Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Israeli home demolitions deter Palestinian terrorism, study finds
Israeli house demolitions effectively decrease terrorist attacks, according to a new study.Eugene Kontorovich: Resolution 242 Revisited: New Evidence on the Required Scope of Israeli Withdrawal
The study, “Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions,” to be published in the January issue of the Journal of Politics, found that Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinian terrorists causes “an immediate, significant decrease in the number of suicide attacks.”
The study examines data on punitive house demolitions between 2000 and 2005, and precautionary demolitions — those based on the location of a house but unrelated to the identity of the house’s owner — from 2004 to 2005. The authors found that punitive house demolitions during that time led to “fewer suicide attacks in the month following,” while precautionary demolitions caused “a significant increase in the number of suicide attacks.”
Co-authored by researchers at Northwestern University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the study runs contrary to the widely held belief that punitive house demolitions do not dissuade would-be terrorists.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed in November 1967, in the wake of the Six Day War, is widely regarded as among the most important ever. But it’s meaning is also the most debated. The resolution famously called for “Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” The meaning of this provision – in particular, the extent of the required withdrawal - has been contested ever since.Eugene Kontorovich: The legitimacy of Israel’s nation-state bill (I): comparative constitutionalism
This article presents new evidence on the resolution’s meaning – an issue that has gained new relevance amidst current diplomatic efforts for a Security Council resolution that could effectively supersede 242. The article does not engage all the myriad disputes and questions about the resolution, nor aim at a comprehensive evaluation of it. Rather, it adds two important but previously unappreciated dimensions that bear on how 242 should be read.
First, the article examines the meaning of 242’s withdrawal provision by comparing it to all other such territorial withdrawal demands issued by the Security Council. It finds that the language of 242 differs notably from the other 18 distinct territorial withdrawal demands, all of which explicitly require a complete withdraw from the territory in question. An examination of these resolutions supports the view that 242’s unusual wording was a meaningful and substantive drafting choice.
Second, the article examines contemporaneous understandings in the United Nations about the rules concerning territorial. Discussions in the International Law Commission, involving the leading international law jurists of the post-WWII era, demonstrates that it was generally agreed that the U.N. Charter introduced a new prohibition on territorial changes as a result of war, a principle referred to in the preamble of 242. Yet the same discussions also make clear that this rule was understood to have significant limitations and exceptions. (h/t billposer)
These objections do not hold water. For one, ensuring Israel’s status as a Jewish nation state is a goal expressly endorsed by the same critics, when it comes to pressuring Israel into diplomatic concessions. Second, the law is far from unusual by Western standards: it actually does far less to recognize Jewish nationhood or religion than provisions common in other democratic constitutions. This post will consider the general parameters of the legislation in comparison to constitutional provisions of other Western democracies. Tomorrow, a second post will relate the law to the “two state solution.”
The nation state bills mostly constitutionalize the national anthem, symbols, holidays, and so forth. There is nothing racist, or even unusual, about having national or religious character reflected in constitutional commitments, as research by my colleagues at the Kohelet Policy Forum demonstrates. Seven EU states have constitutional “nationhood” provisions, which typically speak of the state as being the national home and locus of self-determination for the country’s majority ethnic group. This is even the case in places like the Baltics, with large and alienated minority populations.
UNRWA Demands Another $414 Million for 'Refugees of Palestine'
UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) in a recent donation conference this week demanded an additional $414 million in aid for "Palestinian refugees living in occupied Palestinian territories."Replacement Theory: The Administration’s Crazy New Middle East Illusion
"The last year signified an escalation in the violent conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories that brought yet more loss of life which cannot be compensated," said Ellis. "2014 was particularly destructive for Palestinians living under occupation who still suffer from the theft of their homes, the development of their lives, and in many cases their lives."
The massive funding Ellis demanded, which comes after world donors pledged $5.4 billion, was meant for the over 800,000 "refugees" in Gaza who she claimed don't have adequate nutrition, adding that her group supplies financial aid, health and education services, as well as psychological treatment.
Indeed, that isn't all UNRWA supplied in Gaza - during the last operation initiated by Hamas's escalation of terror attacks UNRWA facilities were used on numerous occasions to store weapons and attack the IDF. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
The Obama administration’s latest approach to the Middle East may be its most dangerous yet, choosing terror-sponsor Iran over longtime Arab allies. And that’s on top of the president’s seeming desperation to strike a nuclear deal at any cost. What is going on?How Iraq Became a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Right now, however, the Obama administration is effectively granting Iran the regional empire it has striven to build for 35 years. It is doing so based on a naïve understanding of Iran’s goals, which do not respect borders or boundaries. It is, according to Singh, “a Faustian bargain with Iran against [ISIS] that leaves unaddressed Tehran’s own contributions to regional instability.” Iran is not interested in existing under the aegis of a regional Pax Americana, acting as the United States’ Middle Eastern ally and enforcer. It will take what it can get through the administration’s miscalculations and America’s waning power and influence in the Middle East, and then press for further gains when the time is right. Placing Israel on par with Iran, eliminating the Jewish state’s hard-won and vital edge over its enemies, will not satisfy Iran; instead, it will make Israel a more tempting target. The same fate awaits America’s other regional allies, including the Gulf states, whose fall to Iran would turn the Islamic Republic into an energy superpower. In the end, Iran will have exploited the Obama administration’s fear and lack of will in order to establish Khomeini’s dream of a Shi’a Islamist empire.
Moreover, Iran’s role in Iraq is clearly part of its desire—tracing back to the regime’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini—to spread its ideology throughout the Shia population of the Middle East. What this means is that, while the new sectarian military formation being developed by the Iranians in Iraq is likely to prove sufficient to stem the advance of the overstretched I.S. forces, they are also part of Tehran’s larger regional strategy to produce a contiguous line of pro-Iran states between the Iran-Iraq border and the Mediterranean Sea.After Stabbing Terror, Determined Shoppers Return to Israel’s Rami Levy Supermarket
The fragmentation of Iraq and Syria may well thwart that ambition. But Iran has shown that its practice of creating and utilizing proxy political and military forces as a key instrument of policy is sufficient to defend its own interests—if not always to entirely defeat or destroy its Sunni enemies. The Quds Force is now proving this once again in Iraq.
For the U.S. and its allies, this may represent a short-term advantage, but it is a long-term threat. The Iranian proxy militias, quite naturally, also embrace Iran’s ideology, which is intensely anti-American, anti-Western, and indeed, anti-Semitic. They parrot, for example, Iran’s official propaganda line, according to which the I.S. is supposedly a creation of “the Great Satan” (i.e., the United States) and/or the Jews.
Nor does the eventual creation, or attempt to create, an Iranian sphere of influence across the Middle East bode well for American or Western interests. However effective they may be in fighting the I.S., Iran’s proxy militias in Iraq are part of this agenda and are helping Iran pursue it.
Thanks to current Western policy, this time they are doing it with Western air support.
In the wine aisle, Edda Weisberg of Ma’aleh Adumim was shopping with her daughter, who is “a little nervous,” Weisberg said, “but I told her we have to keep going.”New York Assemblyman Compares Attack at Chabad HQ to Jerusalem Synagogue Atrocity, as Stabbing Victim’s Condition Improves
This push to “keep going” echoed among all the shoppers who spoke to JNS.org on the night of Dec. 4 at the supermarket close to the bustling metropolis of Ma’aleh Adumim, which is home to about 45,000 Israelis. There’s a modern mall and a new music conservatory, and the town is accessible by just a 25-minute bus ride from downtown Jerusalem.
“We’re not afraid at all,” said Chen Gavra-Refaeli of the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood of Jerusalem, who was selecting lemons in the produce section. “We believe that our enemies want us to stay away, that they want to shut us down, and we can’t let them,” she said.
In fact, some shoppers actually expressed a greater sense of security than before.
“After yesterday we are just a little more careful than we would have been, more alert to our surroundings,” Rivkah Lambert Adler of Ma’aleh Adumim said as she loaded her groceries on the conveyor belt, “but it also never occurred to us not to come.”
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind compared today’s attack to last month’s atrocity at a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem, which claimed the lives of four Jewish worshippers and an Israeli Druze policeman.Oddly reluctant to cry ‘hate crime’
“This incident is reminiscent of Har Nof,” Hikind said, adding that “Jewish communities around the world know what 770 (a popular abbreviation of Chabad’s address at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn) represents.”
Media accounts near-universally mentioned that the knife-wielding suspect reportedly shouted “I want to kill the Jew!” and “Kill the Jews!”IsraellyCool: The Brooklyn Stabbing: Things We Won’t See Happen
But some stories feature the police saying he may have said only, “I will kill all of you” — though, again, in a synagogue, that’s still pretty telling.
Remarkably, the New York Times account didn’t even see fit to mention any “kill the Jew” statements, though it did link to a Chabad.org article noting that “according to witnesses, the perpetrator was heard repeatedly saying: ‘Kill the Jews!’”
Yet the Times only reports the part caught on video where the suspect tells worshipers, “You want me to kill you.”
And initial reports treated it as a crime with no known motive. Headlines read: “Police Shoot, Kill Stabbing Suspect at Brooklyn Jewish Center,” “NYPD shoot, kill man who stabbed rabbinical student in synagogue,” “Police kill knife-wielding man in NY synagogue.”
That the suspect may have yelled stuff about killing Jews wasn’t the focus of any articles I found.
Now here’s a list of what we won’t see happen:An Interview with Israel’s Most Wanted Man, Rabbi Yehuda Glick
- State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki calling for an inquiry into why live bullets were used.
- Backwards ambiguous headlines
- A call for both sides to exercise restraint while assigning equal blame
- An emergency UN session
- Sad pictures of the attacker’s family
- An article from The New York Times downplaying the killer’s actions [see above]
Even with the additional scrutiny police in America are under lately thanks to the whole Ferguson thing, none of these things will happen. Because Israel is special.
It’s all part of the long list of things other countries can do without blinking an eye, but when Israel does it, receives worldwide condemnation. Just today the UK stripped a man of citizenship for terror ties. When Israel did the same thing, it’s a war crime.
After spending 25 days in Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Glick is now undergoing physical therapy in Jerusalem, which is why he is not staying at his home in the West Bank settlement of Otniel, south of Hebron. At the age of 49, he has eight children, four grandchildren, and another grandchild on the way. Nine surgeries, hundreds of stitches, and damage to his lungs and intestines have left him bedridden for now. The large incision in his stomach is technically open, as his wounds are still seeping. He can barely walk or stand, and his voice is little more than a whisper. “Four bullets. Not one of them touched my heart,” he said. “Not one of them touched any big blood vessel. Not one of them touched any neurological part of my body. Not any nerve. So, I was very lucky … thank God. Many, many thousands of prayers and many, many miracles.”Elliott Abrams: Why the stories about sanctioning Israel?
But if the goal of Glick’s shooter was to silence the Temple Mount movement he leads, his near-assassination may have had the opposite effect. His brush with death seems to have strengthened his resolve, and Glick said that his community is more motivated than ever to fight for Jewish prayer at Judaism’s holiest site. “Three hundred people came to the conference that evening, and later that night they understood that their obligation has been doubled and tripled,” said Glick, who makes a living by leading Jewish tours of the Temple Mount. “I’m going to continue bringing Jews to the Temple Mount.”
At first glance this is all incomprehensible. Congress would never permit such sanctions against Israel and would act to block them. Moreover, Israel is about to enter an election period and such moves are always suspended or delayed until a new government is formed.Non-intervention with a wink
So what could possibly be the administration's goal in "mulling" sanctions and seeing such stories appear in the press?
Simple: giving a signal to Europe. The debate is hot and heavy in Europe right now about boycotts, divestment, sanctions, and recognition of a Palestinian state. There is no way for the administration to intervene in that debate on the anti-Israel side -- except these news stories suggesting how angry it is at the government of Israel. That support for Israel in Congress means no such sanctions are possible would not deter the Europeans; in fact it would spur them on to do what they might believe the president would do if he only could get past the "Israel lobby."
In essence, Obama is expanding and empowering the linkage principle, and is doing so while formulating an equation in which he has positioned the improvement of America's status and clout as a superpower as a derivative of Israeli policies, and the extent to which those take into account American interests and goals, as opposed to strictly reflecting Israel's immediate security needs and constraints.Ya’alon: After Obama, a West Bank construction boom
By doing so the president has also indicated, with extra emphasis, that he intends to play an especially active foreign policy role, even in the twilight of his presidency, and will seek to forge a new diplomatic horizon on the Palestinian front after Israel holds its elections.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Israeli students Tuesday that although the US has been holding Israel back in some aspects of settlement construction, the Jewish population in the West Bank has been growing apace, and a future Washington administration could enable even more expansion.Palestinian Unilateralism is Latest Manifestation of Palestinian Rejectionism
“I hope that it is temporary, because at the moment there is a certain government in the US, the US is laying down the rules” regarding construction in the West Bank, Ya’alon said in a recording obtained by Army Radio. “That administration won’t remain forever and I hope it will be temporary.”
Ya’alon made the comments during a closed-door meeting with students at the Makor Haim yeshiva high school in the West Bank and was apparently unaware that the meeting was being recorded. He has had several run-ins with the Obama administration over the years and received the cold shoulder from several top officials during a recent visit to Washington.
Aside from the fact that the Palestinians do not possess even the basic requirements for statehood, the United States, Canada and the EU oppose the PA’s unilateral efforts because they understand that in going to the UN and in seeking non-binding resolutions in various governing bodies, the Palestinian leadership is only trying to delegitimize Israel in international arenas, and procure symbolic recognitions which are counterproductive and which only impede efforts to support a comprehensive final resolution to the conflict. Canada is on the right side of history by condemning, instead of championing, repeated Palestinian efforts to skirt negotiations with Israel, forestall the conflict, and evade recognizing Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.Khaled Abu Toameh: Analysis: Will Abbas apply for full membership in ICC despite US opposition?
On a fundamental level, the PA’s efforts represent a bona fide breach of international law and sets a dangerous precedent for future international agreements. For example, if Palestinians can abrogate the Oslo Accords unilaterally, what is the value of international agreements, especially sensitive ones that govern matters pertaining to defensible borders? Furthermore, how can Israel be expected to put any stock in any future negotiations if it can easily be annulled by simple Palestinian frustrations?
A public opinion poll published on Monday by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion showed that 83 percent of the Palestinians support going to the ICC to file charges against Israeli political and military officials.Amb. Alan Baker: Palestinian Participation in the “Assembly of States Parties to the ICC Statute”
However, there are two reasons why Abbas remains reluctant to embark on such a risky undertaking.
First, he has come under immense pressure from the US administration to refrain from such a move, out of fear that it would destroy any chance of reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
Second, Abbas is afraid that any move at the ICC could serve as a boomerang and lead to a situation where Palestinians might also face war crime charges.
Recently, an Israeli legal advocacy group, Shurat Hadin, filed a lawsuit against Abbas at the ICC in which it held him responsible for rockets fired at Israeli targets by Fatah members during the last war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is also likely to face war crime charges for its role in firing rockets at Israeli targets and the killing of Palestinians.
As explained by the President of the Assembly, the Palestinian participation is based on Rule 94 of the Assembly’s rules of procedure which enable the president, at the beginning of a session, to invite “states” which are not parties to the Rome Statute, to attend the proceedings.Kerry to hold emergency meeting with Netanyahu ahead of Palestinian push at UN
In this context, interestingly enough, the fact that the president of the Assembly has attributed to the PLO delegation the status of a “state,” for the purposes of rule 94, would appear to raise legal issues in light of the fact that by all accepted international criteria, there exists no Palestinian state, and the 2012 UN General Assembly Palestinian upgrade resolution did not establish a Palestinian state.
As such, the invitation to the Palestinian delegation to take part in the meeting of the Assembly of States Parties can be seen to be of doubtful legal veracity.
It is clearly politically motivated as a further attempt by the Palestinians to politicize the International Criminal Court in direct contravention of the aims of its founding fathers and the very terms of its Statute, according to which the court should be an independent judicial institution.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will hold an emergency meeting in Rome on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the anticipated pre- Christmas United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution setting a final deadline for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.Ireland to Accept Motion to Recognize Palestinian State
Palestinians want to see Israel leave the West Bank and east Jerusalem within two years, but a final time table for the resolution has not been set.
If the Security Council rejects the resolution, then on that same day Palestinians will join the International Criminal Court by signing the Rome Statute and other relevant documents, Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat told journalists at a Christmas dinner in Bethlehem on Tuesday night.
“We are hoping to achieve [a Security Council] resolution before the end of this month, before Christmas,” Erekat said.
He added he does not believe that the resolution would be vetoed by any of the five members of the 15-nation Security Council that have the power to do so.
The Irish government will accept a motion proposed by the opposition Sinn Fein party on Tuesday that asks the country’s parliament to recognize a Palestinian state. The decision comes after the upper house of Ireland’s legislature passed a motion in October calling for such recognition.Expert: Election Won’t Change Major Israeli Policies
The motion asks the government to “officially recognize the State of Palestine, on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital, as established in UN resolutions, as a further positive contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Ireland is the latest in a string of European nations taking this step. The French National Assembly voted 339-151 in favor of urging its government to recognize a Palestinian state last week. The Danish government will also vote on the issue in early January, while similar votes took place in the parliaments of Great Britain, Ireland, and Spain. One nation, Sweden, has officially recognized Palestinian statehood, while votes by the other countries have been symbolic. A vote by the European Parliament on the recognition of a Palestinian state is expected in mid-December.
The election of a new Prime Minister in March will not change Israel’s stance on major foreign policy issues, according to an analysis written for The New York Times by Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, yesterday.Swiss Panel Rules Israel Owes Iran up to $100 Million in Compensation
The top priority is — and will be for the foreseeable future — preventing Iran from becoming a threshold nuclear weapon’s power. To achieve this, Israel will also need to continue to sound the alarm about the potential for an ill-advised deal between Iran and the so-called P5-plus-1 countries (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany). This has been a source of tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. …
Nor is it likely that the elections will change the prospects for Palestinian-Israeli peace. The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas appears to have decided to pursue the case for Palestinian statehood in international forums rather than through negotiations with Israel. Abbas’ support for the recent outbreak of violence in Jerusalem has also prompted much of the Israeli political spectrum to sour on further talks with him.
A Swiss panel of arbitrators has ruled that Israel should compensate the Iranian regime between $50 and 100 million for oil the remained in a pipeline in the Arava that both countries built in a joint project before the Islamic revolution in 1979.PreOccupied Territory: Looks Like My Legacy Is People Arguing About My Legacy By Yitzhak Rabin (satire)
The Marker newspaper reported that the decision, which is preliminary and subject to further hearings, was handed down a year ago but never was published. More claims are expected both from Israel and Iran before a final ruling is declared.
Iran, under the Shah, and Israel had close trade relations before the revolution, when the new regime stopped shipping Iranian oil that had been shipped Eilat and pumped through the Iran Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline. Once in Ashkelon, the oil was loaded on to ships headed for Europe.
Israel took possession of 800,000 tons of oil that remained in the pipeline after Iran cut off relations with Israel following the revolution in 1979.
Chief among those who claim to hold my legacy are various political allies and associates. Naturally, since my career spanned many years, those alliances and associations shifted a number of times, and therefore my “authentic” legacy remains elusive. Political exigencies sometimes trump ideological considerations, and the actors in the drama often themselves remain unaware of where the differences between the two lie. What I’m saying is, it’s no surprise that people are arguing about what I was all about.Jordanian minister defends gas deal with Israel
There are also members of ideological camps at odds with what they think I represented, most notably the groups opposed to the entire Oslo framework and the relinquishing of control over portions of Judea and Samaria. Some of these partisans trumpet statements of mine that “there will never be a Palestinian state” and other pieces of rhetoric. Of course I said those things. I also said lots of other things that contradict one another. It’s called politics. It’s called life. A guy is allowed to change his mind as many times as he sees fit. But that also means people with axes to grind co-opting my words and a muddling of what I would most want to impart to the next generation, which, let’s face it, looks a heck of a lot like a perpetual squabble over what I would most want to impart to the next generation.
This is hardly a new phenomenon, and it reveals more about the egos and assumptions of the participants in it than it does about my legacy per se, which is a good thing: my legacy apparently involves talk of my legacy being invoked in support of myriad mutually exclusive worldviews.
Hey, Jesus? I feel you, bro.
Facing down growing domestic opposition to a $15 billion natural gas deal with Israel, Jordan’s Energy Minister Mohammed Hamed defended the proposal in parliament Tuesday ahead of a vote.PA says Palestinian minister killed in clashes with IDF; army sources say he died of heart attack
Hamed warned lawmakers that without the agreement, Jordan’s energy needs could hold the country hostage to an unforeseen group or government in the future.
Hamed’s address comes as a grassroots “Say No to Natural Gas Deal with Israel” campaign has been gaining traction in recent weeks, with 79 out of 150 Jordanian parliamentarians opposing the deal in protest over recent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in East Jerusalem, where Jordan used to hold sway.
A Palestinian Authority minister died shortly after an altercation with Israeli security forces during a protest on Wednesday in the West Bank.Unveiling Ziad Abu Ein the Terrorist
Ziad Abu Ein, 55, a PA minister without portfolio, was taking part in a protest against Israeli settlements when he was involved in clashes with around 30 IDF troops and border police, a Reuters witness said.
According to IDF sources, the military initially believed that his death was the result of a heart attack. Officially, however, the IDF said that it was still investigating the incident.
Video footage shows Abu Ein being confronted by a Border Policemen who at one point grasped him by the neck and briefly held him with one hand. Minutes later the minister began to look faint and fell to the ground clasping his chest. He died on his way to a hospital.
According to the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency and AFP, Abu Ein served as the head of the PA Committee against the Separation Wall and Settlements.‘PA security coordination with Israel called off after official’s death’
Significantly, both sources added that Abu Ein was a member of Abbas's Fatah movement's Revolutionary Council, which is also known as the Abu Nidal Organization - a recognized terrorist organization in the US for over 20 years.
After a string of bloody terror attacks conducted worldwide in the mid 1980s, the Revolutionary Council was labeled as the world's most dangerous terrorist organization according to the Council on Foreign Relations website. It remains on the US State Department's official list of foreign terrorist organizations, although it is thought to be largely inactive at present.
And Abu Ein's terrorist past is not just a matter of guilt by association.
Abu Ein himself was handed a life sentence in Israel in 1982 after being extradited from the US in 1981 over the murder of two Israelis in Tiberias in 1979. Abu Ein planted the explosives which killed the two - Boaz Lahav and David Lankri.
But he never served his life sentence over the callous murders - he was released in the Ahmed Jibril prisoner swap deal in 1985, just three years later.
Former Preventive Security Force head Jibril Rajoub said the PA had no choice but to respond given that Israel had “crossed a red line.”New Palestinian Superhero “Gaza Man” Fights the Jews
He said the cessation of security coordination was open-ended. The PA will also now immediately apply for membership in international organizations, Rajoub said, referring to the dozens of United Nations and other forums which the PA has long threatened to seek to join — unilateral moves opposed by Israel.
The PA offered no official confirmation of Rajoub’s claim.
This cartoon character will apparently premiere in a new animated TV series. The activists behind the superhero character called manufacturers and merchants to produce and sell “Gaza Man” action figures. They also asked writers to integrate this character in their stories.Former U.N. Sec.-Gen. Boutros Boutros-Ghali: Stability in Egypt Trumps Freedom of Expression
Algerian activist and Palestinian supporter Sheikh Ben Khalifa wrote on his blog:
“Our children are affected and imitate characters like Spiderman, Superman, Batman and other heroes who are listed on the screen and do extraordinary things. Now our children and the world are facing a new model of a hero, a hero who can do anything and not have to use wings or other abilities to perform miracles. He has the faith and trust that God can do anything.”
Ben Khalifa linked the new cartoon character to the conflict with Israel and said:
“The continuing aggression on the Gaza Strip emphasized this legendary-realistic model – the model of “Gaza Man”, a man from Gaza who is not afraid of the coward Zionists.”
Hamas has been feeding Gaza’s youth with similar religious propaganda for years. The terrorist group often indoctrinates children with cartoon characters to encourage them to become terrorists, as well as hosting summer camps that feature advanced combat training.
UN: Possible Sanctions Breach as Iran Quds Chief Spotted in Iraq
United Nations sanctions monitors have said photographs taken inside Iraq appear to confirm that the head of Iran's elite military Quds Force, one of Iran's most powerful people, has been in the country in violation of a U.N. travel ban.MEMRI: Islamic State (ISIS) Releases Pamphlet On Female Slaves
Qassem Soleimani, chief of the force which is an overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards, has been subject to an international travel ban and asset freeze by the U.N. Security Council since 2007.
An Iranian general said in September that Soleimani was in Iran's western neighbor and was playing a critical role in the fight against Sunni Islamic State militants.
A seven-page report by the U.N. Panel of Experts on Iran, seen by Reuters on Monday, said Soleimani "has been photographed and videoed on a number of occasions, allegedly in Iraq."
"One photograph reportedly shows him near the city of Amerli in northern Iraq after Iraqi forces re-took the city from ISIL (an acronym often used for Islamic State)," it said. The report included a photo purporting to be of Soleimani in Iraq.
The Research and Fatwa Department of the Islamic State (ISIS) has released a pamphlet on the topic of female captives and slaves. The pamphlet, which is dated Muharram 1436 (October/November 2014) and was printed by ISIS's publishing house, Al-Himma Library, is titled Su'al wa-Jawab fi al-Sabi wa-Riqab ("Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and Slaves"). It was presumably released in response to the uproar caused by the many reports this summer that ISIS had taken Yazidi girls and women as sex slaves. Written in the form of questions and answers, it clarifies the position of Islamic law (as ISIS interprets it) on various relevant issues, and states, among other things, that it is permissible to have sexual intercourse with non-Muslim slaves, including young girls, and that it is also permitted to beat them and trade in them.ISIS Stones Man on Suspicion of Sodomy
The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization that has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria continues in its execution of Muslim "heretics" who left the religion and others who don't follow Islam, and is executing those suspected of sodomy - homosexuality - as well.Blood and production value: Islamic State’s pricey video
A website identified with ISIS published photographs documenting the stoning of a man who according to the announcement "did acts of the people of Lot," a reference to the Biblical figure who lived in Sodom.
The punishment for the crime according to Islam is stoning, and as the pictures documented the man was thrown off of a high building and then pelted with rocks from above. Other Muslim opinions hold that the crime holds the punishment of being burned to death, but apparently the ISIS terrorists didn't follow that opinion.
Analysts say that a video released by the Islamic State group last month, showing the beheading of 22 Syrian soldiers, took between four and six hours to film, and cost an estimated $200,000.Pakistani Opinion: Israel is the Next Superpower
The propaganda video, released on November 16 and called “Though the Unbelievers Despise It,” shows the simultaneous executions of the Syrian soldiers as well as the beheading of US aid worker and hostage Peter (Abdul Rahman) Kassig.
The US-based terrorism research organization TRAC (Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium) and a UK-based counter-extremism think tank Quilliam analyzed the production techniques used to make the video in an effort to identify victims and their killers and to locate the exact location of the brutal killings.
Noor cites Muslim scholars, such as Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi and Imam Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, who believe that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of Israel, is in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
She quotes Prof. Khaleel Mohammed, Islamic Law scholar of the San Diego State University, as translating Surah 5, Verse 21 of the Koran, thus: “Moses said: O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers.” Mohammed here understands “written” to mean this is the final word from God on the subject, Noor adds.
Israel's strategic position has been enhanced by the overthrow of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, a political change that has further isolated the Hamas-led Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, Noor expounded. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Shi'ite movement of Hezbollah has come under increasing military and political pressure after sending combatants to Syria to support the Assad regime in Syria.
Israel is benefiting from the Sunni-Shi'ite divisions ripping apart the Islamic world, claims Noor, and cites an anlysis that states: “The twin crises in Syria and Egypt have marked the emergence of a new superpower coalition in the Middle East, the odd couple alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia, with Jordan serving as an intermediary and the Persian Gulf oil sheikdoms playing a supporting role."
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