02/09 Links Pt1: Is Jordan’s response to ISIS “proportionate”?; Fatah: Martyrdom is our destiny

From Ian:

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Is Jordan’s response to ISIS “proportionate”? (asks no one)

Hey, remember when Hamas was lobbing thousands of missiles at Israeli cities, trying to kidnap people, and killing when they got lucky?
Of course you remember it. It has happened every couple of years since Hamas took over Gaza.
And before that, the Palestinians strapped bombs on their loved ones and sent them to blow up restaurants, supermarkets, buses, and anything else they could sneak into.
And before that ….
But always the question is whether Israel’s response is proportionate,
ISIS just killed a Jordanian pilot, brutally by setting him on fire. No justification, but one person.
Jordan is now bombing the hell out of ISIS positions, including in cities and civilian areas, certainly killing civilians.
And has vowed to continue Till we run ‘out of fuel and bullets’:

Abbas’ Fatah: “Martyrdom-death is a destiny ‎we assume willingly and serenely”‎

Some of those who Fatah has exalted as "Martyrs" in recent months and whom the movement honored in its statement with its "highest praise" and "appreciation" are the following terrorists, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch:
The synagogue murderers Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal murdered 4 worshippers and a policeman in a Jerusalem synagogue (Nov. 18, 2014).
Fatah posted a picture of the graves of the two terrorists on its official Facebook page, with the text: "This is the place of eternal rest of Martyrs Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal."
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shaloudi murdered a three-month-old baby and a young woman, when he intentionally drove his car into people waiting for a train.
Fatah posted an obituary for the murderer on its official Facebook page, calling him "heroic Martyr."
Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, killing 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70. Fatah organized a tournament named after her, and Fatah-run Awdah TV broadcast at length from a party commemorating the terrorist, referring to her as "Martyr" and stating that "we renew the promise to her and its fulfillment... [she] will remain a path for the next generations to follow."

Abbas book tying Nazism to Zionism to be translated to Hebrew

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's 1984 book linking Nazism to Zionism, as part of his pursuit of a doctorate degree at a Moscow institution, is set to be translated into Hebrew, Walla! news reported Monday.
The work, titled The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism was first released in Jordan and has, since then, seen light in academic libraries across the globe - particularly in Arab-speaking nations - and is accessible on the PA's official website.
Spanning 252 pages and 16-chapters, Abbas's published work claims that Nazi and Zionist ideologies aligned. He outlined their cooperative relationship and went as far as to say that David Ben-Gurion and Adolf Hitler were "good friends."
Abbas's text accuses the Zionist movement of participating in the Holocaust, cooperating with the Third Reich, and actively foiling plots to rescue Jews, their guiding motive being the formation of a national state in "Palestine."

Hamas MP: Jewish treachery and conspiracies led to the Holocaust

Jewish "conspiracies and treachery" led to the Holocaust, a Hamas MP said in a recent speech translated by MEMRI on Monday.
In a speech aired on Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV on January 23, Hamas MP Marwan Abu Ras charged that Germany supports Israel to the detriment of the Palestinians in order to "to make amends for its historical sin toward the Jews."
He attacked Germany and the West for arming Israel at Hamas's expense.
"How is it our fault? What did we have to do with your burning of the Jews? Were the Jews burned for no fault of their own?" he queried.
"Their conspiracies and treachery are what led to their being burned. Their deception and plots against humanity led to their being burned. They conspired against all people - even against people who were benevolent toward them," he said.

UN-acceptable bias as anti-Israel fanatic is bounced from probe

The goal of the United Nations Human Rights Council was clear when the panel named William Schabas to lead its inquiry into the summer’s Hamas-Israel Gaza fighting: Hang the Jewish state.
Schabas was just the man for the job. His record included wishing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would wind up “within the dock of the International Criminal Court.”
He had also asked, “Why are we going after the president of Sudan for Darfur and not the president of Israel for Gaza?”
Regardless of Schabas’ extreme views — actually because of them — the council tasked him with finding “the crimes perpetrated” by Israel in a conflict that had been generated by Hamas.
Specifically, by the rockets Hamas rained indiscriminately on Israelis from above and the tunnels it dug to kidnap them from below.

Did the Obama Administration lie about Netanyahu?

The story of Netanyahu’s perfidy grew to the extent that the New York Times reported, incorrectly, that Netanyahu accepted the invitation before the White House had been informed of it. The Times then issue the following correction. “An earlier version of this article misstated when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel accepted Speaker John A. Boehner’s invitation to address Congress. He accepted after the administration had been informed of the invitation, not before.”
This correction has circulated in conservative and pro-Israel circles, but doesn’t seem to have led to any followup, or any investigation by those who initially reported the opposite. Were senior White House aides exaggerating the story, or did the Times get caught up in its own anti-Netanyahu narrative? Or perhaps the Times was failing to distinguish between Netanyahu’s formal acceptance after the White House had been notified, and White House anger that the details of the visit had been worked out before notification to the White House, meaning that Netanyahu was planning to accept the invitation before the White House knew about it.
All this raises the issue of why the Obama Administration chose to turn this incident into a diplomatic brouhaha. On the one hand, a foreign leader planning a visit without prior coordination with the State Department is surely unusual. On the other hand, over at American Thinker, Ed Lasky notes that a visit like this is not exactly unprecedented: “In 2011, Boehner sent a notice to the WH stating his intention to invite Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress. The White House never responded (spite? incompetence?) and Boehner proceeded to extend the invitation to Netanyahu. Netanyahu accepted the invitation and spoke. The White House did not express any outrage in 2011.” The invitation letter, meanwhile, said the invitation was “on behalf of the the bipartisan leadership of the US House and US Senate”, suggesting that the Israelis may have been misinformed regarding the extent to which the Democratic Congressional leadership was on board (and if they were on board, surely the White House would have known about it). (h/t Yoel)

Which should Israel fear most – Obama’s temper or Iran’s nukes?

The now-open conflict between the Obama administration and Bibi Netanyahu has little to do with Obama’s hurt feelings or a breach of protocol, though it is portrayed that way by the White House, many Democrats, and increasingly, weak-kneed supporters of Israel who worry that getting Barack Obama angry would be the worst thing of all.
Think about that — major pro-Israel advocates are scared to death of Barack Obama’s temper and feelings, rather than terms of what is emerging as a disastrous deal that puts Israel in mortal danger and elevates the Mullah-regime to near-superpower status.
When even the Washington Post Editorial Board comes out against the emerging deal and the way in which Obama plans to implement it, one has to wonder why we are so scared of Obama’s personal pique.
In particular, Democrats have a choice, but it’s not Bibi versus Barack:
"Some Democrats, like John Lewis, are boycotting a Netanyahu appearance because they perceive an insult to Obama.
Seriously, Iran is about to go nuke, as it develops nuclear capable missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and John Lewis, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are worried about Obama’s alleged hurt feelings and pride?
Democrats have a choice, but it’s not Bibi versus Barack. It’s Barack versus the best interests of the American people"

Obama’s Mistaken Assumptions About Israel and Peace

The American Heritage dictionary defines “victory” as the defeat of an enemy or triumph in a struggle against difficulties. “Peace,” on the other hand, is characterized by the absence of hostilities, or alternatively, a treaty to end a conflict that results in public security and order.
These two definitions do not necessarily conform to one another, especially in the super-charged atmosphere of hatred, hubris, and religious fundamentalism that defines today’s Middle Eastern caustic political scenario. The Palestinian Authority for its part, has repeatedly cited Israeli intransigence as the sole reason for the failure to achieve a settlement. This argument has been accepted as valid by the Obama Administration, which is eagerly anticipating the upcoming Israeli elections, in the hope that a new left wing labor administration will be able to make the necessary “concessions” in the name of peace.
Left unsaid is the fact that on at least three prior occasions Israel offered the Palestinians a settlement giving them almost everything they were, in theory, asking for, only to be re-buffed. The Palestinian response has been to unleash the previous two intifadas; the objective of which, was to sway world opinion to their plight. In this regard, they have achieved a great deal of success as manifested by Israel’s escalating isolation in the international community, the mushroom growth of the BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement), and the support among all too many American Jews for a two-state solution at ANY price.

V15 Campaign’s Defense is Wrong: Its Positions More Radical than PA

Even before publicly launching V15, in its 2014 Annual Report, OneVoice described its dedication to “peaceful solutions in the Middle East” as promoting “popular resistance, state-building, and the Arab Peace Initiative, while advocating for an end to the conflict and a two-state solution along the 1967 borders.”
But the majority of Israelis vehemently reject OneVoice’s understanding of what security means for Israel. Israelis don’t want “a two-state solution along the 1967″ lines. Even the Palestinian Authority concedes there will be land swaps to account for large population blocs ensconced in areas within or outside those Armistice lines. In other words, what OneVoice’s political “partner” (it’s spelled puppet) wants is to give away all of Judea, all of Samaria as well as East Jerusalem, including Har Habayit and the Kotel.
So the OneVoice plan for carving up Israel is even more extreme than what the Palestinian Authority demands. Hamas rejects the notion of any land swaps, it insists that the borders of a Palestinian State follow the so-called Green Line – the same position as OneVoice.

Who is OneVoice founder Daniel Lubetzky?

Daniel Lubetzky, the Mexican-American billionaire who founded the OneVoice movement, which has branches in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and London, is also the person behind the Victory 2015 campaign, which is working to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming election and which recently joined up with OneVoice.
Lubetzky, 47, is a businessman and social activist who said several years ago that he believes that OneVoice, the organization he founded, will help make Middle East peace deal a reality. Members of the organization include well-known personalities from around the world.
As part of his work with OneVoice, Lubetzky has traveled to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. His meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and with his colleagues -- billionaire S. Daniel Abraham, businessman Alon Kastiel and Uri Weiss -- was publicized on Israeli and Palestinian websites and on Facebook.
According to OneVoice's website, Lubetzky established a business called PeaceWorks Inc. in 1994, which works to encourage economic cooperation in conflict areas by producing, packaging and distributing natural foods.
Lubetzky founded OneVoice in 2002 along with Mohammed Darawshe, co-executive director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, as a way to end the conflict and the violence after the failure of the negotiations at Camp David.

State comptroller to probe V15 after elections

The State Comptroller's Office said that the future audit would review more than just the ties between the organization and any particular political party, and would also investigate the origins and scope of its funding.
Likud's petition attempted to demonstrate evidence linking the Zionist Camp to V15 as well as to Project 61, which seeks to make election polls more accessible to the public, the Molad Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, and other known left-wing groups. However, the State Comptroller's Office said that even if the investigation "determines that [V15] is not linked to any faction, the actions taken by these bodies, in part or in full, may still constitute an illegal donation according to campaign financing laws, either over its scope or the identity of the donors."
The comptroller stressed that the investigation would take place after the election, and "only after the parties submit their finances for audit. This review will explore all relevant reports and evidence in depth, including any documentation or records presented to the comptroller."

UN chief names Bulgarian as new Middle East peace coordinator

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Nickolay Mladenov of Bulgaria to replace Robert Serry as his special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday.
Mladenov, currently the U.N. special representative to Iraq, has been Bulgaria's foreign minister and minister of defense and has worked at the World Bank, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.
It was not immediately clear who would replace Mladenov as the U.N. envoy to Iraq, U.N. officials and diplomats said. Mladenov comes to the job as U.S.-brokered peace talks have collapsed and amid increased tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Why Does Obama Ally with the RT Set?

What actually is quite curious, however, is RT’s choice of frequent commentators. The National Iranian American Council, for example, an anti-sanctions group which tends to lobby for the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic positions, constantly feeds the RT beast with guest appearance, both by Trita Parsi, its founder and president-for-life, as well as policy director Jamal Abdi and research director Reza Marashi. Barbara Slavin, a former journalist whose writing often advocates for Iranian positions, also talks to RT. Ditto Flynt Leverett, a former aide to Condoleezza Rice who now works full time to advance Iran’s narrative. Joseph Cirincione, who as head of the Ploughshares Fund channels money, is also part and parcel of the RT set. Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, often joins RT shows to bash the United States, its officials, and its policies. And the list goes on.
The irony here of course is that those who most affirm and lobby for Obama’s outreach for Iran—in Parsi and Ciricncione’s case often quite directly—never take stock of the fact that RT invites them because they affirm the Kremlin’s anti-American position. This shouldn’t necessarily surprise—Parsi has written in Internet chat forums that “There is no substitute for Iran!” What is surprising is that the Obama administration doesn’t take stock of the fact that the people who most embrace his policies and with whom he and his top aides sometime consult are those who never had the courage to walk off the RT set, who never stood up for the United States on the RT set, and whose writing seem infused with moral equivalence and a desire to see America lose.

'I don't compromise on history'

Most Israelis only encounter Jamal Zahalka, the head of the Arab party Balad, on television. Dror Eydar sat down with him for a surprising conversation. Zionism raped history, he asserts, but refuses to recognize the truth behind Temple Mount archeology.
To the average Israeli, the Balad Party seems very distant -- situated way over on the outer space end of the political spectrum. In my opinion, it is the most interesting of the three main Arab parties because it is founded on a worldview that is so fundamentally opposite everything we (if I am allowed to use that word) believe in.
Q: I want to understand the difference between a kibbutz that was built on the ruins of an Arab village and a mosque that was built in the most important place to the Jews, which, until then, was not important to the Muslims.
A: "There is a difference. There is a mosque there today. You are fighting reality with fairy tales. You come to me with a fairy tale about the Temple."
Q: It's a fairy tale?
A: "That you believe."
Q: Do you believe there was a temple there?
A: "No, I don't know where the Temple was. I believe that there is a story about a temple."
Q: What is the story?
A: "People believe it. You come to me from fairy tales."
Q: Why fairy tales? Is there history or isn't there history?
A: "The Temple is a myth and Al-Aqsa is a reality"

IDF destroys Hamas terror tunnel near southern border

The Israel Defense Forces has destroyed the remnants of a large terror tunnel stretching between the Gaza Strip and Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the Israel-Gaza border, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Monday.
The tunnel was first discovered during Operation Protective Edge in the summer, and a large portion of it was destroyed during the fighting. It is believed that the tunnel had stretched 3 kilometers (1.8 miles), from the eastern Gaza Strip neighborhood of Shujaiyya to Nahal Oz and the Karni crossing.
A military source told the Walla news website that razing the tunnel on the Israeli side of the border was an intricate operation that Armored and Engineering Corps units deployed with the Gaza Division had been carrying out for the past two weeks.
"This was not a new tunnel but part of a tunnel that had been left for the Engineering Corps to deal with," he explained, adding the tunnel was razed through a series of controlled detonations using advanced engineering equipment.

Hamas lauds Qatar minister’s ‘courage’ in Israel spat

In a statement, Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Doha, backed Qatar’s foreign minister for his “strong, courageous statements and response to the lies of the ‘Zionists,’ and his defense of Hamas and the resistance during the Munich security conference.”
At Sunday’s conference, Attiyah said during a panel discussion that failure to make progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was “the main igniter to all the turbulence in the Middle East.”
Qatar’s foreign minister also asked why Israel wanted to be recognized as a Jewish state.

Defying Shiite mainstream, Lebanese cleric reaches out to Jews

Israelis usually associate Shiite clerics in Lebanon with terror group Hezbollah, a powerful religious organization committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. But a Beirut-based cleric is surprising the public by spreading messages of peace and nonviolence in Hebrew on social media.
“We call on rabbis, priests and Muslim clerics — both Sunni and Shia — to underplay religious traditions and texts that call for violence, since they are more dangerous than nuclear weapons,” wrote Sayyed Muhammad Ali Husseini, secretary general of the Shiite group the Arabic Islamic Council, in Hebrew on his Facebook page Sunday.
“Various religious texts calling for the use of violence and ruthlessness to achieve goals are extremely dangerous when used by groups we have warned against in the past,” he continued. “These texts religiously sanction acts of violence and murder. Obviously, these are texts that were implemented in specific, limited situations; they cannot necessarily be applied to our time, since every situation has its own unique circumstances.”

US sends arms to Lebanese in bid to stem jihadi gains

The Lebanese army received a shipment of US weapons on Sunday, an embassy official told AFP, to help in the fight against jihadists who have staged incursions from Syria.
“The Lebanese military received 72 M198 power supply (howitzers), and more than 25 million rounds of artillery, mortar and rifle ammunition,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
An AFP photographer at the Beirut port also saw several Humvees, howitzers, ammunition containers and other military vehicles arriving.
In a statement, the US embassy said the aid is worth $25 million, adding that the 26 million rounds of ammunition included small, medium and heavy artillery rounds.

Egyptian President Al-Sisi Vows to Combat Terrorism in the Sinai

In a speech delivered on January 31, following a wave of terror attacks in the Sinai, Egyptian President Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi vowed to combat terrorism, saying: "We are ready to die in order to keep the Sinai in Egyptian hands."

Egypt reporter to stand trial alone as foreign colleagues freed

With Australian Peter Greste freed and a Canadian colleague close to release, the other Al-Jazeera journalist arrested in Cairo faces languishing in jail for an indefinite period because he has only Egyptian nationality.
Under global pressure to release the prisoners, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi issued a decree tailored for Greste and colleague Mohamed Fahmy, allowing the deportation of foreigners but overlooking Baher Mohamed in the process.
Greste, an acclaimed reporter for Al-Jazeera English, was deported last week.
Fahmy, a dual national, had to renounce his Egyptian citizenship and his release and deportation to Canada is imminent, a government official said.

At Egyptian soccer game, 22 fans killed in clash with security forces

At least 22 Egyptian soccer fans were killed in clashes that broke out on Sunday night when security forces barred them from entering a stadium, hospital doctors told Reuters.
The trouble happened at a match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek and Enppi. Police used teargas to disperse the crowd, security forces said. The health ministry said 20 people were injured but did not confirm any deaths.
The doctors said the deaths were due to suffocation. A witness said some of the fans were killed in a stampede after the police fired teargas.

Saudi Columnist: Those Who Condemn Terrorism Halfheartedly Help Strengthen It

In his November 27, 2014 column in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, 'Ali Al-Sharimi harshly criticized those who hesitate to unequivocally condemn Muslim terrorism and find excuses for it – such as that it is a response to Western-Israeli aggression, or stems from frustrations born of poverty and unemployment. He wrote that such justification indirectly supports this terrorism, and pushes young people towards participating in terrorism and jihad. Thus, he says, those who use the discourse of halfhearted support for terrorism are no less dangerous than the terrorist organizations themselves.

Jihadi-Salafi Spiritual Leader Al-Maqdisi Slams ISIS over Immolation of Jordanian Pilot

In a recent Jordanian TV interview, Jordanian Islamist Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi leveled harsh criticism against ISIS, following the burning to death of the Jordanian pilot, whose release he had tried to negotiate. "Immolation cannot be justified either by Islamic law or by reason," he said. Al-Maqdisi, who was known to be Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi's mentor, was recently released from Jordanian prison. The interview aired on Roya TV on February 6.

Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan Refuses to Condemn Islamic State for Killing Jordanian Pilot

The Brotherhood’s leader in Jordan, Sheikh Hammam Saïd, called on Jordan in a Radio Sawa interview on February 5 to withdraw from the anti-IS coalition, claiming that “Jordan should not be part of a coalition run by the United States.”
Hammam Saïd is a known critic of the Jordanian Kingdom, who in the past has called for Jordan to cut off relations with Israel.
At the same time, within Jordan there is sharp criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose Jordanian branch – known as the Islamic Action Front – published notices condemning the murder of Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kasasbeh, while stopping short of criticizing the IS organization and declaring the dead pilot a shahid.

Prince Charles says he fears for Christians in Middle East

Heir to British throne meets with refugees in Jordan; UK pledges $150 million for displaced Syrians
Britain’s Prince Charles says he fears there will be “very, very few” Christians left in the Middle East after the turmoil wracking the region.
The heir to the British throne, who is on a trip to the region, told the BBC that the plight of Christians persecuted by Islamic extremists was “a most agonizing situation,” though it was important to remember they were just one persecuted minority among many around the world.
“But at the same time I fear that the problems in the Middle East are not going to go away immediately,” the prince said in a pre-recorded interview with “The Sunday Hour” radio program. “And so there is a danger that there is going to be very, very few left.”

Israel-Based NGO Stepping Up Winter Aid Program For Yazidis, Christians in Northern Iraq

In recent weeks, Israel-based aid organization IsraAID has been stepping up its program to aid Yazidi and Christian displaced persons in northern Iraq.
More than 18,000 Yazidis and Christians are living in camps after fleeing from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
One of those displaced people Shehab, told his story:
“When Daesh (ISIS) entered Sinjar we fled to mountains for 7 days and took refuge in a Yazidi temple. We then found our way to this camp. We have been here for 7 months. I am here with my wife and our two children – a boy 1.5 years old and a 4 month year old baby girl who was born in the camp. The life here is very hard; our children are traumatized by what they saw and experienced after Daesh attacked our home.”
IsraAID’s staff has distributed more than 3,000 winter items, including blankets and mattresses, for the internally displaced persons and refugees who have been offered shelter in the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). With temperatures often dropping below freezing during the winder, the need for these items is very real

Syrian FM: Hezbollah a 'Big Help' to Us on Golan

Israel will be unsuccessful in keeping Hezbollah off the Golan Heights, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said Sunday. In what amounted to a direct admission that Hezbollah terrorists were aiding Syrian army troops against rebels, Muallem said that “the efforts of Israel to create a buffer zone on the Golan will not succeed, thanks to the 'popular uprising.' It will fail as the attempt to keep Hezbollah away from the Lebanese border failed,” Muallem was quoted by Iran's al-Alam television as saying.
In December, IDF forces eliminated Jihad Mughniyeh, said to be Hezbollah's “commander of the Golan Heights area,” along with a crew of Hezbollah terrorists, and Iranian general Abu Ali Tabtabai. The group was touring the Golan border area, and Israeli officials believe they were in the process of setting up terror attacks to be launched at Israel from the area. Israeli security officials later dispatched a message to Hezbollah, warning the terror group to stay away from the Golan.
Israel can attack all it wants, said al-Muallem, but in the end, the “popular opposition” – generally used as a code word for terror groups, in this case Hezbollah – would eventually win out. “There is an effort by the Syrian army and the popular opposition to keep out the al-Nusra terror group, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Syria,” he said. “Israel's plan is to help them. Syria's alliance with Hezbollah in the effort against terror in Syria was one of the group's smartest decisions.”

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: I Support ISIS, Which Should Have Been Established 50 Years Ago

In an interview with the Egyptian Dream2 TV channel, former Libyan official Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam said that he supported ISIS, which was composed of "pious young men." "This enterprise should have been carried out 50 years ago," said Al-Dam, a cousin of former Libyan leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi. The interview aired on January 17, 2015.

Iran is using Israel to distract from its real aims in the Persian Gulf

It has become conventional wisdom that most sectarian conflicts in the Middle East today are fueled, to some extent, by Iran and Saudi Arabia. The worsening political situation in Yemen — which led to Shi’ite Houthi rebels ousting President Abrabuh Mansour Hadi on Jan. 22 — was described by some military experts as the result of a purported Saudi-Iran “proxy war” in Yemen. That these two countries are enemies has been taken for granted by most, but is rarely examined or questioned.
It is time the West takes a hard look at exactly why Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are so concerned about the Iranian threat. Much of the Western commentary on the strategic threats in the Middle East focuses on violent jihadist threats from non-state actors and the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel. The reality is far more complicated and involves the vital strategic interests of the United States, Europe, and Asia.
To begin with the nuclear issue, it is important to remember that Iran has no nuclear weapons at present and that Israel is a mature nuclear weapons state with thermonuclear armed missiles that can reach any city or key target in Iran. At the same time, Iran has every reason to focus its political rhetoric on Israel as a threat and a target. Like its support of Gaza and the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the nuclear question deflects Arab fears of Iran’s growing ability to threaten Arab states, divide the Arab world, and lever Iran’s ability to threaten the flow of Gulf petroleum exports.

New raids in Turkey over Erdogan eavesdropping

Turkish police on Sunday launched a new wave of raids seeking to arrest suspects accused of wiretapping the communications of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials.
Istanbul prosecutors issued warrants for 21 police officers, the official Anatolia news agency said.
It was unclear how many had been arrested so far although NTV television showed pictures of several suspects being roughly led away by plainclothes police.
The raids were focused on Istanbul but also took place in the western city of Afyon and Zonguldak on the Black Sea, Anatolia added.

EU Is an 'Islamophobic Christian Club' If They Refuse Us Entry: Turkish Pres Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded over the weekend that the EU “must admit Turkey” as a member state to prove that it rejects “Islamophobia.”
Erdogan was in the African Islamic nation of Djibouti, where he delivered remarks on a range of foreign policy issues, reported Hurriyet Daily News.
The Turkish Islamist leader had harsh words to say towards the Egyptian government, which overthrew the country’s Muslim Brotherhood, a strong ally of Turkey’s. The “coup-makers” in Egypt killed “3,000 Muslims,” he alleged. “It is unprecedented in recent history,” Erdogan said of the Egyptian government’s actions against the country’s Muslim Brotherhood terror branch.