and that mothers enjoy a high position that only they can reach.
“You cannot put women and men on an equal footing,” Erdogan said. “It is against nature. They were created differently. Their nature is different. Their constitution is different.”
Home Secretary Theresa May said the advance of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq had given “energy and a renewed sense of purpose” to Islamic radicals in Britain, creating a threat more serious “than at any time before or since 9/11.”
She said that British authorities have foiled 40 terrorist plots since the July 2005 London transit bombings, which killed 52 people. In August, Britain raised its threat level from “substantial” to “severe,” indicating an attack is highly likely.
May said that a new counterterrorism bill, to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday, will give police and border guards the power to seize passports and tickets from people suspected of planning to travel abroad for terrorist purposes.
Authorities say more than 500 Britons have traveled to fight in Syria. May said some fighters would be temporarily barred from returning to ensure “you will only be allowed to come home on our terms.”
