Thursday, August 11, 2016
PMW: Special report: PA brainwashing works, terrorists kill to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque
Mother of murderer of 13-year-old Israeli girl explained son's killing: He was "defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque"14-year-old terrorist stabbed an Israeli, believing it would stop Jews from "invading Al-Aqsa"
Uncle of stabber explained 14-year-old's attack: "He said: 'Maybe after two operations (i.e., terror attacks) they (i.e., the Jews) will stop invading the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque'"
Terrorist stabber in farewell video before attack: "I dedicate myself to the protection of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and defense of our occupied land"
This follows PA libel: Israel is destroying and defiling Islamic holy places PA and Fatah leaders say presence of Jews in Muslim holy places is "desecration" and "defilement"
PA and Fatah leaders urge Palestinians to "defend" and "protect" the Muslim holy places "at all costs" and "whatever the sacrifices" - including implicit call for violence and terror PA and Fatah leaders urge Palestinians to come to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to "carry out Ribat" - religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic
Terrorist who stabbed Israeli "dedicated" himself to "protection of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]"
MEMRI: Al-Quds Intifada Summer Camps In Gaza Offer Training In Stabbing, Firearms, Tunnel Combat
On July 16, 2016, Hamas's military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, launched its annual "Pioneers of Liberation" summer camps in Gaza. This year's camps were dedicated to the "Al-Quds Intifada" (i.e., Jerusalem Intifada), which is the Palestinian name for the wave of attacks against Israelis, especially in Jerusalem, in the past few months. The camps lasted two weeks and were attended by some 30,000 children and youths; activities included firearms training and other military training, civil defense exercises, and lessons in religion and in battle heritage. According to 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam officials, "the goal of the camps is to stoke the embers of jihad among the generation of liberation, to inculcate Islamic values and to prepare the army of victory for liberating Palestine."
The Camps, Named After Terrorists And Stabbing Operations, Included Training With Knives
The names of the camps reflected the "the Al-Quds Intifada" theme: one was called the "Knife Camp," after the stabbings that have been a prominent feature of the current wave of attacks; another was called "Soldiers of Al-Quds," and a third was named after Baha 'Aliyan, a terrorist who participated in a combined stabbing and shooting attack on a Jerusalem bus on October 13, 2015, in which three people were killed and nine were wounded.
The camp activities were documented on special social media accounts and under dedicated hashtags such as #Pioneers-of-Liberation. These accounts feature numerous posts and photos; the faces of the camp organizers and counselors, all of them Al-Qassam fighters, are often blurred to prevent recognition.
IDF Blog: Hezbollah’s Multiple Violations of UN Resolution 1701
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others. With this attack, which was the culmination of years of cross-border terror by Hezbollah, the Second Lebanon War began. From southern Lebanon, Hezbollah fired about 4,000 missiles into Israeli territory over the course of the war, threatening approximately two million Israeli civilians.
On August 11, 2006 a ceasefire was reached between both parties. In order to maintain peace on the Lebanese-Israeli border, the United Nations Security Council approved and enacted Resolution 1701. The resolution states:
“[The Security Council] calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements:…the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon.”
The resolution called for Hezbollah’s disarmament and withdrawal from Lebanon’s southern region. Hezbollah continues to violate this resolution today. The terror organization has been actively increasing their offensive capabilities and destabilizing an already volatile region. 10 years after the passing of Resolution 1701, Hezbollah has violated it over 8,000 times.
MEMRI: Officials In Lebanese, Gazan Terror Organizations Confirm: Iran Funds Our Activity
Arab media have recently published statements by officials in the Lebanese Hizbullah and the Gazan Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, and by their supporters, confirming what has long been known – namely that these Lebanese and Gazan terror organizations receive substantial financial and military assistance from Iran. These statements join many reports, especially in the anti-Iranian media, regarding Iran's funding of various terrorist organizations across the Arab world. According to these reports, the assistance comes mainly from the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).Why is the U.S. Helping to Send Arms to Hizballah?
The following are some examples of these statements and reports from the last two months:
Hizbullah Secretary-General Nasrallah: Hizbullah's Entire Budget Is Provided By Iran
In a speech he delivered on June 24, 2016, marking 40 days after the killing of Mustafa Badr Al-Din, who was considered to be Hizbullah's chief operations officer, and following the imposition of U.S. sanctions on Hizbullah that threaten its financial infrastructure and income, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah clarified: "Hizbullah's budget – its salaries and expenditures, [the money that pays for] its food and drink, weapons and missiles – [all come from] Iran. Is that clear?... As long as Iran has money we have money. Do you require greater transparency than that[?] The funds earmarked for us do not reach us through the banks. We receive them the same way we receive our missiles, with which we threaten Israel."
Earlier this year Saudi Arabia discontinued its $4 billion aid package to the Lebanese armed forces on the grounds that they had been hopelessly compromised by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization which is by far the strongest military and political actor in Lebanon. So it is a little startling to read today that the U.S. Embassy in Beirut is bragging about all the military equipment it is delivering to the Lebanese army:2014: Gaza Construction Funding "Incorrectly" Handled, UN Audit Finds
The United States delivered 50 armored vehicles, 40 artillery pieces and 50 grenade launchers to the Lebanese army on Tuesday, part of its efforts to bolster Lebanon against a threat from militant groups in neighboring, conflict-ridden Syria.
The equipment, worth $50 million, is part of an aid package that has now topped $220 million this year, making Lebanon the fifth-biggest recipient of American military assistance, U.S. ambassador Elizabeth Richard said during the delivery.
Something doesn’t add up here. Does the U.S. government disagree with Riyadh about the degree of Hezbollah domination of Lebanon in general and its armed forces in particular? Does Washington believe that the Lebanese armed forces can be bolstered as an independent force to stand up to various terrorist groups including Hezbollah—and if so, how do we imagine that will happen? Or does the U.S. government simply not care about the Hezbollah-Lebanese armed forces connection?
While controversy continues to swirl around the huge Hamas tunnel network in Gaza, an internal United Nations audit report reveals that a U.N. Development Program office that funds and monitors spending on construction in the territory allowed at least five non-staff contract employees to handle “core” procurement processes that only staffers are supposed to handle, including those for ordering up “significant” civil construction activities.UN Watch: How UNDP panders to Hamas regime
Moreover, the report says, of the UNDP office: “the Office was not monitoring and recording actual work” performed by these individuals and other contract employees handling “core” functions, and the terms of reference for their employment “did not include specifications for services provided to particular projects” — in other words, were relatively undefined.
At the same time, the office’s internal financial tracking system — a UNDP-wide system known as Atlas — was improperly recording at least $8 million worth of civil construction spending at far less than its full value, a practice that UNDP auditors noted could keep the activity under the radar of higher-level U.N. officials who must approve purchase orders above defined cost threshold levels.
Moreover, the Palestinian program office was not properly keeping track of expenditures or receipts in the financial system. The auditors noted that in a sampling of 41 payment vouchers, 12 purchase orders did not have receipts recorded in the system. “This practice,” the report noted, “increases the risk of paying for goods that are not delivered.”
The indictment today of a UNDP official in Gaza for aiding Hamas terrorist activities may not have been known by senior management, however the organization’s culture of pandering to the Hamas regime likely enabled the criminal diversion of humanitarian resources.Special envoy to the UN calls for immediate halt of aid money to Gaza
For example, during the last Gaza war in 2014, despite UNDP’s duties of neutrality and impartiality, the organization noticeable sided with Hamas against Israel, whitewashing the systematic subversion by Hamas of homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals, to hide weapons, install rocket launchers, and cover up entrances to terror tunnels as well as terrorist command and control centers.
UNDP Report on Gaza War Completely Omits the Word “Hamas”
In August 2014, UNDP published a “Preliminary Assessment”, prepared by the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem, a Palestinian NGO that promotes demonizing rhetoric against Israel and advances the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanction) agenda. The publication reveals marked bias and politicization. A few of many examples:
All international humanitarian organizations need to immediately halt all aid money to Gaza until it can be proven that the money isn’t being squandered by Hamas, a leading Christian-Zionist said Wednesday.World Vision: World Vision Suspends Work in Gaza after Arrest
“The enemy of the people of Gaza is Hamas, not Israel. Hamas has hijacked the coastal strip and rules over its people with an iron fist. For decades, the leadership of Hamas has robbed its people of aid money,” said Special Envoy to the United Nations Laurie Cardoza-Moore. “The time has come to halt all aid money into the Gaza Strip as long as Hamas is in control.”
Her position comes hours after a UN employee in Gaza was indicted for funneling charity donations to fund Hamas naval units and days after a representative of the Evangelical World Vision organization was accused of channeling up to $50 million in charitable donations to the Islamist group.
Cardoza-Moore represents the World Council of Independent Christian Churches at the UN and is president of the Evangelical Christian organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations.
As a professional Christian, humanitarian organisation, we take our commitment to truth and transparency very seriously. For more than 65 years, we have stayed true to our mission to work with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice around the world.Israeli centrist leader finds himself alone in battle against UN agency
World Vision is seeking to understand the truth behind the allegations laid against Mohammad El Halabi. World Vision condemns any diversion of funds from any humanitarian organisation and strongly condemns any act of terrorism or support for those activities.
We first learned of the accusations last Thursday, August 4, where the charges were officially presented for the first time. Due to the seriousness of the allegations, World Vision has already suspended operations in Gaza. We are conducting a full review, including an externally conducted forensic audit, and will remain fully engaged with the investigation that is underway.
Over the past few weeks, reports have reached Israel that the new Canadian government is planning to renew its support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The UNRWA helps Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East, with special emphasis on those in the refugee camps of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was particularly supportive of Israel, the Canadians suspended their support for UNRWA. Jerusalem has now learned that Canada is about to restore its financial aid to the UN agency, if cautiously, by helping to fund special projects rather than providing regular support for the organization at large.LA Times Silent on International Aid Going to Hamas
Former Finance Minister Yair Lapid, the chairman of Yesh Atid, was exasperated by the news. The man considered the strongest candidate to one day succeed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been waging an all-out war against UNRWA and various other international aid organizations and institutions. He calls UNRWA anti-Semitic and says that it has been causing profound damage to Israel.
“Its staff,” Lapid told Al-Monitor in an interview, “includes quite a few members of Hamas, and its schools and preschools are being used to hide Qassam rockets and mortars. Worst of all,” he continues, “it manufactures refugees, thereby making a decisive contribution to perpetuating the Palestinian refugee phenomenon.”
Lapid has decided to fight the move, and is now trying to persuade the Canadians not to change their policy. He placed a few calls to prominent Jewish Canadian leaders and asked them to pressure their representatives in the parliament and the government, but when they got back to him a few days later, they had some surprising news. They had started sending out feelers, but were told that the Canadian government had already consulted with the Israeli Embassy and the ambassador himself, speaking for Jerusalem, informed them that the Israeli government does not oppose support for UNRWA. In fact, the opposite may be true.
The New York Times last week published an in-depth article, more than 1,100 words, about the Gaza director for World Vision, a Christian aid organization, who was charged with funneling over $40 million to the Hamas terrorist organization. Before the Times reporters had completed that story, their paper's website already posted this Associated Press article about Mohammed el-Halabi, the World Vision employee.Watch: 'I care more about Palestinians than their own leaders'
The Times continued its strong coverage on the subject with a long article in print today about a United Nations aid worker similarly charged with helping Hamas in Gaza. The charges are significant enough that Australia and Germany have halted their support for World Vision projects in Gaza and the West Bank.
Yet, The Los Angeles Times published not a single word neither in print nor online about the employees working for World Vision, the United Nations Development Program and Save the Children, another international aid group, who have been arrested for funneling aid money to Hamas.
The LA Times' utter failure to cover this critical story is all the more glaring in light of the paper's publication today of an article about the slow reconstruction of homes in Gaza since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas ("2 years after Gaza war, still no homes"). Given the vital role that international organizations, including the United Nations, play in the rebuilding of homes in Gaza, the oversight is all the more indefensible.
In an official Facebook post, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addresses the Gazan government:
"I'm going to say something now that some of you will not believe. But I'm going to say it anyway because it's true.
"I, the Prime Minister of Israel, care more about Palestinians than their own leaders do. Israel cares more about Palestinians than their own leaders do.
"That sounds incredible, right?
"But consider the following:
"A few days ago, the world learned that Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules Gaza, stole millions of dollars from humanitarian organizations like World Vision and the United Nations.
"Innocent and impoverished Palestinians were denied vital aid supplied from nations around the world.
Hamas used this stolen money to build a war machine to murder Jews.
Abbas rejected US call to meet with Netanyahu — report
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly turned down an American request that he meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to jumpstart peace talks.Is Israel about to Sign a Terrible Deal?
US Secretary of State John Kerry made the request of the Palestinian leader at their July meeting in Paris, the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported on Thursday.
Abbas refused the meeting, the newspaper said, according to a report by Channel 10 news, telling Kerry that he would only acquiesce after Netanyahu froze all settlement construction and released the last group of prisoners that were slated to be freed as a goodwill gesture in the 2014 peace talks.
In May, Netanyahu said he was willing “to meet President Abbas today in Jerusalem. If he’d like, in Ramallah. Right now. Today.” In April, Abbas told Israeli television Netanyahu is “the partner” for peace, and called on the Israeli premier to meet with him “at any time,” prompting Netanyahu to declare that his invitation stands.
100% of the money will be spent in the U.S., while Israel is presently able to spend 25% in Israel. This is a subsidy for U.S. defense industries and constrains Israel's defense choices by forcing the IDF to exclude weapons from Europe and elsewhere.US rabbinic group, Breaking the Silence team up for West Bank tours
Without the ability to spend some money in Israel, it will be harder for smaller defense and high-tech industries to keep up.
Israel will be prohibited from asking Congress for additional funds for ten years, effectively removing a bipartisan center of support for Israel's security from the equation and reducing Israel's flexibility in addressing rapidly emerging threats.
This could be particularly problematic: an administration that opposes missile defense in principle -- as does the Obama administration -- could effectively stifle Israel, which protects its people with a layered missile defense system.
A North American human rights rabbinic group has teamed up with the Breaking the Silence NGO to arrange West Bank tours that will be guided by former Israeli soldiers and include meetings with Palestinians.Intrigue in The Hague: Death threats against Palestinian ICC activist probed
In a joint partnership, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and Breaking the Silence will organize day trips to the West Bank for synagogues and other Jewish groups touring in Israel.
The aim is to “empower more American Jews to meet both Palestinians and IDF veterans who have served in the territories, to listen deeply to their narratives, and to bring these perspectives into working toward a better future for Israelis and Palestinians,” according to a news release Wednesday.
“Former combat soldiers from Breaking the Silence will share their perspective of how the occupation affects Israelis. T’ruah will facilitate the group’s reflection during and after the program,” according to T’ruah.
Dutch authorities are investigating death threats against a Palestinian rights activist in The Hague targeted because she has made submissions to the International Criminal Court's inquiry into the 2014 Gaza conflict.Turkey’s parliament to ratify Israel deal before end of month
Nada Kiswanson, a legal researcher at Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, said the threats began early this year and have continued on a regular basis since.
"My channels of communication have been totally compromised," Kiswanson told Reuters, adding that she had received death threats by e-mail, via family members and in the form of flower deliveries to her home with accompanying messages.
When she purchased an anonymous pre-paid mobile phone number, she received a threat on it a day later. Messages had come in Dutch, English and "broken Arabic," she said.
Turkey’s foreign minister has said that parliament will approve a deal to normalize ties with Israel before it goes into its summer recess later this month, the Anadolou news agency reported Thursday.Israel starts to seize ‘abandoned’ Palestinian property for Amona relocation
“I think we will finalize this work before the parliament goes into the summer recess,” Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as telling the state-run agency.
In June, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to restore their broken ties, which hit an all-time low after the 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound flotilla that sparked a deadly clash that left 10 Turks dead and several IDF soldiers wounded.
Israel had already offered compensation and an apology over the raid, but with the agreement it also eased slightly the naval blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza and allowed Ankara to deliver a humanitarian aid shipment to the territory.
Cavusoglu acknowledged parliament had so far not taken up the deal with Israel because of time pressure created by the July 15 coup attempt by rogue elements in the military seeking to unseat the government, which Turkey blames on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The IDF has begun the process of seizing abandoned private Palestinian property in the West Bank, so that it can relocate the 40 settler families who live in the Amona outpost, Peace Now said on Thursday.Israeli teen moderately hurt in East Jerusalem stabbing
The property lots in question are adjacent to Amona’s current location, on the outskirts of the Ofra settlement, in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.
The High Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Amona must be evacuated by December 25, because it was built without permits on private Palestinian property.
With only five months left to that deadline, politicians are scrambling to find a way to save the outpost.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has argued that the law of abandoned property can be used to seize land that belongs to Palestinians who left the West Bank decades ago.
A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli with a screwdriver in East Jerusalem on Thursday, police said.Palestinian mom of Israeli soldier in 21-year fight for citizenship
The victim was moderately hurt, with several stab wounds in his upper body, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
He was identified as 18 years old and Jewish, “apparently a seminary student,” an MDA statement said.
Police forces were at the scene of the attack in Jerusalem’s A-Tur neighborhood.
The suspected attacker, reportedly a Palestinian, fled on foot.
A Palestinian woman whose late husband was an Israeli citizen and whose son serves in the Israel Defense Forces has been denied Israeli citizenship for the past 21 years.Senior PFLP leader barred from leaving country amid terror fears
According to a report by Channel 2 TV on Wednesday, the woman — who was not identified — was originally from the West Bank city of Jenin and moved to Israel after marrying an Arab Israeli man from Haifa over two decades ago. Her husband has since died and she is ill, but remains unable to get medical insurance or work in Israel because she is not a citizen.
“She cannot receive treatment. It is infuriating. We are degraded by the state. I am disappointed because there are people who came to Israel recently and have already received an ID card and everything,” her son, Elias, who currently serves in the IDF, told Channel 2.
In most cases, a spouse of an Israeli citizen may apply for — and receive — citizenship on the basis of family reunification.
Family reunification in Israel typically involves an Israeli citizen requesting citizenship for his or her non-Israeli spouse. Israel’s Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law makes citizens of Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, the West Bank and Gaza Strip ineligible for the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship and residency permits due to security concerns.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) ordered Wednesday night a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) barred from leaving the country, amid fears he is planning to aid foreign terror cells.PreOccupiedTerritory: IDF Seeks NYC MTA Experience On Ways To Make Hamas Tunnel Digs Never Finish (satire)
The PFLP, one of the oldest terror groups within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), has a long history of violent attacks against Israelis, including the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi. The faction is now a party within the Palestinian Authority parliament.
According to intelligence information acquired by the Israeli security establishment a senior member of the PFLP, Abed Khalil al-Latif Jat, a resident of eastern Jerusalem, had planned to travel to an undisclosed Arab country for the purpose of aiding overseas terror cells.
Israeli defense officials continue to seek innovative ways to neutralize or combat threats from Hamas and other Islamist militias in the Gaza Strip near this pastoral community, including those groups’ use of tunnels. But a recent report by the Ministry of Defense notes that efforts also include less innovative solutions as well, such as intensive discussions with New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority in an attempt to enlist the latter’s decades of experience in making sure that underground excavation projects seldom, if ever, near completion.WATCH: Hezbollah Shows Off Drone Strike Capability, Gears Up for Next War
The report, portions of which were made available to reporters, attested to the departure of a team of IDF to MTA headquarters early this year, with ongoing communication between the two entities on the subject since then. Chief among the IDF’s list of MTA achievements they wish to study is the Second Avenue subway line, a project that was originally proposed in 1919 but has yet to be completed.
Experts believe the MTA possesses vast knowledge and experience in stymieing and ultimately rendering moot most digging initiatives that could benefit Israel in the country’s ongoing campaign to protect its communities near Gaza from infiltration and its soldiers in combat during operations in the Gaza Strip, should those become necessary.
“If Hamas starts firing rockets, the Iron Dome system will certainly neutralize a good number of them, but the best defense is a good offense,” explained Ron Ben-Yishai, who writes for the daily Yediot Aharonot. “You have to take the fight to the enemy and deter his aggression, and that means sending in troops to destroy the rockets and launchers, and to neutralize those who operate them. The tunnels are a complex tactical problem, and the IDF seeks wisdom where it can. In this case, no city is better-equipped with the technical and human know-how in frustrating ambitions for excavation projects than New York. It’s a smart move by a smart military, and it shows maturity – they’re not too proud to admit they have what to learn.”
A video reportedly showing a drone operated by Hezbollah attacking a number of targets near Aleppo was released by a media source close to the terrorist group on Tuesday.A Theory: Why Obama Gave Iran Cash
Three separate attacks are seen in the video: the first is described as targeting “a [rebel] leader’s base,” the second is against a pickup truck allegedly belonging to unidentified “gunmen,” and the third hits “a gathering of gunmen.”
The bombs appear to be Chinese-made MZD-2 submunitions, alternatively known as Type-90’s, Beirut-based NOW News reported. These armor-piercing explosives are typically encased in cylinders packed with steel ball bearings and then placed inside Chinese-made Type-81 122mm rockets in order to create cluster munitions. Hezbollah deployed these munitions against Israel in 2006, according to Human Rights Watch.
Hezbollah is first known to have used a drone in October 2012, when one breached Israeli airspace from the Mediterranean Sea and flew 55 kilometers (about 34 miles) before being shot down over the Negev desert. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah claimed that the drone, which he said was made in Iran but assembled in Lebanon, was part of a spying mission.
Why did the Obama administration make its $400 million payment to Iran on January 17 in untraceable foreign currency and then not only fail to disclose that the payment had been made in cash but withhold that information from Senator Tom Cotton in response to his repeated inquiries about it? According to both former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Treasury terrorism finance analyst Jonathan Schanzer, President Obama could have paid Iran legally in a conventional banking transaction rather than cash. The administration disclosed the amount of the payment in its January 17 announcement of the deal, but not that it had been made in cash.House Task Force Confirms: ISIS Threat Was Altered in Intelligence Reports For Political Purposes
The reason for both the use of cash and the effort to hide its use may well relate to Hezbollah–Iran’s wholly-owned terrorist proxy in Lebanon–and to the “Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015” (“HIFPA”), which was enacted by Congress one month before the cash payment. HIFPA helps explain (a) why Iran wanted $400 million in cash and why it needed it in January and (b) why the administration did not want to disclose its cash payment to Congress.
As of 2015, Iran’s annual funding of Hezbollah was $200 million per year (in addition to weapons, training, intelligence, and logistical assistance), according to the testimony of Matthew Levitt, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in a September 17, 2015, Congressional hearing. He told Congress that, as a result of the then-pending Iran deal, “Hezbollah is about to take a place of even greater prominence within the planning of Iran’s revolutionary elite,” and that with the coming sanctions relief for Iran:
Last year the Daily Beast published a bombshell report featuring dozens of intelligence community whistleblowers alleging the Obama administration and top tier levels of the military were "cooking the books" on ISIS in order to paint a rosier picture for the American public and to downplay the real threat the terror army posed.Suspected gas attack in Syria causes deaths, injuries
Now, a House panel investigating the situation is confirming intelligence reports containing warnings about ISIS, it's growth, expansion, threat and overall influence, were scrubbed for political purposes.
House Republican task force has found that officials from the U.S. military’s Central Command altered intelligence reports to portray the U.S. fight against ISIS and al Qaeda in a more positive light than lower-level analysts believed was warranted by the facts on the ground, three officials familiar with the task force’s findings told The Daily Beast.
A roughly 10-page report on the controversy is expected to be released by the end of next week, two officials said. While it contains no definitive evidence that senior Obama administration officials ordered the reports to be doctored, the five-month investigation did corroborate earlier reports that analysts felt the leaders of CENTCOM’s intelligence directorate pressured them to conclude that the threat from ISIS was not as ominous as the analysts believed, the officials said.
At least four people died and many suffered breathing difficulties as a result of a suspected chlorine gas attack on a neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo, medical officials in the city said Wednesday. A local rescue organization said the gas was dropped on the area alongside barrel bombs.PreOccupiedTerritory: What Does A Guy Have To Do To Get A UNHRC Resolution Around Here? By Basher Assad, President of Syria (satire)
Hamza Khatib, manager of Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo, told Reuters the hospital had recorded four deaths and 55 injuries from gas poisoning. Seven people were still receiving treatment, he said.
Khatib said he was preserving pieces of patients' clothing and fragments from the barrel bombs as evidence for analysis.
The Syria Civil Defense, a Syrian rescue service operating in rebel-held territory, told Reuters it had recorded three deaths and 22 injuries after a barrel containing a gas suspected of being chlorine fell on the Zubdiya neighborhood. The group, which describes itself as a neutral band of search and rescue volunteers, said it could not independently verify the nature of the gas.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said helicopters dropped explosive barrels on the neighborhoods of Seif al Dawla and Zubdiya, leading to the death of a woman and her child.
I’ve been doing this repression thing for years and years. At first it was the not-so-subtle intimidation backed by the precedent of ruthless retaliation, but that eventually gave way to open warfare against my own people. Politicians and public figures do an awful lot of talking, but my goals are simple – I want equal treatment. I want a drop of the attention the United Nations Human Rights Council showers on Israel. What does a guy have to do to get a UNHRC resolution around here?
It’s not as if I’m not trying. Barrel bombs, prisoner torture, executions, targeting civilians, war rape, chemical weapons – those are just part of the methods I’ve had my forces and allies employ in the last five years. But not a peep from the Council. Meanwhile, they go ape over a tiny fraction of the civilian casualties my forces have amassed when Israel so much as sneezes in the direction of Gaza, poof! Instant commission. It’s patently unfair. I’m trying so goddamn hard here.
It didn’t use to be like this. Once upon a time nobody gave a damn about ANYBODY. We brutal autocrats could do pretty much what we wanted with subjects who displeased us, and you’d hardly see bureaucrats in Geneva lining up to investigate and recommend a war crimes trial. This was certainly the case outside Europe. But then someone got the idea that such a process would be perfect for isolating Israel and undermining her legitimacy, and a monster was created. All of a sudden there was this expectation that war crimes would be prosecuted. It happened in the former Yugoslavia, and to a lesser extent in Rwanda and other parts of Africa. Even my buddy Omar Bashir of Sudan might get in hot water over this.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
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