02/13 Links Pt1: Glick: Mainstreaming Jew hatred in America; Honig: The Crusades aren't our problem

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: Mainstreaming Jew hatred in America

According to leaked reports, the permanent nuclear deal that Obama seeks to convince Iran to sign would further facilitate Iran’s ascension to the nuclear club. Among other things, the deal will place a time limit on the already ineffective inspections regime, thus blinding the world entirely to Iran’s nuclear activities.
At the same time that Obama is facilitating Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power, he is doing nothing to stop its regional empowerment. Today Iran controls Syria, Iraq and Yemen and holds sway over Lebanon and Gaza. It threatens Saudi Arabia, and its Muslim Brotherhood allies threaten Egypt and Jordan.
As for Obama’s allied campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the largest beneficiary to date of the US-led campaign has been Iran. Since the US-led campaign began last fall, Iran has achieved all but public US support for its control over the Iraqi military and for the survival of the Assad regime in Syria.
The trajectory of Obama’s policies is obvious. He is clearing the path for a nuclear armed Iran that controls large swathes of the Arab world through its proxies.
It is also clear that Iran intends to use its nuclear arsenal in the same way that Coulibaly used his Kalashnikov – to kill Jews, as many Jews as possible.
Perhaps Obama is acting out of anti-Semitism, perhaps he acts out of sympathy for Islamic fascism.
Whatever the case may be, what is required from Israel, and from Netanyahu, is clear. Speaking to Congress may be a necessary precondition for that action, but it is not the action itself.

Sarah Honig: The Crusades aren't our problem

The object of Obama’s rebuke from the get-go was what he portrayed as Western arrogance and American dominance. In these he identified what ails the world. The democracies, as per his universalist post-colonial precepts (tinged with Marxism), were those who needed dressing down.
Hence the term “Islamic terror” is forbidden in official US parlance and hence American leadership in the world is not what this Oval Office occupier advocates.
The fact that Obama had to reach back a thousand years to come up with excuses for the enemy he dare not name says it all. Don’t be knocked for a loop, fellow Israelis, if he next tells us that since America has the bomb it’s unfair to deny it to the Iranians.
And if Iran threatens to wipe us off the map – in its own adaptation of Godfrey’s oath to “completely eradicate” us – we must charitably consider historical parallels and not whine against Tehran. In Obama’s worldview there are no differences between east and west, past and present, democracies and theocracies, today’s rampant Islamic terror and Crusader onslaughts of the Eleventh Century.
Indeed, why single out Islamists when Crusaders also butchered Jews? Why should contemporary Muslims be prohibited from doing what Crusaders so excelled at a millennium ago?
Throughout the ages Jews were accused of being too inherently intransigent for their own good. We still apparently are. Even today we stubbornly will not acquiesce in our own mass-murder by Muslims just because the Crusaders attempted it first.
Egotistically we refuse to appreciate the wisdom of getting nuked out of existence by Islamic zealots just because their Christian counterparts strove to eradicate us beforehand. Obama’s edifying equivalency fails to overcome our parochial tunnel vision.

PMW: PA National Security Forces and PA Presidential Guards: All of Israel is "Palestine"

The PA National Security Forces produced another example of the PA ideology of denying Israel's right to exist, showing a picture of Yasser Arafat’s headscarf forming the shape of “Palestine.” An image shows Arafat from above as he is bowing down to pray. On his back, his keffiyeh forms the shape of a map of "Palestine” that includes all of Israel and the PA areas. Text on image says: “Even your keffiyeh, o sir, out of love for Palestine, formed an image of it on your shoulders.” [Facebook page of the Palestinian National Security Forces, Feb. 6, 2015]
The PA Presidential Guards posted a similar message with a photo of the Presidential Guards with a map with the inscription “Palestine” in the background that includes all of Israel and the PA areas. Text on image: “Lions are guarding the homeland with their heads high.”
[Official Facebook page of the Palestinian Presidential Guards, Jan. 26, 2015]
Recently, Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi reiterated the same message, stating on Lebanese TV that "Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth are Palestinian," and this "despite" the opinions of "the Americans and the Israelis."

Dore Gold: Anatomy of a Bad Iran Deal:  A Preliminary Assessment

However, if the Obama administration decides to proceed, countries in the Middle East are likely to conclude that under these conditions, the United States has reached a bad agreement with Iran. The evaluation here is largely based on the number of centrifuges the agreement allows.
There are other dimensions to the nuclear deal with Iran that are no less important. Dennis Ross, who also served in the Obama administration and worked on the Iran file, co-authored an article on Jan. 23 expressing similar concerns. “During the course of the nuclear negotiations over the past year, Iran has been the beneficiary of a generous catalogue of concessions from the West,” Ross wrote. “The 5-plus-1 has conceded to Iranian enrichment, agreed that Tehran need not scale back the number of its centrifuges significantly or dismantle any facilities and could have an industrial-size program after passage of a period of time.”
Undoubtedly, other countries in the Middle East will react to these concessions by accelerating their own nuclear programs. It was not surprising to see the news reports on Feb. 10 that Egypt was to procure a new nuclear reactor from Russia. Nuclear proliferation is likely to spread to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, and others. A multipolar Middle East, which is currently facing a radical Islamist wave, will have none of the stability of the East-West balance during the Cold War. A bad agreement with Iran, in short, will leave the world a much more dangerous place.

 Elliott Abrams: Obama's 'papal infallibility'

Now, in an ordinary administration someone would have heard the president's remarks and said, "Aw jeez, we have a problem. He really blew it. Now what do we do?" And someone in authority, one of the top three or four presidential advisers, would have told the president that he blew it, and press guidance would have been issued. The press would have been told, probably on background, that "the president obviously misspoke. He had meant to say that the fate of individual victims was random -- exactly because the killer didn't care whom he killed as long as they were Jews. Obviously it's a case of murderous anti-Semitism and obviously the president knows that. He just didn't say it right. Happens to all of us."
But that did not happen, and I suspect it is because this president takes a stance of what we might call "papal infallibility." He can't be wrong. He doesn't make mistakes. As the saying goes about papal infallibility, he "is preserved from the possibility of error." So the administration instead digs itself in deeper and deeper. Anyway, let's hope this is the right explanation. The only other one is that the president is determined to downplay the fact of anti-Semitism, either because he's angry at the Israelis or because he thinks that speaking out too loudly about anti-Semitism may anger Muslims around the world. Compared to that explanation, the mere assertion of infallibility would be good news.

John Bolton: Obama’s Foreign Policy Will Damage America for Decades

The security strategy’s detachment from reality is most egregiously displayed in its discussion of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and specifically Iran’s nuclear-weapons program. Obama is proud he is reducing America’s nuclear capabilities, even as he admits that threats posed by “irresponsible states or terrorists” using nuclear weapons are the gravest America faces. Unfortunately, the idea that diminished U.S. capabilities will in some way induce those “irresponsible states or terrorists” to modify their own behavior seems chilling and palpably inaccurate. Surely, a weaker America is an incentive to the irresponsible, including states like Russia and China, not a model.
On Iran, Obama says that the 2013 “interim” deal (agreed to by the U.N. Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany) “has halted the progress of Iran’s program.” This is flatly untrue and as a basis for policy, it almost certainly obscures a growing “existential” threat for America and our allies. It assumes we know everything about Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, which is a dramatically unrealistic characterization for both the extent of, and our confidence in, the information we actually possess.
There is simply no evidence that Iran has done anything other than make temporary, easily reversible concessions regarding uranium already enriched to reactor-grade levels. Nothing in the interim agreement even addresses the likelihood of Iran’s efforts to weaponize highly enriched uranium and to develop a plutonium nuclear-weapon option. Nor does the agreement curtail its missile development program. The missile work of Iran’s partner, North Korea, has already led U.S. and South Korean commanders to warn that targeting America’s West Coast is within Pyongyang’s reach.

Wiesel to Obama: Join me in hearing Netanyahu's case against a nuclear Iran

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel is lending his support to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3 speech to Congress on the dangers of Iran's nuclear program.
Popular New Jersey Orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach announced on Thursday he would place a full-page advertisements in two of the leading U.S. newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, featuring Wiesel's endorsement of Netanyahu's speech.
Blindsided by the invitation that Republicans in Congress extended to Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama has declined to meet the Israeli leader, citing what he has said is U.S. protocol not to meet world leaders before national elections. Israeli elections are scheduled for March 17, two weeks after the slated speech.
The advertisement quotes Wiesel as saying he plans to attend Netanyahu's address "on the catastrophic danger of a nuclear Iran." Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986, Wiesel asks Obama and others in the ad: "Will you join me in hearing the case for keeping weapons from those who preach death to Israel and America?"

If Only Ben-Ami Would Read Ben-Ami

Jeremy (“J Street”) Ben-Ami, son of Irgun hero, Yitshaq, refers to it as “a big deal’ that is “not going away”, well, as long he has enough money to advertise it. As he writes to his supporters:
“Defying calls to postpone or cancel his upcoming political speech to Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down. Not only is he still coming, he says, but he’s coming as the representative of all Jews, everywhere.”
For Jeremy, “That’s outrageous. It flies in the face of decades of custom and practice…Suddenly, he speaks for all of us?”
So, along those lines, may I suggest to Mr. Ben-Ami that:
a) he retreat from messing in Israel’s affairs;
b) ask his President to stop risking the breaking of the bond between Jews and America (see: “bunch of folks” and “random”) and stop being so “American first“;
c) reread his father’s book where this appears on page 544
"Western political leaders have acquired a concern for ‘Arab-Palestinian homelessness’, which is selfishly economic rather than humanitarian. At the same time they ignore that three quarters of the original Palestine Mandate area is now under Palestinian-Arab rule. The sooner disaspora Jews and the Hebrew nation recognize these new realities, the stronger they will be.
The Hebrew renaissance offers a painful choice to Jews. They can live in the diaspora, often facing isolation, persecution and ambivalent identities, or they can return to their ancient land and face perils, but with a chance for honorable self-fulfillment and an end to wandering…"

Jindal: Obama is ‘Disrespecting Israel, the Jewish People’

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal took aim at the White House for “disrespecting Israel and the Jewish people” after it was revealed that President Barack Obama’s authorization for the use of military force against the Islamic State (IS) failed to mention that Jews are a prime target of the terror group, according to a statement provided to the Washington Free Beacon.
Obama’s war authorization came under fire on Wednesday after Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), Congress’ only Jewish Republican, noted that the resolution specifically omits Jewish people as one of IS’s (also known as ISIS and ISIL) chief targets.
It does, however, name several other ethnic groups that are threatened by IS, including Yezidis, Iraqi Christians, and Turkmens.
Jindal told the Free Beacon in a statement that the White House’s omission of Jews is part of a pattern of hostility towards Israel.

Aaron David Miller: Obama Is Pursuing Regime Change in Israel

The White House, Secretary of State John Kerry, and assorted U.S. officials have repeatedly made clear that Washington will not intervene in Israeli politics and elections. And, indeed, under normal circumstances, non-intervention is the rule.
But what if Israel suddenly and blatantly intervened in America’s politics? Would an administration already fed up with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and very much hoping for a new leader to come out of Israel’s March 17 elections — use such an intervention to try to tip what promises to be a close vote to a rival?
Welcome to regime change, Obama-style. There are few opportunities to change the mullahcracy in Tehran. But Jerusalem may be another story. By accepting Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address a joint meeting of Congress — now widely seen as a real bungle — the prime minister has given the Obama administration an opening. And you can bet the White House is taking advantage to make it unmistakably clear that Bibi is bad for the U.S.-Israeli relationship. (h/t Yenta Press)

Krauthammer: The Only Place Obama Is 'Actively Trying To Change The Regime' Is Israel

In an appearance on “The Kelly File” Thursday night, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer slammed President Barack Obama’s foreign policy for his interest in regime change in only one Middle Eastern country: Israel.
Krauthammer told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that Israel, the staunchest U.S. ally in the region, is “the one place he’s actively trying to change the regime. He added that Obama is “doing everything he can” to “humiliate” and “give the back of the hand” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 Israelis think Obama interfering in election, poll finds

Twice as many Israelis say that US President Barack Obama’s administration is interfering in the election as those who say it is not, according to a Panels Research poll taken for The Jerusalem Post and its Hebrew sister publication, Maariv Sof Hashavua.
Sixty-two percent of respondents said the Obama administration is interfering, 31% said it is not interfering, and 8% did not know.
A majority of respondents, 56%, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is correct in principle in his desire to address Congress on the Iranian nuclear threat, while 36% said he is not right, and 8% had no opinion.
Nevertheless, only 41% said that the prime minister should actually deliver the address, while 36% said he should not go to Washington at all, 17% said he should go, but speak only at the AIPAC policy conference, and 6% did not know.Sixty-two percent of respondents said Netanyahu should debate his challenger, the Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog. Twenty-seven percent said there should not be a debate and 11% did not know.

Sen. Chuck Schumer Says He Will Vote for New Iran Sanctions if March 24 Deadline Missed

US Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said he is prepared to vote for additional sanctions against Iran if the Islamic Republic does not reach a political framework agreement with its Western negotiating partners by a March 24 deadline, according to a statement that was first obtained by JNS.org.
Schumer—a co-sponsor of the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015, the Iran sanctions bill initiated by US Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)—called a nuclear Iran “a huge threat to the United States and an existential threat to Israel.”
“I agree with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu that a nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel,” Schumer said. “One nuclear weapon, hurled from Iran to Israel, could end the Jewish state and could kill almost as many Jews as did Hitler. A successful deal will not be a middle-of-the-road compromise, but a deal that removes any possibility of Iran being able to use nuclear weapons.”

Overlooking a Safe Haven for Palestinian Terrorists

At his confirmation hearings, US Defense Secretary-designate Ashton Carter expressed concern about safe havens for terrorists in Afghanistan, Libya, and Pakistan. Yet for some reason, he neglected to mention the Middle Eastern regime that is one of the worst offenders when it comes to granting safe haven to terrorists—the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Discussing the vacuum that will be left when the last American troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan, Carter testified at the Senate hearings that the Obama administration’s “counter-terrorism strategy begins foremost” with preventing the creation of “safe havens” for terrorists.
Carter also expressed concern about “the terrorist safe haven in Libya” and pledged to “hold Pakistan accountable” for permitting terrorists to operate from its territory. So when will the US hold the PA regime accountable?
The Oslo Accords (Annex IV, Article 2, par.7f[1]) specifically require the PA to honor all Israeli requests for the extradition of terrorists. During 1996-1998, Israel filed such requests for 36 terrorists. The PA simply ignored them.

IDF security assessment: The Palestinian Authority can collapse at any moment

Against this background, the army has told the government that at any given moment the Palestinian Authority can collapse.
In one of the scenarios that the IDF presented, a small localized security incident, like an altercation between settlers and Palestinians, or the throwing of a Molotov cocktail could quickly escalate to rioting in the Galilee and the Triangle area. With the weakened Palestinian Authority a situation like this is liable to lead to terrorist organizations taking control of the West Bank.
The army has pointed to the month of April as a critical moment for security in the West Bank. In April, the Palestinian Authority's money is expected to run out, it is slated to formally join the ICC and immediately ask to investigate Israel, and the new government in Israel will take power. Tensions surrounding all these events, including the anger caused in the Palestinian street if the current political leadership is re-elected to office, may lead to a deterioration in the security situation.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Mahmoud Abbas in Belgium to rally support for Palestinian statehood bid

The sources said that Abbas’s visit to Sweden and Belgium was mainly aimed at rallying support for the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN Security Council. According to the sources, the PA leadership is planning to re-submit to the Security Council its proposed resolution for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
During his talks in Sweden and Belgium, Abbas also complained about the Israeli government’s decision to withhold tax revenues belonging to the Palestinians in the aftermath of his decision to join the International Criminal Court and file “war crime” charges against Israel.
Abbas, the sources said, warned that the decision to withhold the tax revenues has created a serious crisis in the Palestinian territories, largely because of the PA’s inability to pay full salaries to public employees.
On Wednesday night, Abbas also held talks in Brussels with Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union.
The two discussed ways of enhancing the EU’s role in the Middle East peace process, according to a senior Palestinian official. He said that Abbas also briefed Juncker on the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and complained about Israeli measures, including continued settlement construction and “provocations” in Jerusalem.

ISIS Magazine Publishes Interview With Purported Israeli Arab Mossad Spy

The Islamic State has its own magazine, called Dabiq, a slickly-produced English-language publication. In the latest issue, the terrorist group claims that it has captured an Israeli Arab who was recruited to spy for Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
While the magazine is largely propaganda decreeing Islam “the religion of the sword” and gloating over the burning alive of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, the centerpiece of the issue is the interview with “captured Mossad spy” Muhammad Said Ismail Musallam, a 19-year-old from Jerusalem. Musallam claims one of his neighbors approached him and invited him to work for Israeli intelligence, an offer Musallam’s family encouraged him to accept because “it was a very good job” with “a lot of money in it,” plus career advancement possibilities. (The Dabiq interviewer is careful to make Mussallam give the full names of these family members, because ISIS likes everyone who displeases it to feel that their lives are constantly in danger.) It is also noted that Mohammed was generally in favor of going hard on apostates and unbelievers.
Mussallam describes his training in East Jerusalem as covering “self-control,” “information extraction,” “how to survive an interrogation,” and weapons training. He said he started out spying on Arabs in Jerusalem, and did such a good job that eventually a big-time Mossad agent assigned him to infiltrate the Islamic State in Syria. Eventually he was caught for “acting in a manner that wasn’t typical of a muhajir [i.e. ISIS fighter]” and refusing to follow orders.
Of course, the “interview” wraps up with the prisoner made to deliver a message to other “spies sent by the kuffar”: “I say to all those who want to spy on the Islamic State, don’t think that you’re so smart and that you can deceive the Islamic State. You won’t succeed at all. In the end, they’ll capture you and implement the hadd on you. [Hadd is punishment mandated in the Koran for crimes against Allah.] Stay away from this path. Stay away from helping the Jews and the murtaddin [apostates]. Follow the right path.” He also called on his father and brother to “repent to Allah.”

ISIS's 'Mossad Arab' is Just a Jihadist, Says his Father

Islamic State (ISIS) on Thursday claimed in its magazine Dabiq that a 19-year-old Israeli Arab from eastern Jerusalem named Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam infiltrated them for the Mossad before being caught - according to Musallam's father, he had no ties to Mossad but rather joined ISIS of his own volition.
Musallam's father Said told Haaretz his son did travel to join ISIS three months ago as was reported in the ISIS magazine, and likewise was working as a firefighter after graduating high school as was recorded, but the claims of his being a Mossad spy are simply lies.
Three months ago Musallam left for a course in Rishon Letzion and asked his father for money, according to the father.
"He left that morning and the next day I tried to call him and the telephone was turned off. I thought that maybe he was busy. After a week we got an email that he wanted to be a martyr and he was giving up everything in his life and his family," recounts Said Musallam. "My children told me that he was in Syria and I believed it."

Hamas: Zoabi Ban a 'Badge of Honor'

The Hamas terror group reacted on Thursday to the decision by the Central Elections Committee in Israel to ban extremist Arab MK Hanin Zoabi from running in the upcoming elections.
"This is a racist decision which refutes Israel's claims that it is a democracy," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri declared on his Facebook page.
At the same time, he claimed the decision to ban Zoabi is a “badge of honor”, seeing as she was banned due to her “bold national positions”, as he put it.
The motion to ban Zoabi passed by a wide margin of 27-6, following a stormy debate.

Senior Egyptian Statesman: Obama is Losing Long-Time Ally Egypt

While the American media fretted over the career futures of Brian Williams and Jon Stewart, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first trip to Egypt in a decade, exploiting America’s increasingly tenuous relationship with its long-time ally. In less than two weeks, Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Egypt and its new President, Adbel al-Sisi. America is on the cusp of losing Egypt.
Breitbart News sat down this week with Mostafa el-Gindy, an Egyptian politician who has played a pivotal role in the revolutions against former President Hosni Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood. Gindy said that, under Obama, American foreign policy in the Middle East assumed the Muslim Brotherhood in positions of power. When the Egyptian people threw the Brotherhood out of power, America’s strategy was left in tatters.
“America is losing Egypt,” Gindy said. “We see how you treat Israel, who for 50 years was your closest ally. We see how you treat them and how you are now treating us. Russia and China see it too.”
While the international press noted Putin’s trip to Cairo, the most important symbol of the visit went largely unnoticed. “Look where Egypt took Putin,” Gindy said. “They took him to ‘the tower.’ That was aimed at the Americans.”
The Cairo Tower was built in the 1960s by former Egyptian strongman President Gamal Nasser. The Tower, the tallest structure in Egypt, was partially built with $6 million the US had offered Nasser as a personal gift to curry favor with the leader. Nasser was insulted by the gift, interpreting it as a bribe, and publicly dedicated the funds to erecting the tower.

Canadian al-Jazeera journalist released from prison

Canadian al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy was released from an Egyptian prison on Friday, after spending more than a year behind bars on terror-related charges in a case that was denounced as a sham by rights groups and the international community. He was let out pending a retrial.
Fahmy’s brother tweeted that he posted $33,000 bail following a court decision on Thursday that allowed him to walk free after more than 400 days in detention. It was not clear if Fahmy’s colleague, al-Jazeera journalist Baher Mohammed, was also being released. A third coworker, Australian Peter Greste, was freed two weeks ago and deported to his home country, Australia.
Now that he is out, Fahmy’s next court hearing is due February 23 and he has to check in at a police station every day until then.

MEMRI: Turkish Media Reports: Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) Leaks Official Confidential Turkish Documents From 2012, Exposing Turkish, Saudi, And Qatari Support For Terrorist Groups

Hurriyet Daily News wrote: "[The spokesman said] 'We act independently and have a very large support base of members on social media... We are currently hosted on foreign servers. No one has lent their support to us but it is OK, because it doesn't take much – just a laptop, an Internet connection, knowledge and time,' the SEA spokesperson said.
"'We targeted most Turkish regime websites, like the Foreign Ministry, the presidency, the military industry, and many others. All the emails and the messages of the targeted websites were dumped and downloaded, and we will leak them soon.'
"The spokesman for the group, which hacked Saudi, Qatari, and Arab League emails in addition to accounts in Turkey, said that Riyadh, Doha, Ankara and the Arab League were involved in the Syrian war.
"The report said that SEA had expressed hope that the world could hold these accountable for the weapons smuggled into Syria, including mortars which are being used by terrorists to target civilian areas. 'All their involvement is now proven thanks to these leaks,' he said.

Turkish Intel provided weapons to ISIS, terror suspect says

An Islamic State fighter currently under trial in a Turkish high criminal court has implicated Turkey's state intelligence service in the willful transfer of weapons and military hardware to the jihadist group fighting in Syria, Today's Zaman reported on Monday.
Mehmet Askar, who was detained together with another 11 suspects belonging to Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and the moderate Free Syrian Army, revealed that in 2011 a planned transfer of arms was hampered by the capture of key border town by the Syrian army, blocking the route often used to infiltrate the war-torn Arab country.
Askar's accomplice, Haisam Toubalijeh, also known as Keysem Topalca, who was involved in a weapons transfer thwarted in 2013 by Turkish forces, reassured him that contacts inside MIT, Turkey's intelligence organization, would help facilitate the movement of the cache, which included some 100 NATO rifles across the border.

Speechless on Iranian Nukes

Now that Obama is unshackled from reelection pressures, his true face has emerged – with unbridled hostility towards Bibi, and a readiness to sacrifice Israeli security on the single greatest threat facing this New Jersey-sized country. The Iranian regime has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction; just last month, Mohammad Ali Jafari, a top Iranian military leader, clearly stated that Iran’s goal is Israel’s annihilation. In case there was any doubt left about Iran’s intentions, it released this video simulating an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel. So how can Obama – who deceptively affirmed the Holocaust lesson of “never again” – possibly expect the Jewish State to live with such threats? There is no margin for error on Iranian nukes because tiny Israel would be instantly destroyed after a first nuclear strike, so Obama clearly doesn’t mind rolling the dice with Israel’s survival.
But even if Israel’s survival were not a vital U.S. interest, how could entrusting the world’s leading terror sponsor with nukes possibly make the U.S. safer? Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was involved in Latin America’s bloodiest terror attacks and presumably had some role in Iran’s recent terrorist activity in Uruguay. Iran has tried to assassinate U.S. diplomats in Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, not to mention countless other attacks from Europe to the Middle East (including the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed over 240 Americans).
Never has a foreign leader’s Congressional address mattered so much to global security. Fortunately, most Americans want to hear Netanyahu’s speech, before it’s too late to avoid much worse scenarios. Obama’s efforts to silence Bibi only exacerbate serious concerns about Obama’s strategy, competence, and intentions. Any time a president tries this hard to suppress an opposing view shared by myriad experts and allies, the public needs to hear that other view.

Iran Speeding to Nuclear Weapons Breakout

Iran, with its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen, has surrounded all the oil fields in the region and is currently busy encircling Jordan, Israel and Palestine.
Iran not only reaches now from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, but Iranian Shi'ites have been spreading out through Africa and South America.
By the time U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office, Iran will not only have nuclear breakout capability, but also the intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver its nuclear warheads to Europe and North America.
If Iran can finally drive the U.S. out of the Gulf by threatening U.S. assets, it will be free to pursue still further expansion.
If the deal signed with Iran is full of loopholes, it is Obama who will be blamed. Does Obama really want his legacy to be, "The President who was even a bigger fool than Neville Chamberlain"? He will not be seen as "Nixon in China." He will be seen as the Eid al-Adha lamb.

Experts: Even After Nuclear Deal, Iran Won’t Stop Supporting Terror

The Islamic Republic of Iran is motivated by a revolutionary ideology to support global terrorism, and is unlikely to moderate that support even after a successful nuclear deal with the West, according to experts who testified before a House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing yesterday.
The experts were Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council, Tony Badran of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Prof. Daniel L. Byman of Georgetown University.

Iran says it launched new satellite into space

State television in Iran is reporting the Islamic Republic has launched a new satellite into space, its fourth in recent years to orbit the Earth.
The report Monday quoted Defense Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan saying the satellite, designed and built in Iran, is named “Fajr,” or dawn in Farsi. The report did not elaborate.
The satellite’s launch comes amid negotiations with world powers over Iran’s contested nuclear program. International observers worry that Iran’s space program could help it design rockets that could carry nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear and space programs are for peaceful purposes. The West worries Iran could enrich enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb. Negotiators reached an interim deal in 2013 with Iran over its nuclear program, but have yet to reach a permanent one.

MRMRI: Anti-West Statements By Turkish President Erdogan And PM Davutoglu: Muslim Countries Must 'Unite And Defeat The Successors Of Lawrence Of Arabia'; 'No One Will Be Able To Stop' The Rise Of Islam In Europe

On January 21, 2015, in a speech at a meeting of the Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States (PUIC) in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked the West, accusing it of plotting against the Islamic world and of causing Muslims to kill one another. Muslim blood is being shed, he said, urging Muslim countries to "unite and defeat the successors of Lawrence of Arabia who seek to disrupt the Middle East." He also warned the West of the "great danger" of Islamophobia.
During a subsequent official visit to Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia, on which he was accompanied by a very large delegation of officials and businessmen, he repeatedly attacked the West, particularly the EU. Turkey was testing the EU, he said; "Are they against Islamophobia or not? If they are, they must accept Turkey. Otherwise, the EU will prove the claims that it is a Christian club." He added that Turkey was not one to go to Europe's door and beg to be allowed to enter.

U.S. Lawmakers Express Concern over Turkey’s Assault on Press Freedom

Eighty-nine members of the United States House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, expressing that they are “deeply concerned” about Turkish restrictions on the freedom of the press. “A strong democracy,” the letter reads, “requires both tolerance and transparency in order to thrive, but this decision by the Turkish government to intimidate, arrest, and smother voices opposed to the government is a threat to the very democratic principles that Turkey claims to hold dear.” The lawmakers specifically condemned raids that occurred last December, when journalists at media outlets with ties to Fethullah Gulen were arrested. Gulen is an Islamic scholar based in the United States, who is critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The letter went on to condemn the government’s regulation of Twitter and other websites. On Thursday, the Turkish government passed further restrictive legislation: a Turkish parliamentary commission granted authority to the prime minister or any government minister to block any website without a court order.

Europe Fines Turkey for Trampling Singer's Free Speech

Turkey has banned social media sites to cover up scandals surrounding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and arms deals reports, but it has now gotten a symbolic slap on the wrist by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for violating a singer's freedom of speech.
The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported on Tuesday that Turkey was fined 4,250 euros (just over $4,800) in a symbolic move, over Turkey's fining of a singer for a speech critical of the government during an authorized performance back in 2003, and denying his request for a trial.
The singer, Ferhat Tunc Yoslun, took part in a concert organized by the People's Democratic Party (DEHAP), during which he spoke out against the government's repression of freedoms and lack of democracy, and according to the Turkish courts also made comments supporting the Kurdish nationalist movements.

Turkey Charges Dutch Journalist with Spreading ‘Terrorist Propaganda’

The Turkish prosecutor in Diyarbakir, the symbolic capital of the Kurds, charged Dutch journalist Fréderike Geerdink with “terrorist propaganda.” She faces one to five years in prison if found guilty.
Geerdink moved to Diyarbakir in 2012. Her areas of expertise include Kurds, human rights, and women’s rights. Police brought her in on January 6 while a terrorism squad searched her apartment. After three hours, she tweeted that the police had released her.
According to the indictment, the court “accuses Geerdink of posting messages on social media in favor of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), including a display of the group’s flag.” She denies the charges, but will be in court on April 8. The indictment occurred on the same day President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “declared at a meeting of ambassadors in Ankara that ‘there is no freer press in Europe or elsewhere in the world, than in Turkey.’”

Why is Erdogan asking Cuba to let him build a mosque in Havana?

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed to Cuba the construction of a mosque on the Caribbean island during a visit to Havana, pushing ahead with a plan apparently inspired by his belief that Muslims discovered the Americas.
After talks with Cuban President Raul Castro, Erdogan said on Wednesday he had sought approval for Turkey to build the place of worship in Havana that would be based on the model of a mosque in the Ortakoy district on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul.
Last November, Erdogan told a conference of Muslim leaders from Latin America in Istanbul that Muslims had reached the Americas in the 12th century, before the European explorer Christopher Columbus did so in 1492.
"I presented all the information, project work and visuals regarding the Ortakoy mosque. 'We will do this ourselves. We don't want a partner. If you find it appropriate we want to do this'," Erdogan's presidential website quoted him as saying of his talks with Castro. (h/t J April)