From Ian:
JCPA: Abbas Shuts the Door to Negotiations with Israel
In his speech Abbas, who claimed there was no longer an Israeli partner for a political settlement, set forth the other components of his plan. They include: the “state of Palestine” joining international conventions and organizations, particularly the International Criminal Court in The Hague and a conference of states parties to the Geneva conventions, where one of the resolutions would be to declare the conventions applicable to the state of Palestine;” requesting the United Nations to provide protection to the Palestinian people; and a diplomatic effort to convince additional states to recognize the “state of Palestine.”
Abbas’ political plan shuts the door to any possibility of reaching a political settlement through negotiations with Israel. Whereas Abbas conveys to the world at large that he remains committed to the path of negotiations, the conditions he has presented for resuming them entail imposing terms on Israel with no reciprocity from the Palestinians in the context of a political compromise.
Abbas says Palestinian conditions for renewing the talks include: ending construction in the settlements, freeing the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners (terrorists who are Israeli citizens and are serving prison sentences), withdrawing IDF forces from parts of Area A in the West Bank that are supposed to be under the Palestinian Authority’s full security control, and Israeli agreement to negotiate with the Palestinians on making the 1967 lines the border between the state of Israel and the state of Palestine.
Khaled Abu Toameh: ISIS in Gaza
When One Radical Group Believes Another Is Not Radical Enough
Now almost everyone is talking about the Islamic State threats in Gaza against poets, writers and women. The leaflets mention the poets and writers by name — a move that has created panic. The leaflets also include an ultimatum to Palestinian women to abide by Islamic attire or face the Islamic State style of punishment — presumably being stoned to death.
Of course, all this is taking place while Hamas continues to insist that that the Islamic State is not operating in Gaza. Those who are taking the threats seriously are the writers and women whose names appeared in the leaflets.
Islamic State flags can already be seen at football stadiums, on windshields of vehicles, mosques, educational centers and wedding invitations.
It is also clear that if and when the Hamas regime collapses, the Gaza Strip will not fall into the lands of the less-radical Palestinians.
It is important to keep in mind that the counties in Europe now voting for a Palestinian state may effectively be paving the way for a takeover by Islamic State.
Richard Millett: I confronted the Palestinian “ambassador” over Har Nof killings.
On Tuesday night in Parliament I asked Manuel Hassassian, the unofficial Palestinian ambassador to the UK, why in the speech he had just delivered in which he accused Israel of “war crimes” he made no mention of Palestinian violence, specifically the recent murders by two Palestinians of four Rabbis and a Druze policeman at a west Jerusalem synagogue.
He answered me directly but when he said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had condemned the killings I reminded him, as you can see in the clip below, that Abbas had incited the murders in the first place with his violent rhetoric including imploring Palestinians to use “all means” to stop Jews visiting the Temple Mount. Here is our confrontation:
Meanwhile, a woman had just told the room that the Palestinians were suffering a fate worse than that of Anne Frank.
What she said was bad enough but the most chilling aspect was the warm applause she received from both Hassassian and ex-Labour MP Martin Linton, now chairperson of Labour Friends of Palestine, as well as from the others present.
It's Not Just CNN, Israeli Media Encourage Terrorism
Israel is under grave threat. Not only from without but from within.
The Israeli media daily incites against the religious people who have been targeted for stabbing all over Jerusalem and those who live in Judea and Samaria.
The Israeli media create confusion in the mind of foreign public opinion, as if there was an invisible line which divides between legitimate and illegitimate terror attacks. Obama just dribbles for their reports.
The Israeli media for months downplayed the threat and the signs of a new Intifada. They refused to use even that name, as if it was more sacred than Shoah. They saw Arabs shooting Jews, but refused to report it.
The Israeli media have sheltered Mahmoud Abbas' anti-Semitic rhetoric for years, by refusing to report on his incitement about Jerusalem. They are desperate not to lose their own Arab.
The Israeli media slander the Jews who want to pray on the Temple Mount, these heroes that are ready to pay with their own lives, like Yehuda Glick. For these journalists, it is Al Quds, not Yerushalaim. And the Temple Mount is an Islamic site. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Obama’s Threats Won’t Hurt Netanyahu
Few savvy observers took Secretary of State John Kerry at his word earlier this week when he piously proclaimed that the United States had no thought of attempting to intervene in Israel’s elections. The animus bordering on hatred felt by President Obama’s inner circle toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not exactly a secret. But it didn’t take long for a leak to an Israeli newspaper that is among the PM’s most rabid foes to dispel any doubts about the administration’s hopes that it could somehow derail his bid for a fourth term. The report from Barak Ravid, Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent that the White House held a meeting whose purpose was to plan possible future sanctions against Israel to punish it for continuing to build homes for Jews in Jerusalem and West Bank settlement blocs, is a shot fired over Netanyahu’s bow. But the real question here is not so much Obama’s desire to see the prime minister defeated, as it is why anyone in the administration thinks this gambit will succeed now after the same tactics have failed repeatedly before.
The Haaretz report makes it clear that the administration is looking ahead to another two years of escalating confrontation with Israel. The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of interest in negotiating, let alone signing a peace agreement that would end the conflict. Nor do the construction of homes for Jews in existing Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem or even in the settlement blocs that everyone (including President Obama) knows would remain inside Israel if peace were ever achieved constitute any sort of obstacle to a two-state solution. But the administration still clings to the illusion that the problem is Netanyahu and settlements rather than a Palestinian political culture that makes peace impossible and PA head Mahmoud Abbas’s incitement to violence. That means it is entirely possible that, as Ravid breathlessly predicts, the administration will no longer make do with bitter denunciations of Israeli actions in the future but will, instead adopt measures intended to punish the Jewish state. That might take the form of refraining from vetoing anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations Security Council or other actions intended to downgrade or undermine the alliance between the two countries.
Expert: US Sanctions Report a Political Ploy
On Thursday, Haaretz reported that the US is considering sanctions against Israel over the construction, but declined to give details over the "active measures" to be taken - excluding a comment speculating that the sanctions could include a vote against Israel in the UN Security Council - nor over how reliable the reports from "insiders" are regarding those measures.
But the report may be a political scare tactic, Professor Shmuel Sandler, expert on US-Israeli relations and member of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, stated in an interview with Arutz Sheva on Friday.
According to Sandler, the report's timing is intentional, an attempt by the left-leaning daily to influence public opinion ahead of elections in Israel - elections which, until recently, had indicated that the political right could make great gains in the Knesset overall.
Both Haaretz and Washington itself, he speculated, "want to say that they do not like the current government and its head. They did not hide it and perhaps they wanted to influence the public" via that report.
The article is built on similar moves threatened by the European Union (EU) against Israel.
Obama names Ashton Carter as next defense secretary
If confirmed, Carter would replace Chuck Hagel who announced his resignation last month. Carter served as deputy defense secretary under Leon Panetta from October 2011 to December 2013.
In his announcement, Obama called Carter one of the foremost national security leaders.
He said Carter knows the Pentagon “inside and out,” which means “on day one, he’ll be ready to hit the ground running.”
Carter will inherit a tense relationship between the US military and the White House that is unlikely to ease even with a fresh face at the helm of the Pentagon, experts said.
Poll finds Israelis appreciate US support, wary of Obama’s policies
Despite the positive attitudes towards the US, the poll found that Israelis are generally mistrustful of the US president, with only 37 percent of respondents calling Obama’s views of Israel “positive,” while 61% characterized his attitude towards Israel as “negative” or “neutral.”
A similar BESA poll carried out in 2012 showed that 51% of Israelis termed Obama’s attitude towards Israel as positive.
According to the new survey, 96% of Israelis categorized diplomatic relations with the US as “important” or “very important,” and 74% said Washington would come to Israel’s defense against existential threats.
South Korea 'probably the only country that can understand Israel's plight,' new envoy says
South Korea is probably the only country that can understand Israel’s complicated situation Lee Gun-Tae, the South Korean ambassador and the last of four who presented their credentials on Thursday, told President Reuven Rivlin.
The other three were Ivo Schwarz, the former chief of the civilian intelligence service (UZSI) of the Czech Republic; Gustavo Antonio Otero Zapata, who served as Peru’s ambassador to Russia before his posting to Israel; and Doulat Kuanyshev of Kazakhstan whose previous posting was in India.
In welcoming Lee, Rivlin said that he had visited Korea as communications minister.
“Till I came to Seoul, I thought there was only one miracle, Israel, and then I saw what you have done since the 1950s.”
Rivlin lamented that no president of Korea has ever visited Israel and via Lee, extended an invitation to President Park Geun-hye, saying that he would be happy to receive her. Meanwhile Lee would like to increase bilateral tourism.
Although many Korean Christian pilgrims come to Israel, Lee wants to boost general tourism. Commenting on the pilgrims, Rivlin said: “Some of them know the Bible better than we do.”
“Only the New Testament,” Lee responded.
Dramatic footage shows supermarket stabbing attack
Footage of a stabbing attack on a West Bank supermarket on Wednesday emerged on Thursday, showing the assailant set upon two men with a knife from behind before being chased through the store.
Two Israelis were moderately injured in the attack, at a branch of the Rami Levy discount chain in Mishor Adumim, an industrial zone east of Jerusalem.
Police said they are treating the incident as a terror attack.
The clip shows the two men with carts in the wine section of the store, deep in the supermarket.
The terrorist stands for several seconds between the two men before suddenly hitting one over the head with what appears to be a knife. He briefly tussles with another man, apparently injuring him too and then flees.
In footage from a different camera, the terrorist is seen sprinting through the store with his weapon raised as shoppers scatter, and one man with a red shirt chases him from behind with his handgun drawn.
Teen girl arrested after approaching checkpoint with blade
Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian teen after she apparently approached soldiers at a checkpoint with a knife Thursday evening.
The incident, at the Qalandiya checkpoint just north of Jerusalem, came amid a spate of attacks by knife-wielding Palestinians over the last several weeks.
The teenage girl, from the West Bank town of Beit Duku, was arrested as she approached a group of border policemen at the checkpoint armed with a knife, according to a report on Israel’s Channel 2 news.
The policemen, who became suspicious of her as she approached them, spotted the knife and fired a warning shot into the air before restraining and taking her into custody.
A video of the arrest showed the girl in a standoff with police, before one appears to Tase or pepper spray her and wrestle her to the ground.
New images show police response to Jerusalem synagogue attack
New images from last month's deadly terror attack at the Bnei Torah synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem show policemen shooting the terrorists as they emerged from the synagogue after slaying four worshipers.
The attack claimed the lives of Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Rabbi Kalman Levine, Rabbi Moshe Twersky and Kupinsky Aryeh inside the synagogue and that of Master Sergeant Zidan Sif outside.
The first bomber emerged from the synagogue, brandishing a large knife - the one he had used in the massacre in the prayer hall. Armed only with the knife, he started running toward Sif. The police, in response, opened fire at him.
"I ducked behind the railing of my balcony and kept taking photos," Ross said. "There was an exchange of fire, and the first terrorist fell and was killed."
But behind him the second terrorist was waiting. (h/t Yoel)
Court upholds Temple Mount ban on activist Glick
The Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal from Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick on Thursday, ruling to uphold a restraining order barring him from the holy site.
Glick — who was the target of an assassination attempt in late October, and was recently released from the hospital – said he would bring another appeal to the Supreme Court.
The court said the restraining order would remain in effect until criminal charges against Glick are resolved.
In September, a Muslim woman on the Temple Mount filed charges against the rabbi for allegedly pushing her and breaking her arm
To Limit Violence in Jerusalem, Designate Qatar a State Sponsor of Terrorism
According to an investigative report recently published by Israel Hayom, Qatar has been gifting members of the Northern Branch of The Islamic Movement thousands of Shekels to incite violence against Jews on the Temple Mount. The Northern Branch is a Muslim advocacy organization whose leader Sheik Ra’ad Salah has in the past been convicted of incitement to violence charges in Israel and since 2002 there have been talks within Israel of outlawing the organization for its extreme ideology. The Israel Hayom article notes that The Northern Branch is using the funds it receives from Qatar to pay Arabs to attack Jews using rocks, firebombs and firecrackers. And according to the Jerusalem based think tank the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the Al Aqsa mosque itself – from which Israeli police in concert with the “status quo” agreement rarely enter – is being used both to provide sanctuary for these rioters and to store their weapons.
These accounts of Qatari backed incitement on the Temple Mount should come as no surprise to Secretary Kerry or the Obama Administration. The US treasury department has noted that Qatar “has for many years openly financed Hamas” and like Hamas the Northern Branch is an affiliate of The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group whose funding from Qatar has been well documented. The Qatari government has also according to a recent New York Times report, for years consented to fundraising in Qatari state owned mosques by representatives of al Qaeda. Yet amazingly, the United States remains committed to maintaining strong diplomatic ties with Qatar – in July the United States and Qatar signed an $11 billion dollar weapons deal that will send Qatar Apache helicopters, patriot missiles, and anti-tank rockets.
Pollard hospitalized after losing consciousness in jail
Spy-for-Israel Jonathan Pollard was hospitalized Friday after losing consciousness in a US prison due to undisclosed causes, Israeli media reported.
According to an activist group involved in campaigning for Pollard’s release, the spy’s wife Esther was notified of the medical incident by American authorities. She was told that her husband was taken to a hospital outside the jail, but did not receive further information and Pollard’s condition was unclear.
The 60-year-old convict, who has spent around half of his life in prison, has been hospitalized in the past due to various illnesses.
Palestinian terrorists have gone online
Everyone's looking for the third intifada out on the streets, but it's not only there; it has active and threatening offshoots on the Internet too.
The younger generation of Palestinians has learned well from Islamic State's staggering success when it comes to sowing the seeds of fear, and has moved the focus of its resistance to the social networks. The blogger has joined forces with the muezzin; the talkbackers are in cahoots with the stone-throwers; and the "share" buttons are working alongside the incitement leaflets.
The social network is the new mosque, and there's no need to remove one's shoes when entering; there are Border Police and there's no tear gas; and the police don't impose an age restriction on worshipers.
In recent months, this protected expanse has allowed the Palestinians to establish a new terrorist infrastructure. Instead of recruiting activists on the ground and worrying about them getting picked up on the radar of the Shin Bet security service, they've moved over to online recruitment via popular campaigns designed to sow hatred and covey the sense that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is under threat – in the hope of prompting a terror mission carried out by a lone attacker, one who is not affiliated with any terrorist organization.
PA Mufti demands bodies of synagogue murderers
Now the Palestinian Authority Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, demands that Israel transfer the bodies of the dead murderers, who he calls Martyrs (Shahids), a term of the highest honor in Islam. He explained: “It is the Martyrs’ right for us to pray for them” and also so their relatives “may hold the funeral rites required by Muslim Shari’ah”:
“At a press conference at the mourners’ tent in Jabal Mukkaber on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014, [PA] Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Muhammad Hussein called on the occupation authorities to return the bodies of the Martyrs (Shahids) to their relatives and the members of their village quickly, so that they may hold the funeral rites required by Muslim Shari’ah. Hussein continued: ‘It is the Martyrs’ right for us to pray for them, and this is a right according to Shari’ah. Their relatives, friends and loved ones also have the right to see them one last time, and no one gains anything from keeping the Martyrs’ bodies.’”
[The Capital City, distributed with Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 2, 2014]
The attorney of the murderers’ families blamed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for the deaths of the “Martyrs” and said “an indictment must be submitted” against him:
Attorney Raed Bashir: “Given that the occupation forces are responsible for the deaths of eight people in the operation (i.e., the Jerusalem synagogue terror attack) - six settlers and the Martyrs Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal - an indictment must be submitted against Prime Minister of the occupation Netanyahu, as he is responsible for the events in Jerusalem.”
Mashaal: Lack of solution to conflict will lead to ‘bloodbath’
The lack of a solution to the Palestinian issue will lead to an open conflict in the Middle East — a “bloodbath” — Hamas’s political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal alleged, adding that the violent terror attacks in Jerusalem were a reaction to “Israeli aggression.”
“Israeli stubbornness, combined with the international impotence in solving the Palestinian issue with a just solution, enabling the Palestinian people their self-determination — this will lead to chaos in the region, not just in the Palestinian arena, but an open conflict — a bloodbath. We warn against keeping the Palestinian issue with no solution and stripping the Palestinian people of hope,” Mashaal said in an interview with Sky News Thursday.
The Qatar-based Hamas leader, whose terror group openly calls for the destruction of Israel, and which fired some 4,500 rockets and other projectiles at Israel during the summer’s war, blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the recent violence in Jerusalem, in which a spate of Palestinian terror attacks have killed nearly a dozen Israelis since mid-October. He accused Netanyahu of “playing with fire” and turning a “national fight” into a “religious fight” for allowing Knesset members and “extremists” to access the Temple Mount.
Hamas Escalates Rocket Tests as IDF Readies ‘David’s Sling’ Interceptors (VIDEO)
Israeli army sources say that Hamas has aggressively increased its rocket and mortar firing tests out to sea in recent days, readying for more fighting with Israel, Israel’s 0404 News reported Thursday.
“We follow every movement of Hamas. The organization is trying to rebuild its status and condition after getting hit hard during Protective Edge,” a military source said.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has said that the army and air force destroyed some 80 percent of Hamas’ arsenal of long-range M-75, mid-range Grad, and short-range Kassam rockets and mortars in the 51-day conflict during the summer.
The IDF, from land, sea, and air, contends that it can keep close electronic and visual tabs on the new tests and immediately detect any shooting carried out by the terror organization.
“We’re aware of Hamas’ training, and the tests they perform with various rockets,” according to the official.
Indonesia Rejects Hamas Plan to Open New Office in Capital
Syamsuddin explained that he did not feel it necessary for Hamas to be represented, as the Palestinian Authority already maintains a presence in Indonesia. He explained that if “one of the two [Hamas or Fatah] opens an office,” “potential diplomatic and institutional conflict” may ensue.
Nahdlatul Ulama, which has country’s largest modernist Islamic group at 30-million members, shared the sentiment that Hamas should not be allowed to open an office in their country.
“We already have the embassy of Palestine.. and do not need anything else,” said the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who added that the terror group will never be allowed to have a diplomatic presence in their country.
Hamas’s failed diplomatic initiative started when their delegation was met with great controversy when they were received by Indonesia’s Vice-President last week. The delegation also met with the country’s House Speaker and second highest-ranking official in the capital.
Psaki Caught on Hot Mic Admitting Egypt Talking Points Are ‘Ridiculous’
State Department spokesperson and perennial question dodger Jen Psaki was caught admitting that her prepared ‘line’ on Egypt was “ridiculous” after a press briefing Monday.
After Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pressed her to comment on Egypt’s decision to clear former President Hosni Mubarak of murder, Psaki gave one of her typical non-answers read straight from the page:
“Generally, we continue to believe that upholding impartial standards of accountability will advance the political consensus on which Egypt’s long-term stability and economic growth depends,” Psaki said.
Lee was astonished at the response, and took the opportunity to point out that the answer was meaningless.
“Wow, I don’t understand that at all,” Lee said. “What you said says nothing. It’s like saying, ‘We support the right of people to breathe.’”
JCPA: Egyptian President al-Sisi vs. Hamas
At the end of last month, Egypt’s Prosecutor General filed a lawsuit against Hamas’ military arm Ezzedin Al Qassam, intending to declare Hamas a terrorist organization and outlaw its activity. Hamas claims that the directive to the Prosecutor General originated from Egyptian President al-Sisi himself.
The Egyptian move against Hamas comes after the grave terror attack in northern Sinai six weeks ago in which 33 Egyptian soldiers were killed. The extremist Ansar Beit al Maqdes, that recently joined ISIS, claimed responsibility, but according to Egyptian intelligence, Hamas was actively involved in this terror attack by smuggling explosives and its fighters through Gaza’s tunnels.
The Egyptians claim the terror attack was masterminded by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, that the logistical support was provided by the Turkish intelligence services, and that Qatar financed the operation with $6 million. Hamas has denied all connection to the attack.
Jordanian lawmakers trade tirades, leaving female members fuming
Jordan’s Parliament is no stranger to tumult, having hosted scenes of enraged members chucking ashtrays at each other and even pulling out guns during heated arguments.
But this week’s performance was a stunner even by the legislature’s raucous standards.
On Tuesday, a three-way shouting match in Amman culminated in a walkout of all female representatives after an exasperated male colleague told them to "go put on makeup for [their] husbands,” according to a video of the session released by local broadcaster Roya News.
The sexist tirade emerged from a heated discussion about the Muslim Brotherhood, the pan-Arab political movement. One lawmaker, Abdul Majid Aqtash, who is pro-Brotherhood, criticized the government's recent arrest of a prominent member of the group, the third arrested in recent months.
U.S. Anti-Semites Attend Syrian 'Counterterrorism' Conference
Syria’s Justice Minister, Najm al-Ahmad, reportedly stated at the conference that the U.S. is “interfering in other states’ affairs and breaching their sovereignty under the pretexts of humanitarianism and counterterrorism.”
Attendees from Europe at the conference included far-right politicians such as Nicholas John Griffin, a former chairman and later president of the far-right British National Party and Philip Dewinter and Frank Creyelman, members of Vlaams Belang, a far-right Flemish nationalist party.
Four of the eight Americans who participated in the conference were from Veterans Today, a website that presents anti-Semitic conspiracy theories as news, notes ADL.
Jim Dean, a managing editor for Veterans Today who has made claims of Israeli control of America, attended the conference and told an Arabic-language newspaper that Veterans Today has “unconfirmed reports that a secret U.S. organization supported by the CIA and the Israeli Mossad carried out assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists” and that “the same organization has links to the Islamic State (ISIS) and it supervises, through a specialized department, the television filming of beheadings.”
French Expert: Nazi Alois Brunner Died 20 Years Ago
Top Nazi fugitive Alois Brunner died in Syria at least two decades ago, a renowned French Nazi hunter said Thursday, disputing recent claims he died four years ago.
Brunner, who topped most wanted lists over the Holocaust, "died in his bed but he died 20 years ago or more, in my opinion," French lawyer Serge Klarsfeld told AFP.
He was responding to Monday's announcement by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that Brunner, the unrepenting "right-hand man" of leading Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann, was almost certainly dead. Born in 1912, Brunner would be 102 now.
The director of the Nazi-hunting group's Jerusalem office, Efraim Zuroff, said that according to a German intelligence officer, Brunner "died four years ago in... Damascus," where he had fled seeking refuge decades earlier.
In New Interview, Assad Accuses US of Creating ISIS: 'The West Supported Them Politically'
The interview, which is the first attempt by Assad in a long time to improve his image in the West, focuses largely on the Syrian civil war, and the interviewer does not shy away from asking Assad directly about his use of chemical weapons and his attacks on civilians. From the beginning, Assad lays most of the blame on outside influences. "Let’s be honest: had Qatar not paid money to those terrorists at that time, and had Turkey not supported them logistically, and had not the West supported them politically, things would have been different," he says of "terrorists" that are fighting against his regime. He does not distinguish between moderate rebels who are seeking merely to overthrow him in the name of democracy and the terrorists of the Islamic State, and repeatedly condemns the United States for supporting the opposition "terrorists."
Of the opposition forces, Assad says that "Obama himself said" that the opposition was "fake." He goes on to explicitly blame the United States for the creation of the Islamic State:
Obama Administration’s Approach to Iran Alienating Middle Eastern Allies, Expert Tells Senate Foreign Relations Committee
America’s allies in the Middle East are profoundly skeptical of the Obama Administration’s attempts to reach a deal with the Iranian regime over its nuclear program, a leading Middle East analyst has told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In testimony delivered to the committee on Wednesday, Michael Doran, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the George W. Bush Administration who now works for the Hudson Institute think-tank in Washington DC, warned that, “The tale that our allies tell about the thaw in relations between the United States and Iran is markedly different from the tale that the Obama administration itself is telling.”
Elite opinion in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf monarchies, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan sees “no convincing proof that Tehran is changing course,” Doran said. Instead, these allies are worried by “a strategic shift in Washington” that has resulted in a “silent partnership” with the Iranians that the Obama Administration is “working daily” to enhance.
Iranian IRGC Missile Unit Commanders: We've Developed 2,000-km Range Missiles And Equipped Hizbullah With 300-km Range Missiles
Two weeks before November 24, 2014, the end date of the Joint Plan of Action between Iran and the P5+1, websites close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) began reporting about the capabilities of the IRGC missile unit, and in particular about this unit's capability to strike and destroy Israel. At the same time, there has been a marked increase in threats by IRGC officials on behalf of Hizbullah about the latter's readiness to strike any point in Israel. Furthermore, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency is touting the capability of Hizbullah's Iranian missiles to damage Israel's natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as Israeli naval vessels.
On November 24, IRGC commander Ali Jafari said at a conference at Shahid Modares University: "Today, the entire area of the occupied territories [Israel] is within range of the missiles of the resistance – meaning the fall of the Zionist regime. Of course, the matter does not end here, and certainly the final liberation [of Palestine] will come about."
Who changed the rules?
The November 24 deadline on nuclear talks between Iran and Western powers has come and gone. It comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone following the talks that this deadline was met with yet another deadline: July 1, 2015. As someone who cares deeply about the U.S., I am profoundly disgusted with the way the Iranian mullahs played the U.S. and the other P5+1 nations (U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany) like a fiddle, and the way the Obama administration elevated Iran to the level of an equal negotiating partner. I am equally revolted with the fact that President Barack Obama wrote a "secret letter" to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying that we share key interests in fighting the Islamic State group, once again elevating their national stature.
Iran's record of human rights violations should have made it a pariah among nations long ago. In Iran, women are executed for being raped, acid is routinely thrown into the faces of women who are not adequately covered by their hijabs or chadors, political dissidents and religious minorities are routinely imprisoned, tortured and hanged. In fact, since President Hassan Rouhani, perceived as a moderate, took office 14 months ago, the number of hangings of dissidents has only increased -- at least 936 executions.
U.N. Watchdog Seeks $5.7 Million to Monitor Extended Iran Nuclear Deal
The U.N. atomic agency says it needs an extra 4.6 million euros ($5.67 million) from member states to finance monitoring of an extended nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, a document seen by Reuters said on Wednesday.
Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China, and Russia failed to meet a Nov. 24 deadline for resolving a 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program and gave themselves until the end of June 2015 for further negotiations.
As a result, a preliminary agreement reached late last year, under which Iran halted its most sensitive nuclear activity in exchange for limited sanctions easing, will remain in force.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – which has inspectors on the ground every day of the week – is tasked with checking that Iran meets its commitments under the accord.
Al Qaeda in Yemen Threatens to Execute American Hostage
Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen has threatened to execute a British-born American journalist if its demands are not met within three days.
33-year-old Luke Somers was kidnapped by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in September 2013 in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. US special forces reportedly attempted to free him as recently as November 25, but succeeded only in freeing a number of Saudi and Yemeni hostages after terrorists moved Somers to a different location shortly before the operation.
In the three-minute video released Wednesday senior AQAP's figure Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi appears sitting at a desk with his face uncovered, calmly reading a list of grievances against the US including military operations in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and Pakistan. He then warns the US that it has "a time-frame of three days from the issuance of this statement to meet our demands about which they are aware."
Lee Rigby Killer Adebolajo Loses Appeal in Just 45 Seconds
Adebolajo, who was convicted of killing soldier Lee Rigby as he walked down a London street, tried to claim that he should have his conviction dropped because he was a 'soldier of Allah' who was 'at war' with Britain.
The 29-year-old ran down Fusilier Rigby in Woolwich, South East London last year before hacking him to death. He and accomplice Michael Adebowale were sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing, with both showing no remorse.
The Daily Mail reports, however, three judges at the Court of Appeal today spent just 45 seconds explaining why they would not hear his appeal.
Adebolajo's legal team had argued that the judge who originally sentenced him, Mr Justice Sweeney, had misdirected the jury regarding the legal grounds surrounding his motives.
Barrister David Gottlieb said: "He has claimed that the reason he killed Fusilier Rigby was solely because he was a serving soldier," said the barrister.
Pakistan Trench Along Afghan Border Enrages Kabul
In the dusty badlands along its disputed border with Afghanistan, Pakistan is carving out a massive trench to keep out separatists, smugglers and militants in an attempt to bring order to a lawless, tribal region.
But like the Berlin Wall or Israel's West Bank barrier, the planned 485-kilometer (300-mile) trench is giving physical form to a border that locals have long seen as artificial, dividing families and crippling trade. And it is adding to simmering tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. allies which have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to insurgents.
The trench runs along part of the 2,640-kilometer (2,640-mile) Durand Line, named for British diplomat Mortimer Durand, who drew the now internationally recognized border in an agreement with Afghan ruler Abdur Raham Khan in 1893. But the modern Afghan government has never accepted the border, and neither have the mainly tribal communities that straddle it. They are accustomed to moving back and forth freely and in some cases own land on both sides.
The trench is being built in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, where Baluch rebels have been battling Islamabad for decades, demanding greater autonomy and a larger share of the region's oil, gas, copper and gold. It's an eye-sore of construction — a massive furrow 10 feet (three meters) wide and 8 feet (2.4 meters) deep that already snakes 180 kilometers (110 miles) across the desert landscape.