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Monday, June 25, 2018

06/25 Links Pt1: Assad troops take over Golan UN post in demilitarized area on Israeli border; Absurd irony: The PA at “No Money for Terrorism” conference

From Ian:
Pro-Assad troops take over Golan UN post in demilitarized area on Israeli border
Forces loyal to the regime of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad took control of an abandoned UN post in the no-man’s land between the Israeli and Syrian areas of the Golan Heights, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Sunday.

The post, abandoned by United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) troops on the Golan, is meant to be free of both Israeli and Syrian troops, according to the cessation of hostilities agreement between the two countries that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

According to the report, UNDOF has identified ongoing infrastructure work at the site.

The IDF said in a statement that it was “aware of what is taking place, and views [the takeover of the site and] the infrastructure work at the post as a serious and flagrant violation of the separation-of-forces agreement.”

The IDF statement suggested Israel might act to remove the forces from the post by force. Officials told Kan that Israel “sees UNDOF as responsible for tracking and acting against military forces in the separation zone, and is determined to prevent military entrenchment in that area.”

PMW: Absurd irony: The PA at “No Money for Terrorism” conference
It would almost be funny if it wasn't so absurd. The Palestinian Authority, whose leaders pay salaries to imprisoned terrorist murderers and to families of killed terrorists - including suicide bombers - participated in a conference in Paris called "No Money for Terrorism"!

"The State of Palestine participated... in a ministerial conference against terror funding, which was held in the French capital Paris under the headline No Money for Terrorism. Palestine was represented at the conference by [PA] Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki and Head of the [Palestinian] Central Bank Azzam Al-Shawa, accompanied by a Palestinian delegation." [WAFA, official PA news agency, April 26, 2018]

The PA was invited and included in the conference while the PA actively and openly uses its money and also donor countries' money to pay terrorists, while PA leaders ignore the condemnation by the international community.

The PA pays monthly salaries to around 6,500 imprisoned terrorists, as well monthly allowances to the families of tens of thousands of killed terrorists - who the PA calls "Martyrs" - to which the PA allocated over $350 million in its published 2018 budget. Despite international criticism, PA leaders vow to continue to pay these salaries rewarding terror.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA spends money on establishing monuments to terrorist murderers and the PA Ministry of Education has named 31 schools after terrorists, just to name a few of the many ways the PA spends money on terrorists and on immortalizing them.
Terror victims protest Pay-to-Slay bill's delay
Twenty family members of victims of terrorism from the Almagor organization demonstrated outside the Likud faction meeting at the Knesset on Monday after they were not permitted to address Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Likud MKs about the need to pass a bill meant to discourage the Palestinian Authority from continuing to pay terrorists.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee authorized legislation two weeks ago that requires the government to deduct the amount the PA pays terrorists from the taxes and tariffs Israel collects for the authority.

A final vote which would have passed it into law on Monday was postponed at the request of coalition chairman David Amsalem, who acts as the parliamentary arm of the prime minister. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will meet either this Wednesday or next week to consider revisions of the bill that would water it down.

“I am worried the bill will be buried,” Almagor head Meir Indor said. “I try to respect the prime minister, but we have our limits. A similar bill already passed in both houses of Congress in the US, and we have been legislating it for a year. We would rather have the bill not pass at all than pass with half its power taken away.”

Netanyahu himself requested a delay in the voting from the heads of the parties in his coalition. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon have created obstacles that have made it harder to pass the bill due to battles over credit, but the bill’s sponsor, Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern, said on Monday that he blames only one man for the legislation not yet being law.



IDF Blog: IDF Reveals the Hamas Terror Organization's Efforts of Arson Terror Cells
The Hamas terror organization deliberately conducts arson terror attacks in an organized manner. Hamas leads the arson and explosive kites phenomenon; it orchestrates the launches and will bear the consequences for its actions

After beginning as a popular phenomenon, it has become clear in recent weeks that the launching of arson and explosive device-laden kites and balloons is now a deliberate activity, planned and executed by the Hamas terror organization, targeting Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip

Hamas coordinates and executes this activity in the following way:

First, a Hamas commander in charge of launching arson kites and balloons directs subordinate operatives to prepare them.

Upon receiving these instructions, the operatives prepare the kite or balloon and attach flammable or explosive materials.

Arson kites are made by Hamas terror operatives in large quantities and in an organized manner.

Once the explosive kites and balloons are fully prepared, the operatives launch them into target areas within Israeli territory that allow for large fires to be ignited.

This terror activity targets Israeli civilians, as well as Israeli agricultural lands and nature.
IDF photos prove Hamas is behind Gaza kite terrorism
The IDF on Sunday revealed the operational methods behind Hamas' cross-border arson campaign and issued incriminating photos proving that the terrorist group launches incendiary devices and explosive balloons from its positions in Gaza.

The IDF said in a statement that the flaming kites and exploding balloons that have been terrorizing Israeli communities surrounding the Gaza border in recent weeks are prepared in bulk by Hamas operatives on the orders of their commanders.

"This arson terrorism is an intentional and well-timed act of terror perpetrated by the terrorist organization Hamas," the IDF statement said. "Hamas is spearheading the explosive and incendiary kite phenomenon, and it is [Hamas] that is responsible for launching them [into Israel] and therefore Hamas bears the responsibility for this terrorism."

Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

"After it initially began as a grassroots terror phenomenon, in recent weeks we have seen Hamas lead the efforts as an organized campaign," the army said.

The IDF also released names and photographs of some of the members of the arson terror cells.


Tel Avivians panic as sirens wail in surprise IDF drill
A surprise drill at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Rabin Base in Tel Aviv sparked panic Sunday evening, sending Israelis in the city center as well as in the neighboring cities of Givatayim and Ramat Gan scrambling to get to nearby bomb shelters.

It was only after concerned residents made numerous calls to the police about the siren that an IDF Spokesperson Unit issued a statement explaining the siren was sounded as part of a military drill.

Tel Aviv resident Shoshana was with her granddaughters near the city's Sarona Market, located in close proximity to the base, when the siren blared.

She said that "as soon as the siren went off, people looked at one another, not knowing what to do."
Honest Reporting: Hackathon at the Gaza border
People from all over Israel came together at Sapir College near the Gaza border and had a hackathon. Why? To find creative solutions for keeping the environment, and people on both sides safe from weaponized kites and balloons.


Media Largely Ignore Alleged Hamas Payment to Dead Baby's Family
Western media outlets have largely ignored a significant development in the story of eight-month-old Layla al-Ghandour of the Gaza Strip, whose May 15 death was widely reported when her family claimed that she accidentally ended up at the border clashes and was killed by Israel's use of tear gas. According to the indictment of Layla's relative, Mahmoud Omar, Hamas paid the family to claim that tear gas caused her death though the real culprit was a blood condition, which also killed her brother the year before.

According to Haaretz ("Hamas Paid Gaza Family $2,200 to Blame Israel for Baby's Death, Indictment Says"):

Numerous media outlets which dedicated entire stories to the disputed circumstances of Layla's death, and others which unequivocally blamed it on tear gas, despite the fact that the Associated Press had reported that a Gaza doctor noted the preexisting condition and expressed doubt that she was killed by tear gas, have ignored the new information concerning Hamas' alleged payment to the family.

Exceptions to the vast majority of Western media outlets which ignored the development, UPI and Agence France Presse did commendably report that Omar said Hamas leader Yihya Sinwar paid his family to falsely blame Layla's death on tear gas.
CAMERA Prompts Los Angeles Times Correction on Fatalities Among Gaza ‘Protesters’
CAMERA has prompted correction of a Los Angeles Times article (“Gaza’s weaponized kites; How a simple plaything confounds the Israeli army“) which erroneously identified all Gazans killed in “March of Return” clashes at the Israeli border as “protesters,” despite the fact that armed and active combatants were among the casualties. Hana Salah and Noga Tarnopolsky wrote June 19:
Within Gaza, the kites’ success in harming Israel is seen as an unlikely triumph in a dark season in which about 130 protesters have been killed by Israeli troops, with thousands more injured in weekly Friday demonstrations at the border.

But the casualties included not only rioters who hurled stones and Molotov cocktails and attacked the border fence, but also armed and active combatants, who can in no way be fairly and accurately be described as “protesters.”

Prior coverage, including by the Los Angeles Times, underscores just how incorrect that word is to describe all of the casualties.

On April 1, the LA Times cited an Israeli official saying that Palestinians along the border “turned violent and hurled firebombs, rocks and burning tires at Israeli soldiers” and that “troops came under gunfire at least twice.” It cited Hamas acknowledging that “five of the dead were fighters in its military wing,” and referred to “videos showing Palestinian snipers shooting at soldiers.”

A May 15 story in the New York Times made clear that such active combatants were among those killed. Among 60 fatalities the previous day, “eight of the dead, the army said, were armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes who tried to storm the fence in northern Gaza and attacked Israeli forces with grenades and pipe bombs before being killed in a shootout.” And “another three militants were killed while laying an explosive device in the south, the army said.”
Interview with Jared Kushner (Al-Quds-PA): U.S. Peace Team Head: "The Global Community Is Getting Frustrated with Palestinian Leadership"
President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the head of the White House Middle East peace team, gave an interview on Friday to Al-Quds, the most popular Palestinian daily newspaper.

Q: What are the points in the U.S. peace plan that are most important to the Arab leaders?

Kushner: "They conveyed they want to see a Palestinian state with a capital in east Jerusalem....They want to see a deal that respects the dignity of the Palestinians and brings about a realistic solution to the issues that have been debated for decades."

"At the end of the day, I believe that Palestinian people are less invested in the politicians' talking points than they are in seeing how a deal will give them and their future generations new opportunities, more and better paying jobs and prospects for a better life....Without the people pushing the politicians to focus on their needs and giving them the courage to take a chance, this will never be solved."

"I do question how much President Abbas has the ability to, or is willing to, lean into finishing a deal. He has his talking points which have not changed in the last 25 years. There has been no peace deal achieved in that time. To make a deal both sides will have to take a leap and meet somewhere between their stated positions. I am not sure President Abbas has the ability to do that."

"I don't think the Palestinian people feel like their lives are getting better and there is only so long you can blame that on everyone other than Palestinian leadership. The global community is getting frustrated with Palestinian leadership and not seeing many actions that are constructive towards achieving peace."

"Think about the prospects for the Palestinian people over a 5-20-year horizon if they get massive investments in modern infrastructure, job training and economic stimulus....The Palestinian people are industrious, well-educated, and adjacent to the Silicon Valley of the Middle East - Israel. Israel's prosperity would spill over very quickly to the Palestinians if there is peace."

Q: If you could deliver a message directly to the Palestinian people, what would it be?

Kushner: "Don't allow your grandfather's conflict to determine your children's future. My dream is for the Israeli and Palestinian people to be the closest of allies in combatting terror, economic achievement, advancements in science and technology, and in sharing a lifestyle of brotherhood, peace and prosperity."
Palestinians: The Only Acceptable Peace Plan
The Palestinians want nothing to do with President Trump's plan: they know it will never satisfy their demands. The Palestinians are not opposed to the peace plan because of a dispute over a border or a settlement or a checkpoint or the status of Jerusalem. They are against Trump's plan -- and any other peace initiative -- because the Palestinians have something else in mind.

The two Palestinian parties, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, may disagree on everything -- except the elimination of Israel. The only peace plan acceptable to current Palestinian leaders would be one that facilitated their mission of pursuing jihad against Israel to obliterate it.

If Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt wish to learn more about the true ambitions of the Palestinians, they would do well to take in a sermon at a mosque on some Friday or stop into a school in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Perhaps then they would see for themselves that no peace plan in the world can, at the moment, counter the poison that is injected daily into the hearts and minds of the Palestinians and their children.
Amid PA defiance, Arab states threaten to circumvent Abbas
Top officials in the moderate Arab nations have ‎reportedly informed U.S. President Donald Trump's ‎Middle East envoys that they would back an American ‎peace plan for the region regardless of whether the ‎Palestinian Authority agrees to discuss it. ‎

Senior officials in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and ‎the United Arab Emirates met with White House ‎adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. Special ‎Representative for International Negotiations Jason ‎Greenblatt in recent days and reportedly told ‎them that, having become fed up with Palestinian Authority President ‎Mahmoud Abbas' rejectionism, they will not stand in ‎Trump's way when he presents his Middle East peace ‎plan.‎

The White House said last week that the long-awaited ‎plan, dubbed the "deal of the century," would most ‎likely be presented in August.‎

Abbas declared that he would not engage with the U.S. on peace talks after Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December and subsequently relocated the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Abbas maintains that these moves clearly demonstrate Trump's pro-Israel bias and therefore the U.S. cannot act as an impartial peace broker between Israel and the Palestinians.


Trump on Jerusalem Embassy: I Receive More Praise From Evangelicals Than From Jews
US President Donald Trump has received tremendous support from Jews for his decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – but even more so from evangelical Christians, according to an interview with the US leader by talk show host Mike Huckabee.

During a June 18 interview that aired over the weekend with former Republican governor of Arkansas and US presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee on his show on the TBN Christian network, Trump told Huckabee that it “makes me feel good” that evangelical Christians are so pleased with his decision.

“I tell you what, I get more calls of thank you from evangelicals, and I see it in the audiences and everything else, than I do from Jewish people,” Trump said. “And the Jewish people appreciate it, but the evangelicals appreciate it more than the Jews.”
Putin invites Netanyahu, Abbas to World Cup final
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to attend the World Cup final in Moscow next month.

Netanyahu is considering attending the July 15 game if Israeli security requirements can be met, according to reports in Hebrew-language media Monday.

Earlier, Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rjoub announced that Abbas would travel to Russia for the game, and would also meet with Putin. He told the official PA news outlet Wafa that the two leaders would discuss “bilateral relations and the latest political developments.”

Putin has reportedly invited other world leaders to the World Cup final, which will be held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

There was no indication Netanyahu and Abbas would meet while at the Russian capital, but Putin has previously tried to host talks between them.
Palestinians open fire on settlement south of Jerusalem – IDF
Gunshots were fired from a car with Palestinian license plates near the West Bank settlement of Kibbutz Migdal Oz on Sunday night in what the Israel Defense Forces called an attempted terror attack.

The army said there were no injuries, and the shooting caused no damage.

The IDF launched a search for the perpetrator, who sped away after the shooting. As part of the manhunt, the army set up roadblocks at the entrance to the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Fajjar, some eight kilometers (five miles) south of Bethlehem.

“IDF troops are blocking exits from the village of Beit Fajjar as part of the search efforts after the terrorist. Exit permits will be granted in accordance with decisions by security forces,” the army said.

“In addition, troops are continuing to search the area,” the military added.
On 12th anniversary of capture, Hamas releases new footage of Gilad Schalit
Hamas marked the 12th anniversary of the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit on Monday by posting never before seen photos and videos of the armored corps soldier while in captivity.

Schalit was kidnapped by Hamas on June 25th 2006 and was held captive for more than five years. He was released and returned to Israel on October 18th, 2011 as part of a deal with the terror group, in exchange for the release of 1,027 prisoners belonging to Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations.

In the photos, Schalit can be seen in his cell and out of it, including in the company of his captors, during the course of his captivity.

The video shows him during his daily routine, in some scenes even smiling and conversing with his captors.

The article in which the photos appear on the Hamas website says Schalit's kidnapping "shattered the illusion" of Israel's supremacy. The article notes that Hamas is still in custody of Israeli soldiers, a reference to the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed in Operation Protective Edge, in 2014. It says that Israeli leaders, "continue to delude the public and the families of the soldiers held in Gaza.


Turkey’s Erdogan Wins Sweeping New Powers After Election Victory
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won sweeping new executive powers on Monday after his victory in landmark elections that also saw his Islamist-rooted AK Party and its nationalist allies secure a majority in parliament.

Erdogan’s main rival, Muharrem Ince of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), conceded defeat but branded the elections “unjust” and said the presidential system that now takes effect was “very dangerous” because it would lead to one-man rule.

Erdogan, 64, the most popular — yet divisive — leader in modern Turkish history, told jubilant, flag-waving supporters there would be no retreat from his drive to transform Turkey, a NATO member and, at least nominally, a candidate to join the European Union.

He is loved by millions of devoutly Muslim working class Turks for delivering years of stellar economic growth and overseeing the construction of roads, bridges, airports, hospitals and schools.

But his critics, including human rights groups, accuse him of destroying the independence of the courts and media freedoms. A crackdown launched after a failed 2016 coup has seen 160,000 people including teachers, journalists and judges detained.
Systematic destruction
Dictators who impose their rule on their people through supposedly democratic means mainly derive their strength from their political rivals' inability to unite against the tyrannical regime that is systematically destroying them and their country.

Given Turkey's political, economic and social decline, one would have expected the opposition parties not to have divided their voters among the five different candidates running against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but to rally around the candidacy of a charismatic leader that could have put up a fight against the incumbent. But since that did not happen, Erdogan was able to leap easily over the hurdles in his path to becoming Turkey's omnipotent ruler for a term that will take him past 2022, the same year when Turkey will mark the centennial of its establishment as a republic. By then, Erdogan hopes to complete the process of rapid disengagement from the secular principles set out by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan is acting to complete this process consistently, vigorously and successfully. Ataturk's Turkey is no more.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was one of the first to congratulate Erdogan on his election victory, and for good reason: Erdogan is one of Abbas's last remaining hopes in a Middle East that has turned its back on the Palestinians. Beyond the Palestinians' best interest, Erodgan longs for Israel's detriment. The Israeli government decided not to respond with full force to the renewed deterioration in its relations with Ankara following Palestinian attempts to invade Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas leader congratulates Turkey’s Erdogan on electoral win
The head of the Hamas terror group was among the first foreign officials to congratulate Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his apparent election victory Sunday.

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh phoned Erdogan Sunday evening, according to a statement posted on Hamas’s official website.

Haniyeh congratulated Erdogan and said he would dispatch a delegation to Turkey in the coming days, and indicated a willingness to deepen ties with Ankara, the statement said.

Several world leaders supportive of Erdogan, including Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, also called to congratulate him on his “victory,” the presidency said.

Erdogan has been among Hamas’s strongest supporters on the world stage, and Turkey under him has been accused of harboring leaders of the terror group and allowing it to launder money for militant activities.

Israel had demanded that Turkey downgrade its relationship with Hamas during detente talks ahead of a resumption of ties in 2016.


Iran protesters confront police at parliament in Tehran; tear gas fired at them
Protesters angered by Iran’s cratering economy confronted police officers in front of parliament on Monday, with security forces firing tear gas at them, according to online videos, the first such confrontation after similar demonstrations rocked the country at the start of the year.

The unplanned demonstration came a day after protests forced two major shopping centers for mobile phones and electronics to close in Tehran and after demonstrators earlier closed its Grand Bazaar.

It also signaled widespread unease beneath the surface in Iran in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

It wasn’t immediately clear who led the protests. Iran’s semi-official news agencies Fars, ISNA and Tasnim described the protests at the Grand Bazaar as erupting after the Iranian rial dropped to 90,000 to the dollar on the country’s black market, despite government attempts to control the currency rate.

Videos posted to social media showed protesters at the bazaar heckling shopkeepers who refused to close, shouting in Farsi: “Coward!”


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