Monday, March 02, 2015
Col. Richard Kemp: Netanyahu, Churchill and Congress
There are striking similarities between the objectives of Churchill's speech nearly 75 years ago and Netanyahu's today; both with no less purpose than to avert global conflagration. And, like Churchill's in the 1930s, Netanyahu's is the lone voice among world leaders today.Jeffrey Goldberg: Danger Ahead for Obama on Iran
There is no doubt abut Iran's intent. It has been described as a nuclear Auschwitz. Israel is not the only target of Iranian violence. Iran has long been making good on its promises to mobilize Islamic forces against the US, as well as the UK and other American allies. Attacks directed and supported by Iran have killed an estimated 1,100 American troops in Iraq in recent years. Iran provided direct support to Al Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks.
Between 2010 and 2013, Iran either ordered or allowed at least three major terrorist plots against the US and Europe to be planned from its soil. Fortunately, all were foiled.
Iran's ballistic missile program, inexplicably outside the scope of current P5+1 negotiations, brings Europe into Iran's range, and future development will extend Tehran's reach to the US.
It is not yet too late to prevent Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons. In his 1941 speech to Congress, Churchill reminded the American people that five or six years previously it would have been easy to prevent Germany from rearming without bloodshed. But by then it was too late.
This vengeful and volatile regime must not in any circumstances be allowed to gain a nuclear weapons capability, whatever the P5+1 states might consider the short-term economic, political or strategic benefits to themselves of a deal with Tehran.
On Israel, here’s the promise Obama made that stays with me the most: “I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff,” he said. “I also don’t, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli government recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.” He went on to say four words that have since become famous: “We’ve got Israel’s back.”Politico: Why We Need to Hear Netanyahu
Netanyahu obviously believes that Obama doesn't have his, or Israel's, back. There will be no convincing Netanyahu that Obama is anything but a dangerous adversary. But if a consensus forms in high-level Israeli security circles (where there is a minimum of Obama-related hysterics) that the president has agreed to a weak deal, one that provides a glide path for Iran toward the nuclear threshold, then we will be able to say, fairly, that Obama's promises to Israel were not kept. One of Netanyahu’s most strident critics, Meir Dagan, the former head of the Mossad intelligence agency, said recently, “A nuclear Iran is a reality that Israel won't be able to come to terms with.”
He went on to say, “Two issues in particular concern me with respect to the talks between the world powers and Iran: What happens if and when the Iranians violate the agreement, and what happens when the period of the agreement comes to an end and they decide to pursue nuclear weapons?”
In the coming weeks, President Obama must provide compelling answers to these questions. (h/t Serious Black)
2. Netanyahu’s speech is the act of a true and courageous friend. All of America’s traditional allies in the Middle East are deeply distrustful of Obama’s outreach to Iran. Allies in Europe and Asia are similarly fearful regarding what they consider to be flagging American resolve in the face of threats from Russia and China. Few allied leaders, however, will express their concerns to the president plainly — even in private — for fear of retribution. When they see the White House treating Netanyahu to a level of hostility usually reserved for adversaries, their trepidation only increases.
Even worse, Obama’s apparent reluctance to stand up to adversaries gives allies incentive to hedge. The case of France is instructive. As our colleague Benjamin Haddad recently argued, elements of the French elite are now saying that the French government would be foolish to take a hard line against Russia and Iran. If Washington is going to fold in the face of pressure from Moscow and Tehran, how can France alone hold the line?
5. The Israeli prime minister’s views are reasonable, if not judicious. His opinions about the proposed Iran deal are not idiosyncratic; they are not exclusively Israeli; nor are they extreme. American observers with substantial reputations and with no ax to grind have themselves begun to express similar doubts about the proposed deal. Citing Henry Kissinger and others, The Washington Post editorial board recently wrote that “a process that began with the goal of eliminating Iran’s potential to produce nuclear weapons has evolved into a plan to tolerate and temporarily restrict that capability.”
If the president follows through with such a plan without first subjecting its terms to a rigorous debate in Congress, he will be concluding an agreement that is entirely personal in nature. The legitimacy of such a deal would be hotly contested, rendering it inherently unstable, if not dangerous. By helping to force a more thorough examination of the matter, Netanyahu is therefore performing a service to us all. When a president turns a deaf ear to a good friend bearing an inconvenient message, he works against his own interests, whether he realizes it or not.
When it comes to Iran and Israel, Obama is way off target
This President should be ashamed of his treatment of our friend Israel. He has trained his sights on a crucial ally when we should be focused on our actual enemies.JCPA: A Bad Agreement with Iran Will Undermine Middle East Stability
Let’s not forget who they are. The apocalyptic religious zealots in Iran who spent decades developing a nuclear program in secret that they don’t actually need to produce energy, and which they only came clean about possessing once they were caught red-handed by the international community.
Our enemies chant to "Death to America" and burn American flags at public rallies in Iran. They support terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, which has killed more Americans than any terrorist group except al-Qaida. They provide arms, money and moral support to sick murderers who gleefully target innocent men, women and children all over the world.
Those actions should be clear enough, but if the President and his advisors need some other hints about how Iran feels about America then they can note that just last week Tehran held naval military drills in which it swarmed and attacked a mock US aircraft carrier with cruise missiles, shoulder-fired rockets and speedboats.
The President is playing with fire. And if Israel should ultimately decide that America does not have its back and that it must take action to defend itself against the threat of nuclear extermination then President Obama will have nobody to blame more than himself.
Any agreement that preserves Iran’s nuclear capabilities entails the possibility that they will come to fruition in the medium to long term, subject to Tehran’s geostrategic considerations and the possibility that it will be forced to pay the price of violating the agreement.Legitimizing Iran as a Threshold Nuclear Power?
Iran’s leaders, with Khamenei at the forefront, have already started to prepare Iranian public opinion for a confrontation with the West over the nuclear talks. It could entail maintaining a “resistance economy” as the Iranian people pay a price for years of opposition to the United States and to its efforts to restrict their achievements. In actuality, though, this will not be necessary as the West repeatedly capitulates in the negotiations.
The Iranian regime will not change in nature. The subversion outside of Iran and the push to expand its influence will continue and even intensify. While some in the West speculate that the regime will moderate over time, it is just as likely that the Revolutionary Guards will keep gaining power and complete their takeover of the Iranian Revolution. That is not good news for the Iranian people, who long for a change in keeping with Rouhani’s promises. The U.S. president disappointed them as well in 2009.
A Nuclear “Iron Dome”
In sum, a nuclear agreement with Iran stands to be signed precisely when the Middle East is at a critical juncture. The struggle over the remolding of the region has not yet been decided. It is being waged between the proponents of change – such as Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran; and the proponents of stability – the moderate Arab states including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and Tunisia, along with Israel. The nuclear agreement will likely give Iran a tailwind and plunge the Middle East, in the medium to long term, into a nuclear arms race, intensify Iranian subversion and terror under the nuclear “Iron Dome,” and create a dangerous security reality for the moderate elements, some of which, in the past, were U.S. allies.
The essential problem with the would-be deal is that it will leave Iran with an enhanced ability to enrich uranium -- an ability that can lead Iran to nuclear weapons production in a relatively short time.
The purpose of an agreement is to push Iran away from the ability to make nuclear weapons.
According to reports surfacing from the talks, the proposed arrangement will likely leave a good portion of Iran's known centrifuges, which enrich uranium, intact.
Such a deal fails to provide any guarantee that this same infrastructure will not later be used to get Iran quickly to the nuclear weapons production stage.
An agreement that would be acceptable to Israel is one in which Jerusalem would have sufficient time to respond in case Iran violates its agreement.
Under the terms of what seems to be the current agreement, however, the amount of time needed might not be adequate -- meaning that Israel may not be able to consider itself bound by the agreement.
Israel does not oppose the idea of an agreement, but it opposes the particular one apparently being advanced in the diplomatic talks.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to develop its arsenal of ballistic missiles, which could carry these nuclear warheads.
Iranian officials boast of controlling four Arab capitals.
Netanyahu set to 'reveal new details to Congress about emerging Iran deal'
A senior Israeli official told reporters on Netanyahu's flight that Congress could be "the last brake" for stopping a nuclear deal with Iran.UN nuclear watchdog says Iran still withholding key information on atomic program
Saying it was Israel's impression that members of Congress "do not necessarily know the details of the deal coming together, which we do not see as a good deal," the official said Netanyahu in his speech would give a detailed explanation of his objections to an Iran deal.
US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated Washington's determination to pursue negotiations with Iran, saying on Sunday the United States deserved "the benefit of the doubt" to see if a nuclear deal could be reached.
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said on Monday Iran had still not handed over key information to his staff, and his body's investigation into Tehran's atomic program could not continue indefinitely.Iran could nuke New York, Bennett warns Americans
"Iran has yet to provide explanations that enable the agency to clarify two outstanding practical measures," chief Yukiya Amano told the body's Board of Governors in Vienna, echoing a report seen by Reuters last month.
The two measures relating to alleged explosives tests and other measures that might have been used for bomb research should have been addressed by Iran by last August.
"The Agency is not in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities," Amano said.
The West fears Iran wants to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett warned American TV viewers Sunday that Iranian nuclear ambitions were a direct threat to the West, and that the regime in Tehran was developing its missile program abilities with an eye to launching nuclear attacks on major Western cities.Boehner: Unprecedented Demand for Tickets to Bibi Speech
Bennett, who is Israel’s economy minister, told Fox News in an interview that Iran, “the biggest exporter of terror in the world,” was developing nuclear warheads and intercontinental missiles capable of reaching New York, London and Paris.
He underscored that a nuclear-armed Iran was not only a threat to Israel and the Middle East, noting that Iran was already capable of hitting Israel with its Shahab rockets if it wanted to.
House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that there is unprecedented demand for seats in the House for Binyamin Netanyahu's speech Tuesday.More Than 70% of US Legislators Skipping Netanyahu’s Speech Endorsed by J Street
"I've never seen anything like it,” he said on CBS's Face the Nation. “Everybody wants to be there.”
"What I do wonder is why the White House feels threatened because the Congress wants to support Israel and wants to hear what our trusted ally has to say.”
Support for Israel continues to be bipartisan, he stressed, and Democratic support for the Jewish state has not receded. "Really," he added, "the only conflict here is between the White House and Israel."
More than 70 percent of the federal legislators who have announced their intent to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s March 3 speech to a joint session of Congress about the Iranian nuclear threat are endorsed by the self-labeled “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby J Street.WH fact sheet plugs for Obama’s Israel record, ignores Iran
J Street has endorsed 18 of 24 House of Representatives members and two of four U.S. senators who are skipping Netanyahu’s speech, according to the lobby’s announcements of endorsements for elections in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
In advance of Netanyahu’s speech, J Street has distributed an online petition opposing the speech on the grounds that the prime minister of Israel “is not the spokesman for all Jews.”
“Add your name. Help us let [the Israeli] Ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, know that—as an American, as a Jew—Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t speak for you,” the J Street petition said. (h/t Yenta Press)
In the midst of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference, the White House decided to do some lobbying of its own by publishing and emailing a fact sheet documenting “5 things you need to know about the US-Israel relationship under President [Barack] Obama. The fact-sheet plugged Obama’s credentials as a supporter to Israel, and also emphasized that the United States has had a long history of support with Israel. It did not mention Iran.Kerry: Anti-Israel bias is undermining the UN Human Rights Council
The White House mailout came after a week of increased back-and-forth between Israel and Washington over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Tuesday speech before both houses of Congress.
“Under President Obama’s leadership, American engagement with Israel has grown and strengthened to an unprecedented degree,” the fact sheet read. “From meeting frequently with Israeli leaders to ensuring that Israel remains the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, the President is deeply committed to helping Israel maintain its strength and security.”
His words appeared to lay to rest media speculation that US President Barack Obama planned to penalize Israel at the UN out of frustration over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday against his Iran’s policy.Michael Lumish: Obama Insults AIPAC, American Jews
“We will oppose any effort by any group or participant in the UN system to arbitrarily and regularly delegitimize or isolate Israel, not just at the UN Human Rights Council but wherever it occurs,” Kerry told the UNHRC at the opening of its 28th session.
But he warned, the US was “deeply concerned” about the UNHRC’s record on Israel.
“No one in this room can deny that there is an unbalanced focus on one democratic country, [Israel],” he said.
“Year after year there are five or six separate resolutions on Israel,” he said.
“This year there was a resolution sponsored by President [Bashar] Assad concerning the Golan. How? I ask, is that a sensible priority at the very moment when refugees from Syria are flooding into the Golan to escape Assad’s murderous rule and receive treatment from Israeli physicians in Israeli hospitals,” Kerry said.
I would argue that, in fact, Barack Obama is stirring up anti-Semitism and has been for years.At AIPAC, US Senator Announces New Legislation to Fight Anti-Israel BDS Movement
It is not that Barack Obama is himself, necessarily, anti-Semitic, but that his disdain for the Jewish State of Israel tends to justify the hatred of those who are. By continually making unreasonable demands upon the Jews of the Middle East - such as that they not be allowed to build housing for themselves and their children in Judea and Samaria, the traditional homeland of the Jewish people, even within existing townships and villages - he helps create an atmosphere wherein anti-Semitism thrives and Jews around the world are put on the defensive.
To invite Susan Rice to AIPAC is a kick in the head to all of us who care about the well-being of Israel. Obama is mocking AIPAC, if not American Jews, more generally, because now that he has won his second term there is little that we can do about it.
During the previous two presidential elections, American Jewry got down on its hands and knees and gave Barack Obama a big, wet smooch on the tush. In response, Obama has turned around and, with a smile, kicked us directly in the teeth... but he has been doing that, more or less continually, in a variety of ways for many years now.
However counterproductive and false Susan Rice's views of Benjamin Netanyahu might be, she never discussed on camera the circumstances necessary for conquering Israel, as Samantha Power did.
US Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) will introduce new legislation this week to combat the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, he told attendees at the 2015 AIPAC Policy Conference on Sunday.EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Hezbollah Flag Raised at Anti-AIPAC protest
“There’s gonna be legislation introduced this week concerning BDS,” he told a packed auditorium in Washington, D.C.
“Israel is isolated internationally, we know that,” he continued. “Look at the UN votes. Look at how they’re discriminated against. When you have a boycott, divestment and sanctions movement you’re discriminating against Israel, and the United States should take a stance to make sure other countries that want trade agreements with the United States do not participate in BDS against Israel. And that’s what this legislation will do, and we need your help.”
US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who joined Cardin on stage, said the BDS legislation is important to put “countries on notice.”
Today, I braved an ice storm to video protests at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington, DC.
The nasty weather didn’t stop a group of around 60 anti-Israel activists from storming the steps of the Washington Convention Center and blocking at least one entrance to the conference grounds. Code Pink and other anti-Israeli groups went into a frenzy against AIPAC, the “Israel lobby,” and what they believe is the “Apartheid” State of Israel.
I also saw harassment of men, women, and children who had done nothing to deserve it except make the mistake of revealing their conference badge before they reached the door. Those who were obviously religious Jews (based on their head coverings, clothing, and facial hair) got it worse. There were shouts of “Go Home” hurled at the attendees.
There was also the Hezbollah flag flying overhead, as this video shows. There were chants that “BDS is the best” (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement), and “The State of Israel’s Got to Go.”
Watch: Son of Hamas Founder Addresses AIPAC Policy Conference
Among the prominent speakers at the opening day of AIPAC's 2015 Policy Conference in Washington Monday was Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of one of the founders of the Hamas terrorist group whose work as a spy for Israel's intelligence agency earned him the codename "Green Prince."
Speaking to veteran Israeli journalist Avi Issacharov, Yousef explained his journey from a committed Islamist extremist to an equally committed supporter of Israel and convert to Christianity.
"I started to realize that we are living a lie, and people are dying because of this lie," he said in a brief introductory video to his speech.
NYC Councillor: Proud to Wear My Kippah in Ramallah
He told Arutz Sheva that the request to remove his kippah (also called a yarmulke) came after a meeting with the American Consul-General in Jerusalem at his Ramallah office. He was asked to remove the kippah for the few seconds that the group would be in the street, between the office and the bus that transported them.Israel charges 4 businessmen for allegedly smuggling weapons-making material to Hamas
"I walked into Ramallah with my yarmulke on, of course," he said. "I was pulled aside by security personnel and was told that I should not wear my yarmulke when I was leaving the building."
The surprised Greenfield asked why he was being told this, and the answer was that “there was a security situation on the ground” and that it was not safe.
"I specifically asked them if it was unsafe for me or for the group – they said it was definitely not an issue for the group but they could not guarantee my personal safety. I explained for them that for me it's a very significant issue and that quite frankly, had I been told this in advance, I never would have agreed to come to Ramallah.
"I was told that the US government was providing security and as an official, I expected them to keep up their end of the deal," he said, adding that the request to have him remove the kippah had come from the Palestinian hosts.
The Southern District Attorney's Office on Monday filed indictments with the Beersheba District Court against three Israelis and a fourth man, all businessmen in large companies, for helping illegally smuggle iron to Gaza groups linked to Hamas in exchange for millions of shekels.IDF Blog: Terror at Israel’s Borders: The Threat of Hezbollah
The defendants are accused of “providing raw materials directly to Hamas for the benefit of manufacturing rockets, missiles, and other armaments.”
The men were named as Mica Peretz, of the Gaza corridor, Yehoram Alon, of Tel Aviv, Nagi Zuareb, of Shehade, and a fourth businessman whose name is under a gag order.
The indictment says that the four clearly knew that the Gaza groups they were dealing with were linked to Hamas.
The four indictments relate to previous indictments filed against a group of five Palestinians. (h/t Yenta Press)
With the ongoing civil war in neighboring Syria, Lebanon’s border with Syria has allowed weapons to circulate almost freely between the two countries. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, recently claimed “Israel can’t even imagine the size of our arms stockpile.”Israel said to seek additional $300 million from US for missile defense
Additional technology that Hezbollah has developed since the end of the Second Lebanon War is UAVs – unmanned aerial vehicle. Hezbollah is now in possession of numerous drones provided by Iran. These UAVs, built by the Iranian manufacturing company Ghods Industry, can carry out both reconnaissance missions and ground attacks. Hezbollah has actively used this technology on the Syrian battlefield in its fight to support Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Since its creation, Hezbollah has used all possible means to develop its offensive capabilities. From a small-scale terrorist group, to the Middle East’s most powerful paramilitary organization, Hezbollah is not only a regional threat, but a global one. It is backed by Iran and and Syria, who spare no effort in transferring missiles and rockets to their ally, Hezbollah. The terror organization is now in possession of very sophisticated weaponry which is aimed directly at Israeli civilians.
Israeli officials have reportedly asked the US Congress to add more than $300 million for the country’s missile defense programs in the fiscal year beginning October 1. The extra funds would be added to the $158 million proposed by the Pentagon in US President Barack Obama’s budget request and would be earmarked for production of the joint defense systems David’s Sling and Arrow III.2014 Sees One Hundred Percent Increase in Illegal Palestinian Infiltration Into Israel
According to a report in Bloomberg Friday, Israel turned directly to Congress, bypassing the White House and the Pentagon this time given the current spat between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the Obama administration over Netanyahu’s speech to congressional lawmakers on March 3, where he seeks to prevent what he considers a bad nuclear deal with Iran currently being negotiated by the US-led P5+1 world powers.
The head of Israel’s missile defense organization, Yair Ramati, “visited lawmakers and aides to the congressional defense committees on February 2 and 3 to outline the case for more money and thank them for past assistance,” persons familiar with the talks told Bloomberg.
The past year has seen a one hundred percent increase in illegal attempts by Palestinians to infiltrate Israel through border crossings around Jerusalem, according to figures published on Thursday by Military Police, Israel’s Walla reported.PMW: PA and Fatah demonization: Israel worse than Islamic State terrorists
According to the report on 2014′s statistics, 3362 individuals tried to enter Israel, compared with 1,545 Palestinians who tried to enter Israel without permits in 2013.
Meanwhile, there was a more than 200% increase in incidents of drivers transporting illegal aliens into the country. In one case in 2014, Military Police discovered a Palestinian hiding in the front part of the vehicle while it was stopped for a routine search at a checkpoint. The driver fled on foot, leaving his vehicle and ID with the soldiers.
At the crossings, which are operated by soldiers of the Erez Battalion of the Military Police, in the area under the command of Lt. Col. Gil Mamon, over 32 million individuals have passed through into Israel over the years.
The Palestinian Authority and Fatah have a long tradition of demonizing Jews and Israelis, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch. Both organizations employ a plethora of libels and lies to present Israelis as evil.PA Boycott May Boost Rami Levy Sales to Arabs
With the rise of Islamic State and the exposure of its atrocities, the PA and Fatah now have a new focus for their demonization. Whereas in the past the PA often cried that Israel and Jews are worse than the Nazis, their new theme is that Israel is worse than the Islamic State. At times they add that Israel, with the US, even controls the Islamic State.
Fatah's Information and Culture Commission posted a cartoon that shows an IS fighter holding a rifle, looking into a mirror. His reflection is a caricature of a Jew holding a match. Text on the image says: "The Islamic State."
[Webpage of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Feb. 15, 2015]
Previous calls to boycott Israeli products didn’t fare too well, as Arabs are loathe to give up on Israeli quality food products that they want or need.Top Hamas general says group prepping for war with Israel
This time around, the Palestinian Authority plans to destroy any remaining Israeli products found in PA supervised stores by next week – which means they’ll be sending around their Fatah enforcers to make sure that stores are complying with the decree, whether they want to or not.
The PA says the boycott is in response to Israel withholding the transfer of tax funds, which Israel decided to do after the PA took unilateral anti-Israel steps at the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council.
Without the tax money, the PA can’t pay their 150,000 civil servants, security personnel and captured terrorists sitting in Israeli jails.
The Rami Levi supermarket chain, which is very popular among Arabs from the Palestinian Authority, may very well pick up a lot of new business as a result of the Palestinian Authority’s actions.
In a rare public appearance, the head of Hamas’s military wing said Sunday that although the terror group was not actively seeking another round of violence with Israel, it has continued to stockpile rockets in anticipation of a future war.Gaza fears isolation as Egypt ups Hamas crackdown
Marwan Issa, a top commander for Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, made the comments during a conference organized by a Hamas-linked think tank, his first public appearance in over three years, Ynet reported.
“We are not seeking confrontation with Israel, but we continue to strengthen our capabilities by producing more rockets” he said, and assured participants that “Israel’s statements on this matter are of no interest to us.”
Issa’s comments came amid ongoing attempts by the terror group to test rockets by firing them into the Mediterranean Sea.
Hamas called for protests against the Egyptian government and issued angry statements, but did not offer a way out of the crisis. Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas spokesman, alleged Sunday that Egypt has become a “direct agent” of Israeli interests.Embattled Hamas tries to mend fences with Iran
Hamas urged Saudi Arabia to press Egypt to open the Gaza-Egypt border. Egypt’s president met Sunday with the new Saudi king.
Saturday’s court ruling signaled Egypt’s growing hostility toward Hamas, an offshoot of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has blamed Hamas for violence in the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula, a charge Hamas denies.
Wrongly banking on Assad’s overthrow, Hamas’s exiled leader Khaled Mashaal in 2012 abandoned host Damascus to move his base to Qatar.El-Sissi leading a Churchillian fight against Hamas
And after reports that Hamas’s military wing was helping Sunni rebels fighting the Assad regime, financial support from Shiite Iran soon began to dry up.
With Hamas now in dire straits after a destructive war last year with Israel in the Gaza Strip, officials have begun making overtures to Iran and its allies, seeking to return to the axis that links Tehran, Damascus and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s powerful Shiite movement.
“In terms of logistics and training, Iran has done more than any other country in supporting the resistance,” Hamas official Ahmad Yusef told AFP.
“Iran has always helped us.”
It’s not yet clear quite how an Egyptian court’s decision Saturday to define Hamas, in its entirety, as a terror group will play out. Hitherto, only the organization’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was defined as such, but the new ruling widens the definition to include the political branch. Does this mean that from here on out Egypt will completely ban Hamas, cutting all ties to the group including those involving Cairo’s own intelligence agencies?Coptic Monks Lie Down in Front of Bulldozers to Protect Ancient Christian Site
What can be said with a high degree of certainty, especially in light of the almost hysterical response to the ruling in the Gaza Strip, is that on a symbolic level this is Cairo’s declaration of war on Hamas. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is proving that there is only one leader in the Middle East who can be compared to Winston Churchill, and he sits in Cairo.
With Sissi, it’s not just talk. It’s action too. He has, memorably, now made a series of speeches calling for a revolution in Islamic thought, to shift the emphasis away from violence and to create a more humane Islam. He has declared war upon radical Islam wherever it may be — not only upon the Islamic State and its affiliates, who have attacked Egyptians in Libya and Egypt proper, but on the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates as well.
To protect a precious archaeological area that stretches around a church dating back to the fourth century AD, a group of Coptic monks from the Monastery of Saint Macarius have staged a resistance to a road-building project, going so far as to lie down in front of approaching bulldozers.'Jews using Holocaust to suck the blood of Germans,' Egypt TV host says
The Egyptian government is moving forward on a project to build a road connecting the city of Fayoum to an oasis area, passing through the territory around the ancient Coptic Monastery of St. Macarius, home to dozens of monks. The project also threatens the water supply of the monastery and some cultivated areas belonging to it.
To protest the building project, the monks have practiced nonviolent resistance, lying in the path of bulldozers working on the project. According to reports, workers approached the monastery lands shouting, “Allahu Akbar!”
The monastery is located in Wadi el-Natrun, the ancient Scetes, 57 miles southwest of Cairo, on the western side of the way of the wilderness toward Alexandria.
It was founded in 360 AD by St. Macarius the Egyptian, who was the spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of different nationalities—Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians, Asians, Palestinians, Italians, Gauls, and Spaniards.
An Egyptian television news anchor accused “the Jews” of exploiting the Holocaust to “suck the blood of the Germans.”Egyptian TV Host: The Jews Are Using the Holocaust to Suck the Blood of the Germans
The video footage of host Gaber al-Karmoty first appeared on the Egyptian ON TV network and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Karmoty lamented the fact that publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad was permissible but that the Holocaust was “off limits.”
"I'm talking about what people call the Nazi Holocaust, for which they are still sucking the blood of the Germans. Who? The Jews!" said Al-Karmoty.
Egyptian media, which is tightly regulated and controlled by the state, is rife with anti-Semitic discourse.
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