Monday, May 29, 2017
JCPA: Incentivizing Terrorism: Palestinian Authority Allocations to Terrorists and their Families
The PA maintains longstanding legislation and payments to subsidize terrorists and their families. This amounts to an officially sanctioned PA government incentive system to kill Israelis. When I learned of this in November 2015, I was quite shocked. I proceeded to raise the issue with organized American Jewish community leaders and Israeli policymakers, and was told “everybody knows.” Disconcerted by my own lack of knowledge, I canvassed numerous American political leaders who, without exception, were unaware of the PA legislation/budget. The few leaders who were aware that the PA directly pays terrorists thought that the funding was only $5-6 million; they were shocked to learn that according to the official PA budget online, it was $300 million for 2016.Palestinians paid terrorists $1b in past 4 years, Knesset panel hears
During the past year, the prevailing opinion was that the wave of knifers against Israelis consisted of young and disaffected “lone wolves.” As I examined the issue more closely, I realized that the “incitement” is much more than just an errant cleric or wayward school board, but rather is an institutional campaign of violence against Israel, coordinated and funded by the PA itself. This “struggle” or war is endorsed by the Palestinian leadership, as evidenced by their 2004 legislation specifying, “The prisoners and released prisoners are a fighting sector and integral part of the fabric of Arab Palestinian society.” PA budget line items are earmarked for funding prisoners, released prisoners, and families of “martyrs.”
Brig.-Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, my friend, led a distinguished career as an IDF intelligence officer at the most senior level, as well as a brilliant strategist, most recently serving as Director General of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. In this study, he accurately presents the history and current state of the PA legislation/budget for terror, as well as policy recommendations.
The Palestinian Authority has paid out some NIS 4 billion — or $1.12 billion — over the past four years to terrorists and their families, a former director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and ex-head of the army’s intelligence and research division told a top Knesset panel on Monday.
Setting out the figures, Brig.-Gen (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the longer the period for which a Palestinian security prisoner is jailed, “the higher the salary… Anyone who has sat in prison for more than 30 years gets NIS 12,000 ($3,360) per month,” said Kuperwasser, according to the (Hebrew) NRG website. “When they’re released, they get a grant and are promised a job at the Palestinian Authority. They get a military rank that’s determined according to the number of years they’ve served in jail.”
Kuperwasser also told the committee that PA claims that the payments to terrorists’ families are social welfare benefits to the needy are false. The Palestinians’ own budgetary documents, he said, “clearly state that these are salaries and not welfare payments.”
Kuperwasser was briefing MKs days after US President Donald Trump visited Israel and held talks with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. In an apparent public upbraiding of Abbas over the payments, Trump told him at their joint press conference: “Peace can never take root in an environment where violence is tolerated, funded or rewarded.”
Corbyn attended terror conference after honouring Munich killer
Yesterday Jeremy Corbyn told Sky News he was “searching for peace” when he honoured a Palestinian terrorist involved in the Munich massacre. He was looking in some odd places…
Guido can reveal the next stop on Jezza’s 2014 Tunisia trip. After the wreath-laying ceremony, Corbyn attended a conference of Palestinian terrorists in Tunis. In his own words, the future Labour leader recalled hearing speeches from Hamas and the PFLP:
“The conference… heard opening speeches from Palestinian groups including… Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine”
Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation. The PFLP is a murderous terror group – also proscribed by the UK government – which has killed large numbers of civilians in bombings and armed attacks and aeroplane hijackings. In an article for the Morning Star, Corbyn described the conference as a “special event” and praised the “shared agenda and endeavour” and “the unity between all Palestinian factions”.
Corbyn also praised a speech given at the conference by Ramsey Clark, the lawyer of Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic. Clark famously said that “History will prove Milosevic was right”. Corbyn praised his speech at the conference as “very poignant and much appreciated”. Worth noting that Corbyn has also previously defended Milosevic.
PMW: Senior PLO leader calls for violence: "Let every one of us look for a gun and bullets"
PLO Director of the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake called on Palestinians to prepare themselves for armed conflict against Israel, encouraging them three times in one article: "Look for a gun and bullets."PMW: Fatah appoints terrorist murderer Karim Younes to its Central Committee
The article, which he published on the PLO's Commission of Prisoners' Affairs' website as well as in the Palestinian daily Al-Quds, accused Israel of deliberately trying to murder Palestinian prisoners and therefore "there is no need for journalism, media, analyses, and speculations... Break the pens, look for a gun and bullets. Do not look at your watches, the time is up."
Karake wrote this one day before the Palestinian prisoners ended their 40-day hunger strike, and he argued that Israel was not giving in to the hunger strikers demands so that the Palestinian prisoners would starve to death.
"They (i.e., the prisoners) are being murdered [by Israel] in silence, through an official and planned method. They are melting, bleeding, and dissipating. If one prisoner will fall, the entire world will fall. The world will die if a Palestinian prisoner will die...
Do not make us receive bodies from the occupation's prisons. There's nothing left to say, and there is no need for journalism, media, analyses, and speculations. ... The prisoners are currently struggling for their lives. Break the pens, look for a gun and bullets. Do not look at your watches, the time is up..." [Website of the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs, May 24, 2017 and Al-Quds, May 25, 2017]
Karim Younes and his cousin Maher Younis are Israeli Arabs who together kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980Enabling Murder
The decision to appoint the Israeli Arab terrorist to the Central Committee was made by Abbas
The PA in general has been presenting Karim and Maher Younes as role models for Palestinians, and recently named squares after each of them
PLO Director of Prisoner's Affairs sees appointment of murderer as proof that "our prisoners are not terrorists"
Abbas' Fatah Movement has appointed Israeli Arab Karim Younes, a kidnapper and murderer, to serve as member in its Central Committee, Fatah's governing body.
The appointment is a continuation of the PA's policy of glorifying and honoring terrorists. Palestinian Media Watch reported last week that Abbas and the two institutions he heads - the PA and Fatah - in just one month honored and glorified at least 44 terrorists who in total murdered 440 people.
It is also noteworthy that Abbas has chosen an Israeli citizen to be among Fatah's decision-makers. This is consistent with the PA message to Israeli Arabs to see themselves as part of the Palestinian national movement, and to view all of the land of the State of Israel as part of a future Palestinian state that will replace Israel.
Damn these jihadist murderers of children. And damn the politicians who have, in many cases, helped make these murders possible but who are quick, this time and every time, to serve up empty declarations of “solidarity”even as the bodies of innocents are still being counted.Douglas Murray on the Manchester Attacks
London mayor Sadiq Khan (who recently dismissed terrorist attacks as “part and parcel of living in a big city”): “London stands with Manchester.” Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer (who, in the wake of the Pulse nightclub massacre, proclaimed a CAIR-backed “Muslim Women’s Day”—you know, the kind of event that proclaims hijabs “empowering”): Orlando “stands in solidarity with the people of the UK.” L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti (who went berserk when Trump tried to impose that temporary travel ban from a half-dozen Muslim countries): “Los Angeles stands with the people of Manchester.”
Meaningless words, all of them. But Angela Merkel takes the cake: “People in the UK can rest assured that Germany stands shoulder to shoulder with them.” Well, isn’t that . . . reassuring. In what way do such words help anybody to “rest assured” of anything? In any case, how dare she? This, after all, is the woman who opened the floodgates—the woman who, out of some twisted sense of German historical guilt, put European children in danger by inviting into the continent masses of unvetted people from the very part of the world where this monstrous evil has its roots.
Douglas Murray & Sara Khan on Islamist terror prevention | SunPol 28May17
Cousin of Manchester bomber: If Hitler was still alive, Jews would burn
A cousin of the terrorist who carried out a suicide attack against innocents at a pop-concert in Manchester, England last week was discovered to have posted antisemitic messages to social media, The Jewish Chronicle citing the Times of London reported Monday.Write a letter to terrorists! Children told to ‘respect’ killers in new teaching aid
Abderahman Forjani, 21, made disparaging remarks about the Jewish community in a series of online posts, with one stating: “If only Hitler was still alive –these Jews would be burnt in chambers.”
Forjani had also posted anti-UK messages, including derogatory comments about his hometown, writing: "Manchester is my no.1 enemy I f***ing hate the s***hole.”
Forjani and his older brother Abdalla, 24, were arrested last Tuesday following the Manchester Arena attack the previous night.
The barber shop that the two brothers ran, called Fade Away, was raided by police on Friday, according to The Jewish Chronicle.
Meanwhile, Britain's MI5 domestic intelligence agency announced Monday that it will hold an inquiry into how it dealt with public warnings that the Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi posed a potential threat, the BBC reported on Monday.
MI5 was alerted to Abedi's extremist views at least three times, the BBC said.
The book, Talking About Terrorism, published weeks before the Manchester Arena atrocity, describes the indiscriminate mass murder of innocent members of the public as a “type of war”.MUST WATCH: This Is How Muslims Worldwide Should React to Terror Attacks
It tells primary age children that terrorists kill people because they believe they are being treated “unfairly and not shown respect”.
It gives examples of “terrorists” whose ideas then turn out to be right: “The Suffragettes used violence and were called terrorists,,,,” it stated.
“Today many people think of them as brave women and admire their struggle for the right to vote.”
In an activity recommended for pupils aged seven to 11, teachers are urged to “invite children to write a letter to a terrorist. If they could ask a terrorist six questions, what would they be?”
The book, published by Brilliant Publications and containing a foreword by Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC, has been slammed by critics who say it is potentially dangerous.
Zain, a leading mobile telecommunications provider for the Middle East and Africa, did something remarkable.
First, though, let's paint just how big Zain is. They've got 971,000 customers in Bahrain; 12.7 million in Iraq; 4.3 million in Jordan; 3 million in Kuwait; 2.3 million in Lebanon; 10.7 million in Saudi Arabia; and 13 million in Sudan and South Sudan. That's more than 46 million customer across a mostly Muslim region.
On May 26, four days after the bombing — and the first day of the Muslim holy period Ramadan — Zain released an extraordinary three-minute ad.
It opens with a man building something in a dark room — a bomb. Cut to an old man kissing the feet of a giggling baby. Back to the bomb builder getting on a bus, wearing a suicide vest.
Throughout, subtitles play: "Confront your enemy with peace, not war," one says. "Persuade others with leniency, not with force."
At the end, the bomber, surrounded by caring people and others with signs of hope and unity, falls to his knees. A singer sings:
"Let's bomb violence with mercy, let's bomb delusion with truth, let's bomb hatred with love, let's bomb extremism for a better life."
"Confront your enemy with peace not war."
Netanyahu cautions, ‘We don’t have a blank check from Trump’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday cautioned that although the current US administration is very understanding of Israel’s needs, the country doesn’t have a “blank check” to do as it wishes concerning the Palestinians.Palestinians: Abbas Immediately Breaks Promises to Trump
Speaking at his Likud faction weekly meeting, Netanyahu stressed that US President Donald Trump is set on seeing peace between Israel and the Palestinians and hinted that the American leader expects the Jewish state to be accommodating.
“I want to tell you, we don’t have a blank check on the political level,” Netanyahu reportedly told Likud lawmakers at a closed-door meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem.
“We are a sovereign country, we can decide on many things and declare many things, but as far as the consent of the Americans goes I would not go that far,” multiple Hebrew media outlets quoted Netanyahu as saying.
“It is true that there are warm relations and there is a lot of understanding for our basic positions, but it is not true that we have a blank check, and that is far from the reality,” he said.
Hard on the heels of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas's assurances to US President Donald Trump that he is raising Palestinians on a "culture of peace," he continues to glorify terrorists who have Jewish blood on their hands.Trump yelled at Abbas: ‘You tricked me in DC,’ Israeli TV reports
Abbas, who met with Trump in Bethlehem on May 23, told reporters that he was committed to working with the new US administration to achieve a "historic peace deal with Israel." Abbas also announced his readiness to become a "partner in the war on terrorism in our region and the world." He claimed that he and his Palestinian Authority have been promoting "tolerance and coexistence, and spreading a culture of peace and renouncing violence."
Abbas's sweet talk, however, did not last long. Just hours after Trump left the region, Abbas and his PA returned to their anti-Israel incitement. This stands in blinding contrast to what Abbas told Trump and his Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, with whom Abbas met 48 hours after his get-together with Trump in Bethlehem.
At a meeting of Fatah leaders in Ramallah on May 25, Abbas described Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as "heroes."
On the surface, US President Donald Trump’s relations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have been surprisingly warm, but that belies a furious critique leveled by Trump at Abbas in their meeting in Bethlehem last week, an Israeli TV report said.White House may tacitly recognize Jerusalem as capital in Knesset-Congress event
An angry Trump yelled at Abbas during their talks last Tuesday for his alleged direct involvement in incitement against Israel, Channel 2 reported, citing an unnamed American source.
“You tricked me in DC! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement [against Israel],” Trump is said to have shouted at a shocked Abbas.
The TV report said the outburst was followed by several minutes of shocked silence from the Palestinians, and that the meeting was very tense before the two sides managed to get back on track.
Palestinian sources denied the report, saying the meeting was good and to the point.
The Knesset and the Congress will jointly mark 50 years since the reunification of Jerusalem in an event scheduled to be broadcast on live video link between the two legislatures next Tuesday. The move could be viewed as tacit recognition by the White House of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and spark controversy.
Sources told The Jerusalem Post that either President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will participate in the event on Capitol Hill, alongside Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, its host. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein will take part from the Knesset. All members of Knesset and both houses of Congress have been invited to the event, which was organized by Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer.
While the US does not officially recognize Israeli sovereignty in the parts of Jerusalem that Israel liberated in 1967, White House participation in the event could be viewed as tacit acknowledgment of Israel’s position regarding Jerusalem. The event comes after Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the Western Wall during his trip here last week but held back from making any mention of Jerusalem Day, celebrated the day after he left the country.
In his letter to the senators and the congressmen, Edelstein wrote that Jerusalem, “the eternal capital of the State of Israel, is the seat of our parliament – the Knesset. Jerusalem is also the city where the prophets of Israel spoke to the world of the universal values of morality, equality, freedom and monotheism. In Jewish tradition, this is the city where heaven and earth are linked together and the home of the holy Temple [is situated], sacred to all Jews around the world.”
Prof. Eugene Kantorovich: Is it worthwhile to rush to a political settlement with Mahmoud Abbas?
Arab Students Call for Intifada in Protest at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University
Arab students called for a renewed intifada (violent uprising) and brandished photos of convicted terrorists in a protest held in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners at Hebrew University of Jerusalem this week.Israeli Military to Start Using Unmanned Vehicles to Patrol Border With Gaza Strip
The protest, organized by Arab-Israeli political coalition Hadash, saw students chanting “Intifada and victory! From Jerusalem to Ashkelon!” and “Let’s talk exile! We don’t want to see any Zionists,” The Times of Israel reported.
Hebrew University officials defended the protest, saying in a statement provided to Israel’s Channel 2, “The student event in support of the hunger-striking prisoners was held in accordance with the [university’s] regulations and there was nothing said that constitutes a violation of [Israeli] law.”
Since mid-April, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been holding a hunger strike organized by Palestinian arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti.
Earlier this month, Hebrew University came under fire for a decision not to play Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” during a graduation ceremony. The university was reportedly seeking to avoid offending Arab students.
In the coming years, the Israeli military will begin using unmanned vehicles to secure the Jewish state’s border with the Gaza Strip, the IDF’s Hebrew website reported on Sunday.Abbas Intervened to End Prisoners' Hunger Strike
“The vehicle patrols the area, collects information and identifies irregularities while a female soldier drives it from a war room,” Captain Avidav Goldstein said. “This vehicle can replace the foot patrols carried out by soldiers next to the fence.”
According to Goldstein, the IDF was the first army in the world to use such vehicles and they represented a “technological breakthrough on an international level.”
The vehicles will soon be installed with weapons that can be operated from afar, the IDF report noted. They already are equipped with camera and loudspeaker systems, which are used to locate and warn suspicious individuals.
In an interview with The Algemeiner last fall, the head of the Robotics Division in the IDF Ground Forces — Lt. Col. Leon Altritz — said robots would make the missions of soldiers more efficient and less risky.
New details concerning the conclusion of the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike and its causes are coming to light in the hours since the prisoners and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) made their announcements.Palestinians claim 80% of hunger strikers’ demands were met
As the strike reached its peak, with dozens of prisoners requiring medical attention, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas intervened directly in order to bring the matter to a close out of fear of significant provocations and demonstrations.
The beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was a significant motivator, given that prisoners would no longer be able to drink, which they had been doing prior to the holiday.
Since the beginning of the strike, Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan decided that dialogue with the prisoners would only be conducted through the IPS, which is subordinate to his ministry. This policy differs from previous incidents when prisoners also negotiated with the Shin Bet and Egyptian intelligence services.
Ynet has learned that Abbas was pressured by various Palestinian officials to bring about a change in the situation, finally agreeing for the PA to finance the cost of one of the two visits per month prisoners are entitled to with their families.
A day after Palestinian security prisoners ended their 40-day hunger strike, Palestinian officials on Sunday claimed that Israel conceded to 80 percent of the prisoners’ demands, resulting in “a fundamental transformation in the terms of the prisoners’ living conditions.”JCPA: The Sinai Bedouin Accuse Hamas of Collaborating with ISIS
The claim stands in stark contrast to Israel’s assertions that it neither negotiated with the Palestinians nor conceded to a single demand.
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians announced the end of the strike early Saturday morning, agreeing only to the facts that the strike was over and that the prisoners would have an extra family visit per month reinstated — a demand that had nothing to do with Israel, as such visits are organized by the Red Cross.
After that, the narrative diverges sharply. Israel said that it spoke only with the Red Cross and at no stage negotiated with convicted terrorist and strike leader Marwan Barghouti. The Palestinians said Israel negotiated directly with the Barghouti in marathon 20-hour talks that ended at 4 a.m. Saturday.
The tensions between the Sinai Bedouins and the Islamic State Wilayat [province] in Sinai has only escalated after ISIS kidnapped four Bedouins in the Rafah area on May 22, 2017, beheaded them, and sent their bodies back to Bedouin territory in the southern area of Rafah, so that the corpses could be seen by their fellow Bedouin.Turkey: Erdogan's Goon Squad Comes to Washington
The problems between the Bedouin and ISIS began in April 2017, when members of ISIS confronted the Tarabin tribe, the largest tribe in Sinai, over its smuggling operation to the Gaza Strip, which is the main source of the tribe’s income.
ISIS hit the Tarabin’s smuggling routes to the Gaza Strip. ISIS objected to the smuggling of cigarettes to the Gaza Strip on the grounds that it was contrary to Islamic Sharia and even blew up one of the Tarabin trucks that delivered cigarettes from Egypt to the smuggling tunnels of the Gaza Strip.
This escalation resulted in killings and kidnappings on both sides. The Tarabin tribe later joined with the Egyptian army, which provided it with weapons and even managed to unite other Bedouin tribes against ISIS.
According to the official narrative, U.S. President Donald Trump was hosting in Washington the leader of a long-friendly country and historic ally. In typical diplomatic niceties, Trump mentioned Turkey's role as a pillar in the Cold War against Soviet expansion, and Turkey's legendary courage in fighting alongside American soldiers in the Korean War in the 1950s. Trump also said, speaking of the present, that he looks forward to "working together with President Erdogan on achieving peace and security in the Middle East, on confronting the shared threats, and on working toward a future of dignity and safety for all of our people." Facts on the ground, however, are frequently less pleasant than Kodak-moment niceties.PreOccupiedTerritory: Man Sensing Egypt Flag In Twitter Avatar Not Affecting Terrorism Levels (satire)
The fundamental incompatibility between Trump and Erdogan was too apparent from the beginning of what looks like a largely transactional, pragmatic but problematic relationship. Erdogan's political ideology is deep-rooted in an often-aggressive blend of Sunni Islamist supremacy and neo-Ottoman, Turkish nationalism. Erdogan, disregarding Saudi Arabia and other possible contenders for the title, claims to be the protector of Sunni Muslims across the Middle East, and does not hide his ideological kinship with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, of which Trump is not a great admirer. In contrast, Trump hit out at Muslims during his campaign and proposed both a "Muslim travel ban" and a "Muslim registry". It was only too predictable: in response, Erdogan, in June 2016, called for Trump's name to be stripped from the Trump Towers in Istanbul.
Erdogan's Washington, DC visit, apart from Trump and Erdogan agreeing to disagree on more essential issues, will be remembered as a Turkish excess, with scenes of the bloodied faces of peaceful protestors beaten up by Erdogan's bodyguards in front of the Turkish ambassador's residence. Although these unpleasant incidents caused an uproar in America, such brutality should have come as no surprise.
A resident of this Dallas-area city has begun to suspect that repeated changes of the image accompanying his Twitter name to the flag of the country most recently attacked, to show solidarity with victims of terrorism, may have no actual results in combating terrorist attacks.
Rudo Wakening, 30, began adopting the national flags of the nations targeting by terrorist attacks when gunmen assaulted the offices of satirical publication Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. Subsequent shooting, bombing, and automotive attacks elsewhere in Europe, including several more in France, prompted him to switch his twitter avatar to the French, Belgian, Dutch, and British flags. This week saw a new avatar on his profile, the flag of Egypt, to acknowledge the shooting massacre of Coptic Christians in that country over the weekend, but the continued proliferation of terrorist attacks by Islamists has Wakening thinking his efforts, and those of millions like him, might be for naught.
The paralegal father of one adopted the practice after feeling the need to do something, anything, to help the victims of terrorism. Upon encountering the trend of the flag avatar, Wakening was immediately taken by the ease with which one could thus express solidarity, thereby affording oneself the illusion of having contributed in some immeasurable way to making the situation better. He followed the same course of action after attacks in Antwerp, Nice, Manchester, and Egypt, before realizing this morning that in none of those instances did his actions produce results beyond assuaging his guilt at not doing anything concrete or discernible.
