PMW: PA libel continues: Terrorist stabbers are “unarmed” victims of Israeli executions
Several Palestinian terrorists have carried out stabbing attacks in the last few days, injuring Israelis. Some of the terrorists were shot and killed during their attacks. The violent acts of terror have gone unaddressed by Palestinian leaders, and have even been denied by some. Instead, Palestinian leaders describe the perpetrators as victims and accuse Israel of carrying out "summary executions."
- PA news agency about terrorist stabbers: "Unarmed Palestinians" have been "executed... on pretexts and empty excuses"
- PA Minister of Justice ignored and denied stabbings: "Israel is waging a one-sided campaign" "The occupation is using the excuse that they tried to stab... and other baseless excuses"
- PA TV about terrorist who attacked police with a knife in each hand: "Occupation soldiers... executed 28-year-old Sa'id Al-Amru... under the pretext that he tried to carry out a stabbing operation"Israel "targeted" him to "prevent Arabs from defending Jerusalem and Palestine"
- PLO "called on the Palestinian factions and forces, associations, and unions to escalate the popular struggle against the occupation"
The official PA news agency WAFA announced that Israel is carrying out "summary executions and daily killing[s]" of "unarmed Palestinians," and claimed several "citizens" had been "executed... on pretexts and empty excuses." [WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 19, 2016]
PA Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diyak chose to ignore and even deny the stabbings, calling Israel's response to the spike in terror attacks "a one-sided campaign" and categorizing the stabbings as "baseless excuses":
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: "The Mafia of Destruction"
Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have turned medical care into a business that earns them hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. This corruption has enabled top officials in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to embezzle millions of shekels from the PA budget.Ben-Dror Yemini: No excuse for terror
In 2013, the PA spent more than half a billion shekels covering medical bills of Palestinians who were referred to hospitals outside the Palestinian territories. However, no one seems to know exactly how the money was spent and whether all those who received the referrals were indeed in need of medical treatment. In one case, it appeared that 113 Palestinian patients had been admitted to Israeli hospitals at the cost of 3 million shekels, while there is no documentation of any of these cases. Even the identities of the patients remain unknown.
Hajer Harb, a courageous Palestinian journalist from the Gaza Strip, says she is now facing charges of "slander" for exposing the corruption. She has been repeatedly interrogated by Hamas. The PA regime, for its part, is not too happy with exposure about the scandal.
Gaza's hospitals would be rather better equipped if Hamas used its money to build medical centers instead of tunnels for smuggling weapons from Egypt to attack Israel.
Op-ed: Terrorists' main motive, both in Hebron and in Minnesota, is religious invigoration. The terrorism of the past few years needs no justifications such as 'desperation' and 'occupation.'Chelsea bombing suspect’s wife and mother left US days before attack
Over the past weekend, 70 to 90 Syrian soldiers were killed in a US-led airstrike, 36 people were murdered in a terror attack in a mosque in Pakistan, 17 Indian soldiers were killed in Kashmir, 29 people were wounded in an explosion in New York, a pipe bomb-style device exploded in New Jersey, a house in central Paris was raided following a warning of a terror attack, and a stabber attacked people in Minnesota while screaming "Allahu Akbar." That's just a partial list.
All these incidents, or "only" most of them, have something in common: Jihad. This past August, 1,637 people were murdered in jihadist terror attacks. Just terror, not including war. Almost all of them were Muslims. Some of the incidents – which took place in Somalia, Libya and Nigeria – only get reported partially, if at all. So the death toll is possibly much higher.
Why would a Muslim blow himself up in a mosque of all places? My young son asks me, over and over, why? And Over and over again I have no answer. What crime was committed by the small children who went to pray at the mosque? Why did the suicide bomber come to murder them of all people? They were not even Shiites. It was a devout Sunni who murdered devout Sunnis.
The wife and mother of the Afghan immigrant suspected in the New York and New Jersey bombings left the US for the Middle East just a few days before the attacks, according to reports.
Ahmad Khan Rahami’s wife, Asia Bibi Rahami, has been intercepted by authorities in the United Arab Emirates after leaving the US for Pakistan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officials are working with authorities in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates to question her about what she knew about her husband’s plans, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Rahami’s mother, Najiba Rahami, left for Turkey three weeks before the attacks and has not yet returned to the US, a US official to ABC News.
International Community Must Focus On Palestinian Unity, Not Israel, To Kick-Start Peace
Rather than addressing these failings, the international community continues to focus on getting the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. While admirable, the quest for diplomacy that yields two-states for two peoples is increasingly impossible to imagine. The Palestinians have two-states, themselves. So, what’s needed first is a plan to tackle the Palestinian political stagnation that has grown worse over a decade of international neglect.New Research Confirms U.N. Obsession with Israel
A plan for political succession and reinvigoration is crucial for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Regardless of where things stand with Israel, this interim government is the only structure poised to run a future state. The more it loses legitimacy at home and abroad, the harder it will be to envision a viable two-state solution.
A plan for separating Hamas from the Gaza Strip is an even more daunting task. But so long as Hamas remains in power there, the chances of a unified and politically recognized Palestinian government are effectively nil.
A new British prime minister recently took office. A new U.S. president will assume office in January. French and German leaders will also be elected next year. New leaders mean new thinking. This will be crucial for the Palestinians, who have not seen new leaders in more than ten years.
The above cited examples are only a fraction of the anti-Israel biased resolutions by the U.N. In his research, Professor Kontorovich also addressed the term “settlements.” In his new article titled Unsettled: A Global Study of Settlements in Occupied Territories, Professor Kontorovich shows that settlements by other states far “eclipse Israel’s.” Yet, the term “settlements” by the U.N. only applies to Israeli civilian communities in Judea and Samaria. It has been applied to Israel 256 times in the UNGA and 17 times in the UNSC. Neither body has ever used the word in relation to any other country with settlers in occupied territory.Israel waits for Obama's UN shoe to drop
Professor Kontorovich’s research clearly reveals that the U.N. practices a double standard. It also negates the assertion by the U.N. that it represents global justice, a claim that has no basis in reality. The U.N. has in fact done little to prevent wars, end hunger, or pursue justice - not in Syria, Darfur, Bosnia or Rwanda. It has been caught in corruption schemes, and it has fostered anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. The same U.N. has no interest in resolving conflicts, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather, as Bassem Eid said, “it perpetuates it, because it stands to gain from it.” The U.N. is prone to get involved only when it can blame Israel.
In conclusion, Professor Kontorovich writes, “At a time of serious global crises - from a disintegrating Middle East to a land war and belligerent occupation in Europe - the leaders of the free world cannot afford to tempt the U.N. into indulging its obsessions with Israel. Especially when the apparent consequence of such scapegoating (of Israel) is that the U.N. ignores other situations and people in desperate need of attention.”
Israelis and Palestinians anxiously awaiting President Barack Obama’s decision whether or not to take up their conflict at the UN Security Council were given few clues of his plans on Tuesday.France wants international Mideast conference this year
In his final speech as president to the General Assembly, Obama mentioned the stifled Middle East peace process only in passing.
“Surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, and Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land,” he said. “We all have to do better as leaders in tamping down, rather than encouraging, a notion of identity that leads us to diminish others.”
That was one more remark on the conflict than last year, when Obama made no mention whatsoever of the stalled peace process.
In 2014, the president stated that Israeli-Palestinian peace was one of his top two foreign policy priorities before leaving office, next to solving the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear program.
Now, Palestinians hope and Israelis fear that Obama will take up their issue in a resolution at the Security Council. A resolution floated by France would set out parameters for a two-state solution and restate the council’s position on the conflict.
France said Monday it wants to organize an international conference before the end of the year to present Israelis and Palestinians with a package of incentives if they reach a peace agreement.As Netanyahu arrives in New York, UN speeches ignore Palestinian violence
Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at a briefing on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting that “this week must be a moment of political mobilization that we can reach that goal.”
Ayrault’s push for an international conference in France follows an announcement by Russia’s Foreign Ministry on September 8 that Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed “in principle” to meet in Moscow for talks.
But the wide gaps between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas raise doubts about the prospect for any meeting — and if there is one whether they would make any progress.
Abbas demands that Israel halt all settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, and release about two dozen Palestinian prisoners before any meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the preconditions and says he is willing to immediately hold face-to-face talks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in New York on Tuesday hoping to convince the international community of the need for one standard in fighting terrorism, only to be greeted by a speech from the head of the UN that slammed Israel and made no mention of Palestinian terrorism.Sisi meets Jewish leaders, praises Israeli cooperation in war on terror in Sinai
“As a friend of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, it pains me that this past decade has been 10 years lost to peace,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “Ten years lost to illegal settlement expansion. Ten years lost to intra-Palestinian divide, growing polarization and hopelessness. This is madness.”
US President Barack Obama, in his farewell address to the UN, also made no mention of Palestinian violence in the one sentence he devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, referring instead to Palestinian incitement.
“Surely Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land,” Obama said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi applauded the level of cooperation between Israel and Egypt in a closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders in New York on Tuesday.Accept Palestine or face ‘sea of hatred,’ Jordanian king warns Israel
Among those attended the meeting were representatives of Bnai Brith, American Jewish Congress, Conference of Presidents and World Jewish Congress as well as other leading US figures including military and political officials and US think tanks.
Sisi, who was in New York to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, lauded Israel and Egypt's smooth coordination to ensure a peaceful situation in the Sinai Peninsula.
According to foreign reports, the Israeli Air Force is taking part in the attacks against ISIS in Sinai and the IDF's Military Intelligence Unit 8200 is assisting Egyptian forces to collect and decipher information about the terrorists there.
Sisi added that Egypt is on top of the terror situation in Sinai and praised the close cooperation of his country with the US and Israel in the battle against terror.
He also emphasized that Egypt is committed to getting the peace process going in different parts of the region, specifically between Israel and the Palestinians.
Jordan’s King Abdullah warned Israel would find itself in “a sea of hatred” if it did not accept a Palestinian state, while also condemning Muslim terrorists from the United Nations rostrum Tuesday.Saudi Arabia pivoting towards Israel?
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Abdullah spoke of the importance of peace between Israel and Palestinians, blaming the ongoing conflict for continued unrest in the region.
“No injustice has spread more bitter fruit than the denial of a Palestinian state. I say: Peace is a conscious decision,” the king said. “Israel has to embrace peace or eventually be engulfed in a sea of hatred in a region of turmoil.”
Mentioning only the Christian and Muslim connection to Jerusalem holy sites, Abdullah accused Israel of attempting to alter the identity of the city.
“As the Custodian of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, I will continue my efforts to protect these places, and stand up against all violations of their sanctity, including attempts for temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif,” he said.
Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected accusations by Palestinian and Jordanian officials that it intends to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount or alter the status quo governing the holy site.
A recent report from the kingdom indicates that dropping hostility to Israel is part of the Saudi regime's far-reaching reform plans. Israel should respond.IsraellyCool: Do The Palestinians Demand A Jew-Free State?
In the 14 September issue of POLITICO magazine, retired US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad published a report on his most recent trip to Saudi Arabia and the startling, indeed astonishing, changes he found there.
Khalilzad is wholly credible witness. He has spent a great deal of time in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf States. He was ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the United Nations. Among many others, he met with the King, the crown prince, the deputy crown prince and various ministers on this trip.
His report makes the following points:
The Saudis are now willing to admit that the regime has supported Arab extremism in the past and only when the Jihadi movements turned on them did they change their policies in this regard.
The Saudi regime has jettisoned ideology for modernization. It is seen as essential in the new environment of low oil prices and growing threats from extremist groups and Iran.
Adoption of an ambitious program of social reforms, including the purging of extremists from government positions, appointment of new religious leaders to counter Islamist extremism, new curbs on the powers of the religious police and transformation of the Muslim League through appointment of a new leader and the cessation of support for Islamist madrassas abroad.
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu was heavily criticized for his recent “No Jews” video.Do The Palestinians Demand A Jew-Free State?
But was his essential point factual and accurate?
I put together this little video to answer that question.
PreOccupiedTerritory: Report: Apartheid Implementation Agency Targeting Jews Instead Of Arabs (satire)
An investigative commission on the activities of the newly-established Apartheid Implementation Agency has determined that instead of maintaining a policy of political discrimination and denial of rights to Arab citizens, the AIA has implemented and enforced such policies against Jews.Knife attacker shot outside Israeli embassy in Ankara
Specifically, the report cites the practice of preventing Jews from expressions of religious devotion on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, while Muslims are free to behave there as they wish, including harassing Jews and fomenting violence against them. The report also discussed the default exemption from military or national service enjoyed by Israel’s Arab population, in contrast to the military draft system in place for the country’s Jews.
The AIA was founded to assume some of the functions of the now-defunct Ministry of Apartheid, which was disbanded last year after decades of failure to impose even the most rudimentary form of political exclusion against Arabs. Some residual staff and duties were absorbed by the Office of the Prime Minister, which set up the agency to assume many of those duties. However, an internal monitoring committee has found that the AIA has managed no improvement in implementing Apartheid in Israel, calling into question the benefits of having such an agency in the first place.
“This committee found that Israel continues to suffer all the drawbacks of having Apartheid and none of the benefits, the same situation as before the Ministry of Apartheid was closed,” the report authors write. “The accusation of Apartheid persists internationally and among some local political figures, bringing diplomatic harm and other detrimental results, while no advantage to the Jewish population actually occurs at the expense of Arab citizens. In fact this committee discovered multiple arenas in which, unconscionably, there appears to exist Apartheid against Jews, a phenomenon that contradicts the very essence of the agency. We wonder, therefore, what purpose the body serves, and whether any of the expenses associated with its existence can be justified.”
Moreover, the report notes, the very currency of the term “Arab citizens of Israel” showcases the failure of the agency and its predecessor to impose any semblance of Apartheid, which is supposed to imply the exclusion of Arabs from Israeli citizenship. “The AIA is young, and may yet be unable to fulfill its mission to any detectable degree at this stage, but we recommend that unless noticeable improvement in Apartheid implementation occurs within eighteen months, the agency be disbanded permanently.”
A mentally disturbed Turkish man wielding a knife tried to storm the Israeli embassy in Ankara on Wednesday but was shot before reaching the building, Turkish and Israeli officials said.Palestinian girl rushes guards in apparent suicide attempt
The man, armed with a 30-centimeter (12-inch) knife, ran towards the embassy shouting slogans and was shot in the leg, the governor’s office in the Turkish capital said in a statement.
It said initial investigation showed that the man, named as 41-year-old Osman Nuri Caliskan, “appeared to be mentally disturbed” and had no record of links with any militant group.
Suat Gencer, a florist working nearby, said he heard four shots and then ran to the embassy to see what had happened.
“I saw a man who had been shot in the leg. I didn’t see a knife but other witnesses said he had a knife and he would set a bomb off,” he told AFP at the scene.
Security guards at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank shot a 13-year-old Palestinian girl who did not heed their calls to halt on Wednesday morning, in what appears to have been a suicide attempt, the Defense Ministry said.Abbas lauds Jordanian ‘martyr’ who tried to stab Israeli troops
The incident was initially misreported as an attempted stabbing attack. However, upon searching her possessions, a sapper “did not find anything,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The girl approached the vehicle crossing by foot, holding a bag,” arousing the suspicion of the security guards, the statement said.
They “ordered her to stop and even fired warning shots into the air,” the ministry said, but when the teenager continued approaching despite the calls to halt, the guards “shot her in the legs in order to stop her.”
During an initial investigation of the incident, the teenager said, “I came to die,” according to the ministry.
The girl, identified by Palestinian sources as Bara’a Ramadan Owaisi of nearby Qalqilya, was lightly injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Her aunt, Rasha Owaisi, 23, was shot dead at the same checkpoint last November after she brandished a knife and approached the guards there. The aunt had left a suicide note for her family.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas this week praised as a “martyr” the Jordanian national who was shot dead while attempting to stab Israeli Border Police officers in Jerusalem on Friday.WATCH: Israel Shoots Down Hamas Drone over Gaza
In a condolence letter sent to the family of Saeed Amro, Abbas called the slain would-be attacker “a martyr who watered the pure earth of Palestine with his blood,” and expressed hope that “God would wrap the martyr in his mercy, and that he will dwell in paradise,” the Ynet news website reported on Tuesday.
According to Israeli security officials, Amro, 28, was shot and killed Friday as he approached a group of policemen with knives in each hand at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City. Upon searching Amro’s body, police found additional knives on his person.
Over the weekend, Amman sharply condemned the killing of Amro as “barbaric,” and Jordanian authorities expressed doubt he had assaulted the Israelis at all, claiming he was merely a tourist.
The drone had been “under IAF surveillance from the moment it took off from the Gaza Strip,” the air force said in a statement. It was stopped before reaching Israeli airspace, a military official told the Times of Israel.LA Times' Joshua Mitnick Casts Palestinian Attackers as Victims
“Hamas has been developing its drone capabilities especially in the last two years,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said. “Today’s event proves once more that Hamas continues to invest in tools of terror and not the needs of the people of Gaza.”
In June 2015, Hamas launched a drone that prompted the IAF to scramble its fighters, but the drone crash-landed before reaching Israeli territory. There were also reports of drone launches two years ago during Operation Protective Edge, the fifty-day war against Hamas.
Israeli security services have twice disrupted plots this year to smuggle drones or drone parts into Gaza. In February, Israel’s Border Crossing Authority intercepted a shipment of several drones of different types and sizes in Gaza. The drones had advanced cameras and were presumable intended to allow Hamas to spy on Israeli military activities.
Hamas is also upgrading its capabilities to fight against Israel in other ways. Avi Issacharoff reported in The Times of Israel earlier this month that Hamas was spending $100 million on building up its military infrastructure. Forty percent of that money is believed to be spent on paying 1,500 diggers to build its terror tunnel network. Issacharoff also reported that Hamas was working with the Sinai-based affiliate of the Islamic State to smuggle the materials it needs for its terror infrastructure.
In his report today on recent Palestinian violence, The Los Angeles Times' Joshua Mitnick obscures the fact that all of the Palestinians killed in the last few days, along with the majority of those killed in the last year, were attackers ("Israeli military says teenager killed after trying to stab soldier").Sheikh in Jordan Eid Al-Adha: Refers to Jews as "Brothers of Apes and Pigs," Prays: Oh Allah..."
He writes:
Since Friday, Israeli security forces have reported at least nine knifing and car ramming attacks on targets in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Some six Palestinians and a Jordanian citizen have been killed in the violence, and several Israelis have been injured, including a 38-year-old border policewoman stabbed Monday morning outside Jerusalem’s Old City.
In this passage, Mitnick fails to make clear who were the perpetrators (Palestinians) of the knifing and ramming attacks and who were the targets (Israelis),
Rival U.S. Newspaper Op-Eds Pit Iran, Saudi Arabia Against Each Other
The foreign ministers of regional rivals Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia have penned op-ed articles published by two major U.S. newspapers this month accusing one another of fomenting the radical Islamic extremism currently plaguing the Muslim world.Iran threatens to 'turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust' if Israel missteps
Their arguments seem to leave the Muslim world with two options, both of which have fueled jihadi attacks against the United States and some of its allies: Saudi Arabia’s Sunni Wahhabism and Shiite Iran’s “Khomeinism.”
Destroying both is not an option either country is willing to consider.
In an op-ed published by the New York Times (NYT) on Sept. 13, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s FM, accuses Saudi Arabia of exporting and promoting the radical extremist Sunni ideology known as Wahhabism to areas all across the world using its petrodollars.
Less than a week later, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, in a Sept. 18 op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), responded by accusing the Shiite ideology behind Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 Islamic revolution, “Khomeinism” of “anti-Western hatred… sectarianism that has energized and empowered extremism.”
Jubeir argues that only by eradicating “Khomeinism” in Iran and everywhere it has expanded to — some experts argue that includes the United State’s backyard Latin America — can terrorism be defeated.
They both claim to welcome collaboration on fighting terrorism as long as they each drop their ideology.
In an attempt to tout its military prowess on Wednesday, Iran threatened to "turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust" during a parade of the Islamic Republic's armed forces in Tehran.White House Pressure Derailed Bipartisan Syria Sanctions Bill
Iran marked the anniversary of its 1980 invasion by Iraq by parading its latest ships and missiles and telling the United States not to meddle in the Gulf.
At a parade in Tehran, shown on state TV, the military displayed a wide array of long-range missiles, tanks, and the Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system.
In a reference to Iran's arch-foe Israel, a banner on one military truck shown on state TV read,: "If the leaders of the Zionist regime make a mistake then the Islamic Republic will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust."
At the port of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf, the navy showed off 500 vessels, as well as submarines and helicopters, at a time of high tension with the United States in the strategic waterway.
US officials say there have been more than 30 close encounters between US and Iranian vessels in the Gulf so far this year, over twice as many as in the same period of 2015.
On September 4, a US Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after an Iranian Revolutionary Guard fast-attack craft came within 100 yards (91 meters) of it in the central Gulf, at least the fourth such incident in less than a month, US Defense Department officials said.
A bipartisan bill to impose sanctions on Syria was derailed by the White House, which pressured Democratic leadership to delay introducing the bill to the full House of Representatives, Josh Rogin of The Washington Post reported Tuesday.ISIS Announces Halt in Attacks on US Following News of Brangelina Split (satire)
Members of Congress and their aides had been preparing to introduce the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act to the floor of the House sometime this week. The bill, which was named for “Caesar,” a Syrian defector who smuggled out of the country thousands of photographs documenting the Bashar al-Assad regime’s torture of civilians, had more than 50 cosponsors (mostly Democrats) and was expected to pass easily. But at the end of last week, when legislators were preparing this week’s schedule, legislative affairs staffers from the White House contacted the House leadership of both parties and asked that they delay the legislation.
Leaders of both parties had previously agreed to suspend normal rules in order to move the legislation forward. But under those conditions, bills require the support of two-thirds of the House. When the Democratic leadership backed out, it made passage significantly more difficult.
“After President Obama’s disastrous handling of Syria, he’s now adding insult to injury by pressuring House Democrats to kill a bipartisan bill aimed at cleaning up his mess,” AshLee Strong, press secretary to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R – Wis.) told Rogin. “We hope members will have a chance to vote on this important legislation soon.”
Saying that strikes against the U.S. would be “heartless, gratuitous, and entirely inappropriate at the moment,” ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced a temporary unilateral ceasefire against America following the breakup of Hollywood’s most powerful celebrity couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.Al-Jazeera TV Host Faisal Al-Qassem Incites to Ethnic Cleansing of Shiites in Sunni Regions in Syria
“In light of recent events, we have suspended indefinitely all operations against the United States and ask our supporters and affiliates to do the same,” al-Baghdadi said in a press release. “While we have serious differences of opinion with the American government over matters of imperialism, colonialism, Sharia Law, unveiled women, homosexuality, polygamy, alcohol consumption, and beheadings, we stand with the American people during this time of mourning.”
It’s doubtful that al-Baghdadi’s decision stemmed from heartfelt remorse over the breakup; in fact, by press time, reports had emerged that the Caliph had reached out to Jolie and offered to make her his fourth wife. More likely, experts say, is that al-Baghdadi recognized that ordering attacks against America while Pitt and Jolie’s divorce proceedings were underway would alienate even ISIS’s most hardline supporters.
“ISIS understands that trying to score cheap political points after such a genuine tragedy would hurt the group in the eyes of supporters,” an analyst for the Brookings Institute, a think tank, explained. “Even [Republican presidential nominee] Donald Trump hasn’t blamed the divorce on Mexicans or refugees.”