From Ian:
David Horovitz: What John Kerry should have told the Saban Forum
We were short-sighted, hesitant, weak. We failed to create the climate in which you in Israel could take the steps you need to take to separate from the Palestinians. I hope my successors will do better
We came into office — and this is, of course, before my time as secretary of state — in an America that was emphatically intent on avoiding fresh military entanglements in your part of the world. And I acknowledge that the desire to stay out of potential new conflicts, a desire that reflected the will of the American people, impacted policy-making from the get-go.
We missed an early opportunity to back the people of Iran in 2009 when they courageously attempted to rise up against the benighted regime that oppresses them. They sought reform. They sought an end to religious coercion. They sought equality for women. They sought the freedoms that we in the West, certainly including Israel, insist upon. And we did nothing to help them. We failed the people of Iran then; I hope and pray that we did not fail them, and did not fail you and indeed ourselves — as I know you believe we did — in the signing of the nuclear deal we reached with the regime in July. I want to believe that we have all but eliminated the Iranian nuclear threat, though I must recognize that the accord cements that regime in power, emboldens it, gives it the resources to promote its pernicious agenda across the region and orchestrate terrorism worldwide. History will be our judge.
We were short-sighted about the Arab Spring, wanting to believe that sheer people power would be enough to drive popular uprisings against tyrannies across the region toward the establishment of genuine, vibrant, abiding democracies. You Israelis warned us. You, in your ambivalence — delighted to see much of the Arab world demanding democracy, but only too aware that it was the Muslim Brotherhood in one guise or another that was best placed to capitalize on the chaos — you told us that, left alone, the heartfelt desire for change would be co-opted, abused by Islamist groups in country after country. And so it proved.
In Syria, weak, hesitant and unprepared, we failed to substantially assist the early secular, relatively moderate opposition to Bashar Assad. I must personally acknowledge that I was wrong about him. He is, of course, anything but a reformer. It is shameful that, even today, he remains in a position where he is capable of slaughtering still more of his people. Not America’s shame alone, I should stress. His continuing presence is a global stain. A mark of moral and practical failure.
The video of revelers cheering 9/11 that no one got to see
Here are the facts, all of which are matters of public record. On the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of jubilant Palestinians took to the streets, chanting “God is great,” firing automatic weapons and handing out sweets to passers-by. The largest demonstration took place in Nablus in the West Bank, where some 3,000 marchers danced and cheered as guerrillas fired assault rifles and grenades into the air.
Many journalists were on the scene, but they were forcibly detained in a hotel by armed Palestinian security forces to prevent coverage of the rally. One cameraman — a freelance AP reporter — nevertheless managed to film some of the celebration.
The next day, members of Tanzim, the military arm of Fatah, physically threatened the cameraman and warned AP not to air the material. A cabinet secretary for the Palestinian government told the Associated Press that the government could not “guarantee the life” of the cameraman if the film were broadcast.
The Palestinian information minister explained to the Washington Post that the coercive tactics “were not against the freedom of the press but in order to ensure our national security and our national interest. We will not permit a few kids here or there to smear the real face of the Palestinians.”
The threat worked. After initially declining to confirm the incident, the AP bureau chief in Jerusalem acknowledged the intimidation and the news organization’s capitulation to it. On Sept. 14, 2001, the news organization made known that “in light of the danger,” it wouldn’t release the video for world broadcast because “the safety of our staff is paramount. At this point we believe there to be a serious threat to our staff if the video is released.”
Fourteen years later, the historic footage from 9/11 remains inaccessible to public view.
The collapse of the Palestinian Authority may already be here
United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s scenario outlining a potential collapse of the Palestinian Authority, laid out Saturday at the Saban Forum in Washington, DC, sounds more than realistic.
For a change, the US administration, an expert at making fatal mistakes in the Middle East, seems to read the state of Palestinian affairs correctly, though the secretary errs in using the word “collapse.”
Instead, it should be substituted with the term “disintegration,” which in some ways has already begun.
The shooting attack on Thursday, in which Preventive Security Services member Mazen Aribe opened fire on Israel Defense Forces soldiers near the Hizme checkpoint, marks a crossroads.
Aribe was killed by fire from soldiers at the scene. The Palestinian Authority, instead of condemning or at least not supporting the action, sent head Palestine Liberation Organization negotiator Saeb Erekat and the mayor of Jericho to visit the home of the attacker’s family.
Netanyahu Source: ‘Kerry Is Replaced Soon, Let him Say What He Wants’
A political source close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ma’ariv on Sunday night that “Kerry’s scathing speech did not shock the Israeli government because everyone knows that he will be replaced soon. Everyone is busy with a countdown to the election of a different US president, and until then Kerry can say whatever he wants.”
Interestingly, when MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List) was asked by Israel Radio about the same Kerry speech Sunday, he described it as “a strong speech by a weak man,” which stands to show that some observations by Israel’s political animals are universal.
Speaking at the Brookings Institute Saban Forum last Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is likely to end up in a one-state solution, complete with the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and an Israeli obligation to retake the Arab portion of Judea and Samaria.
Kerry assured his audience that the US is still committed to a two-state solution, but noted that while Prime Minister Netanyahu has been paying lip service to it, a number of Israeli cabinet ministers are on the record in opposition to Palestinian statehood, and so, if things remain the way they have been, the Palestinian Authority is not likely to survive.
Clinton: Alternative to Abbas could be Islamic State
On her first day in office as president, Hillary Clinton would reach out to the Israeli prime minister and invite him to the White House in an effort to strengthen US-Israel ties, she said Sunday afternoon.
Speaking before the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum, the former secretary of state offered up tough talk on Iran and emphasized her support for the peace process while chiding Israeli leaders who have rejected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a potential partner for peace. The alternative to Abbas, she warned, might be the Islamic State terror group.
US and Israeli leaders, the Democratic front-runner said, “must remind our peoples how much they have in common and keep our relationship always above partisan politics.”
Calling Israel an “ally and true friend… now and forever,” Clinton vowed to “take the already strong relationship to the next level.
“It is in our national interest to have an Israel that remains a bastion of stability and a core ally in a region in chaos,” she said.
Clinton: Educate youth about Israel-US bond
Young people in the United States and Israel need to be educated about the value of the relationship between the two countries, Hillary Rodham Clinton said.
“With every passing year we must tie the bonds tighter, reach out to the next generation,” the front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination said Sunday to the Saban Forum in Washington, an annual conference of American and Israeli leaders.
Clinton, born just before Israel’s independence in 1948, said she belonged to a generation that thrilled to Israel’s successes, but that the admiration was receding.
“There is a generation in both countries today that does not remember that shared past,” she said.
White House: Hanukkah Lights Flicker for Saving Syrian Refuges
He seems to be getting Passover, when Jews recall being “strangers in a strange land,” with Hanukkah, the celebration of twin miracles of the victory of a small number of Jews over Greek invaders of Jerusalem and of a one-day’s supply of pure olive oil burning for eight days after the holy Menorah was relit.
It is no wonder he got confused because Passover also has been used by President Barack Obama to promote his political agenda. This past year, as in previous years, the President acted as a would-be Torah sage to declare that Jews must drive into their minds that Arabs deserve their freedom just like Jews won their freedom with the help of God.
He meant freedom for Arabs in Judea and Samaria, where their main lack of freedom is to kill Jews at will, and not in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and other Muslim countries where freedom is a strange word in a strange land.
The Terrorist Double Standard
We already knew that the PA routinely honors those who have carried out acts of terrorism in the past. Now Abbas’s regime is actively honoring those who have carried out “stabbing intifada” attacks. In one instance, Saeb Erekat, the PA’s lead peace negotiator, and other Fatah officials, paid a condolence call on the family of a PA security officer who shot an Israeli soldier and a bystander in a terror attack on Thursday and was killed during the course of the incident. But in light of Erekat’s remarks in which he said that it was the right of Palestinians to “resist” Israel in this fashion, it’s clear that the PA has crossed the line from incitement into outright encouragement of terror against Jews.
This contrast between Israeli efforts to punish Jewish wrongdoers and Palestinian honoring of terrorists that attack Jews couldn’t be greater. Moreover, as even Secretary of State John Kerry pointed out today, such actions by Palestinian leaders undermine any rationale for peace talks. Though he continues to wrongly blame the continuation of the conflict on Israeli actions, were he to follow his thoughts about Palestinian incitement to their logical conclusion, he would realize that, like its Hamas rivals, the PA has no interest in peace or a two-state solution. Its ongoing refusal to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders might be drawn shows its only goal is Israel’s destruction.
As even those like President Obama, who have tried to downplay the danger from ISIS terrorists, hopefully start to sober up about the need to take this war seriously, the one exception to the united front against terror still appears to be Israel. So long as Western leaders treat killers of Jews as being worthy of understanding and condemn Israelis for defending themselves, terror will continue. Those who correctly lament the tragedies in Paris and San Bernardino should also spare a moment in their public expressions of sympathy for Israelis that continue to undergo a daily terror nightmare without the benefit of support from Facebook.
Netanyahu slams Swedish double standard toward Israel on terrorism
Netanyahu highlighted remarks by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström in parliament last week, accusing Israel of "extrajudicial executions" and "disproportionate" force in response to the current wave of Palestinian terrorism, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Israel gives full support to security forces and civilians, "who have the right to defend themselves," the prime minister stated.
Netanyahu recounted that he called Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Sunday to "strongly protest [Wallström's] hypocrisy."
The prime minister said he did not hear Wallström call the killing of the terrorists who recently attacked San Bernardino, California or Paris extrajudicial executions.
Pointing out that Wallström said in an interview that she had been misunderstood, Netanyahu said he was happy to hear it, and that she told an interviewer she had no proof of her original claim.
"There aren't two sets of morals, one for Israel and one for the rest of the world," Netanyahu stated. "We will continue fighting terrorism and hypocrisy."
New app alerts you each time the Swedish foreign minister says something stupid (satire)
There’s a hot new app on the streets, and the people of Tel Aviv cannot get enough of it. Dubbed the “Mar-Go,” this application alerts you every time Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom makes a pronouncement that is inane, absurd, unfortunate, or just silly. The Daily Freier went out to get the word on the street.
“I don’t know how I lived without the Mar-Go” noted alert local, Ronit S. My phone has been beeping off the hook. I think she’s being interviewed at the Hague about the most the proportional way to deal with somebody who is busy stabbing you with a butcher knife”.
“The Mar-Go rocks” added Natan G., as his iPhone played a ringtone of “Dancing Queen” by ABBA. “Except….the whole thing leaves me in the bizarre situation of wishing she was as tactful and diplomatic as… Avigdor Liberman”
“If you haven’t installed Mar-Go, you’re just missing out!” enthused Alon N. “Wait…. She’s starting a press conference on the ‘root causes’ of the European refugee crisis. Sorry,” he said settling down with a Goldstar and a bowl of hummus on a park bench on Rothschild Boulevard, “but I need to watch this.”
Israeli critically injured in Hebron stabbing; attacker shot dead
An Israeli man was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack Monday afternoon near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to Israel Police.
Police said the terrorist was shot dead by security forces at the scene.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the victim, a man in his 40s, sustained several stab wounds to the upper part of his body and had been evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Police say he arrived at the hospital’s trauma center in severe condition where he was connected to a ventilator.
Initial reports suggested the victim was a civilian walking in the area.
MDA paramedic Zaki Yahav said the injured victim was slipping in and out of consciousness when they arrived at the scene.
2 lightly wounded in stabbing, vehicular attack in Jerusalem
Two people were lightly wounded in an apparent combined stabbing and vehicular attack in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Romema Sunday evening.
The assailant was shot and killed by security forces at the scene, on Yirmiyahu Street in the ultra-Orthodox area, moments after the attack.
According to initial reports, the assailant first attempted to ram his car into a crowd of people. After apparently crashing his car without hitting anyone, the suspect then exited the vehicle and began slashing at a 65-year-old police volunteer.
The attacker was then shot and killed by a soldier who happened to be at the scene. He was identified by police as a 21-year-old East Jerusalem resident.
Israel strikes Gaza after attacks on IDF vehicles
An IDF aircraft attacked what the army called “a Hamas military post” in the northern Gaza Strip early Monday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The single strike followed two attacks on IDF vehicles on the border with southern Gaza over the weekend, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
On Friday, an army jeep came under fire from the strip, leaving bullet holes in the windshield. The attack was repeated Sunday, with another jeep taking fire that left bullet holes in its windshield.
No one was hurt in the shooting attacks.
Why Jenin is staying out of current wave of terrorism
Jenin, once a stronghold of suicide bombers, is the quietest town in the West Bank these days. After four attempted terror attacks at the nearby Jalamah checkpoint, the people there understood their economic prosperity could be endangered and immediately took action to calm things down.
It's a quiet morning hour at the entrance gate leading into Jenin. Palestinian workers are standing on the other side of the Gilboa-Jalamah checkpoint, waiting for the contractors to pick them up. Some light up a morning hookah and smoke while sitting on one of the nearby benches in the checkpoint's well-taken-care-of entrance. A few Palestinian businessmen, wearing nice suits, are quickly making their way from one side to the other. An outsider passing by wouldn't be able to tell that Israel and the Palestinian Authority were in the midst of the worst escalation of violence since the second intifada.
But the guards at the checkpoint are wound up like a spring and adopt a solemn expression. Their gaze is focused on the line of cars asking to enter Israel, their weapons are at the ready, and their fingers are very near the trigger guard. They've learned from experience. In each of the four attempted attacks that happened here between late October and early November, the terrorists came out of the long line of vehicles. All four were children or teenagers, all wielding knives, they were all from the Jenin-district town of Qabatiya – they even all went to the same school.
BBC News headline prioritises terrorist deaths
On December 4th the BBC News website’s Middle East page published its first report since the beginning of the month concerning the ongoing wave of terror attacks against Israelis. The previous report dedicated to such terror attacks had appeared on November 23rd and the last mention of any of the daily attacks had been in an article on another topic which was published on November 24th.
The headline chosen by the BBC after that ten-day hiatus in reporting was “Four Palestinians killed after attacks on Israelis in West Bank” and the report was presented on the website’s Middle East page under a title which also chose to prioritise the deaths of terrorists killed whilst carrying out violent attacks.
The report relates to three separate attacks on members of the Israeli security forces which took place in Hebron, near the village of Abud and near Ofra. Why those particular incidents were deemed more newsworthy than any of the numerous others which had taken place in previous days is unclear but it is notable that the December 3rd attack at Hizme in which a soldier and an Arab-Israeli civilian were wounded by a terrorist reported to be a member of the Palestinian Authority security forces did not receive BBC coverage.
The 'scent' of terror: New dagger perfume available for purchase in Gaza
The latest perfume trend in Gaza is a new scent being sold in a bottle shaped like a dagger, the Palestinian symbol of resistance in the latest wave of terror to strike Israel in recent months, according to reports by Alkahleej, a United Arab Emirates based media site.
In the face of an economic downturn, Gazan vendors and business owners are using their creativity in an attempt to encourage buyers and increase sales. The latest gimmick introduced to the market is the "Dagger perfume," an intricately detailed perfume bottle made out of a piece of glass in the shape of a blade with a silver handle and tip accented with red jewels.
According to one of the vendors who spoke to Alkahleej, "the fragrance is dedicated to martyrs," and is intended to help people remember the "value of revenge and continued fighting."
The Gazan vendor noted that the perfume was unlikely to sell in large quantities due to the high price tag. (h/t Yenta Press)
Have We All Gone Crazy?
This effort to blame everyone but the attackers for this attack culminated in an op-ed in the Daily News via Linda Stasi. In her panic-stricken, grotesque screed, she determined that one of the victims in San Bernardino was “a radical Born Again Christian/Messianic Jew” who perhaps deserved his gruesome murder. She insisted this victim, Nicholas Thalasinos, was a “hate-filled bigot,” when all she discovered was that he was rather conservative. Stasi’s logic is so deeply flawed that it doesn’t merit parsing. What is clear, however, is that this infantile flight response inspired by sensational reporting is widespread.
“Statistically, you’d have to think that you or I is going to die in a mass shooting,” the actor Adam Pally recently told a robotically nodding head on the set of Huffington Post live. That is a remarkable statistic, but only because of the capacity for self-delusion it reveals. According to FBI homicide statistics, firearm related murders have been rather steadily decreasing year-over-year for some time. Both fatal and non-fatal incidents of gun crime have collapsed since their 1993 peak. But increased media attention to those events and the op-ed industry’s aptitude for hysteria ensures that most do not know that.
When he speaks to the nation tonight, the President of the United States should make that case. He probably will not. Barack Obama no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt; he has indulged in every one of these manic episodes of agitation among his fellow liberals. The only nerves Obama will seek to calm will be those frayed over his halfhearted execution of the war on ISIS. It would be shocking if the president bucked his left-leaning constituents and instead tried to talk them off the ledge. Their unreasoning anguish is politically useful to him. It would be incredibly cynical for a president who allowed terrorist safe havens abroad to proliferate and oversaw the resurgence of radical Islamic terrorism demand from the public he failed that they disarm in response to these conditions. I expect that’s what we will hear.
Sydney, Ottawa, Paris, New York, Garland, Copenhagen, Ankara, Beirut, London, Tunisia, and over the Sinai desert; the blood of nearly 1,000 innocents spilled by ISIS-linked or inspired attackers in just over a year. The left would hope to normalize that nightmare while fighting a perennial war on a more familiar front against a known enemy: their fellow Americans. Surely, this response to crisis is many things, but it’s not rational.
For Parisian Jews this holiday, celebrating Hanukkah is a miracle
Heavily armed police officers mingled with parents pushing strollers and curious onlookers Sunday night as the Parisian Jewish community held its 27th annual Hanukkah menorah lighting at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
Following the November 13 terrorist attacks that paralyzed Paris, French authorities declared an “état d’urgence,” which on paper includes a ban on public gatherings. Call it a Hanukkah miracle, but despite the ongoing state of emergency, the Festival of Lights arrived in the City of Light.
“We are very happy that the police took into consideration the possibility of doing it and gave us the right permission,” said Rabbi Mendel Azimov, president of Chabad of Paris.
According to Azimov, officials asked the community to postpone their public menorah lightings until after the conclusion this week of COP21, the United Nations climate negotiations currently taking place just outside Paris. On Tuesday, following a meeting with the Service de la Protection de la Communauté Juive (Jewish Community Protection Service), the local Jewish community received the green light to proceed. The total public lightings in Paris were reduced from 30 to 11, however.
Watch: Schwarzenegger at Paris Hanukkiah lighting
Hollywood superstar and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday night took part in a public Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony at the feet of the Eiffel Tower, for the first night of the holiday.
Schwarzenegger, who is in Paris to take part in the international Climate Change Conference and advocate for renewable energy, said he was invited to the annual lighting of the 30-foot-tall menorah, which is organized by Chabad-Lubavitch.
The 68-year-old bodybuilder, actor, politician and staunch supporter of Israel told the crowd of roughly 6,000 people that his response to being invited was to say: "finally! Finally I'm getting invited again to go to a menorah lighting."
He explained that "when I was governor of the state of California, every year at the capital in Sacramento...the day after the Christmas tree lighting we also did the menorah lighting."
Migrants on Video: Paris Attacks 'Good,' 'by 2025 All of France Will Become Muslim'
When asked on camera whether it is good to kill French people for Allah, Muslim migrants seeking asylum in Italy answered affirmatively, remarking that it is “good” to kill French people, and warning of a looming December 8 Islamist attack on Rome.
In a disturbing new video produced by the Italian television program “L’aria che tira” (“What’s Trending”), presenters asked some asylum seekers and other migrants what they thought about the November 13 Paris attacks.
The program interviewed migrants at the largest refugee center in Europe, located in the Sicilian province of Catania, asking what they thought about the Paris massacres.
One Christian migrant from Africa said: “I am sorry, sorry for Paris. We are Christians. We don’t kill.”
In Wake Of Paris Attacks, French Nationalists Win Big In Regional Elections
The National Front is set to have one of its biggest electoral victories ever after coming out on top in the opening round of France’s regional elections Sunday.
The nationalist party is set to win nearly 30 percent of the vote nationally, according to BBC, and many of its high-profile figures won with solid majorities in their respective regions. National Front’s charismatic leader Marine Le Pen, for instance, is estimated to come out as the top candidate in the northern Nord-Pas-De-Calais-Picardie region with 40 percent of the vote. The party also came out ahead in five other regions out of a total of 13.
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right Republicans came in second place nationally, with the Socialist Party — the party of the current President Francois Hollande — coming in a disappointing third place.
Le Pen called the results “magnificent” and declared her movement “without contest the first party of France.”
Australia Passes Measure That Allows Them To Strip Citizenship, Deport Suspected Terrorists
The Australian parliament passed a law Friday allowing the country to strip dual citizens of their Australian passport if they participate in terrorist activities.
The measure will be used in “very limited circumstances,” according to Attorney General George Brandis, and includes crimes related to fighting with terrorist groups abroad or otherwise financing, training and recruiting on behalf of these organizations.
The only way to accomplish something similar in the U.S. at the moment is in cases where it can be proved the person was radicalized before becoming a naturalized citizen.
London Tube attacker had IS-linked content on his phone, court told
A man who allegedly screamed “this is for Syria” as he slashed a passenger’s neck in a London subway station had images associated with the Islamic State group on his mobile phone, prosecutors said Monday.
Muhaydin Mire, who has been charged with attempted murder, also allegedly had images relating to the November 13 gun and bomb rampage in Paris and a recent British police anti-terrorism training exercise.
Prosecution lawyer David Cawthorne told a court hearing Monday that prosecutors allege Saturday’s knife attack at Leytonstone Underground station was an act of terrorism.
IS attack on Israel a matter of time, official says
An Islamic State attack in Israel is a matter of time, an Israeli official warned this week, pointing to the increasing global reach of the jihadist group.
The senior defense official said that Russian and coalition airstrikes on IS targets have prompted the group to shift strategy and begin carrying out attacks outside its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.
The recent IS-backed terror attacks in the US and France are an indication of the group’s changed approach, the unnamed official said.
Unlike Hamas or Hezbollah — other terror groups that have targeted Israel over the years — IS and its affiliates lack a central organizational structure, making an Israeli response to an attack significantly more difficult, he said.
“Who would we even attack in Syria that the international coalition and the Russians aren’t attacking already?” the official said.
'IDF training for possibility of an ISIS strike from Sinai or Golan Heights'
He said that the description of an ISIS attack on Israel as imminent is exaggerated.
"Islamic State can strike Israel in one of three ways," Amidror said.
The first would be through the establishment of an IS affiliated terror cell within the Arab Israeli community. "This cell would have access to enough weapons, intelligence, and explosive materials to carry out a Paris-style attack in Israel," Amidror said.
The second scenario in which an IS terror cell could strike Israel, the former security adviser said, is through the creation of cells among Palestinians in the West Bank or east Jerusalem. "It would be easier for them to organize in those communities," he said. "Those types of environments foster a less-tolerant view of Israel," he said. "That's where Hamas terror cells arose in the past, so we need to take into consideration the possibility that a similar IS terror cell could arise in the future."
The third way that IS could exert its influence into Israel, according to Amidror, is through cross-country borders. "IS could come from across the border," he said. "The IDF drilled for this scenario recently."
Daniel Pipes: The imminent demise of ISIS
U.N. Security Council Resolution 2249, passed unanimously on Nov. 20, sums up the consensus that the Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) poses a mortal danger to civilization by calling it an "unprecedented threat to international peace and security." There's also a widespread sense that ISIS will be around for a long time; for example, U.S. President Barack Obama has predicted that the fight against it will be "a long-term campaign." Permit me to disagree strenuously on both counts.
On the first: ISIS is not exactly the equivalent of Nazi Germany. It's a little bug that the powers could quash at will if they put their minds to it. It survives only because no one really takes it seriously enough to fight with ground troops, the only gauge of an intention to prevail.
On the second: Between its alienation of its subject population and its gratuitous and unrestrained violence toward foreign countries, ISIS has made enemies of nearly everyone. Recent days alone have seen attacks on three powerful states: Turkey (the bombing in Ankara), Russia (the airliner over Sinai), and France (the attacks in Paris). This is not a path for survival. Friendless and despised, its every success shortens its life.
Contrary to other analysts, I foresee that ISIS will disappear without warning and as abruptly as it arose. This could follow on some combination of internal revolt, internecine feuds, economic collapse, and external attack.
ON THE MARCH: White House's own intel report says ISIS gaining strength
A new intelligence report commissioned by the White House says that the ISIS terror group will grow in numbers and gain ground unless it suffers significant losses in Iraq and Syria.
The findings sharply contradict previous statements by President Obama and other White House officials that the Islamic State has been "contained" by a program of U.S.-led airstrikes and the deployment of approximately 3,500 U.S. forces to train and otherwise aid moderate Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters.
On Sunday, a U.S. official told Fox News that ISIS has been able to effectively recruit and attract affiliates despite losses on the ground, and has now supplanted Al Qaeda as the primary global jihadist threat.The official said that going forward, the entirety of the ISIS threat must be addressed, and the group's main base of operations in Syria must be “degraded.”
The findings were first reported by The Daily Beast, which said the White House asked for the assessment prior to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, in which ISIS militants killed 130 people in a series of coordinated shootings and suicide bombings.
In response to the report, The Daily Beast said President Obama had directed Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford to come up with new strategies against ISIS.
Saudi Journalist: Extremist Islam Is Like Nazism; It's Not Enough To Kill Its Leaders, Its Ideology Must Be Killed
A renowned Saudi journalist said that extremist Islam is like Nazism and the only way to eliminate it is to combat its ideology, MEMRI reported. According to the journalist, imams, media personalities, and educators are more dangerous than terror leaders like Osama bin Laden.
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, an esteemed journalist from Saudi Arabia who was editor of the London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and former director of Al-Arabiya TV, wrote an article on November 22 for Al-Arabiya entitled, “Terrorism is not about leaders or their motives, but about ideology and those who spread it.”
In the article, Al-Rashed claims that terrorism will never be eliminated by the targeted killing of its leaders, because new ones will always take their place. Nor will it be eliminated by withdrawing from crisis territories, like the American withdrawal from Iraq. Instead, the world should adopt the same methods used following World War II, when the spread of Nazi ideology was prohibited. Al-Rashed notes that extremist Islam is akin to Nazism in that it is based on a fascist hatred of the other.
German vice-chancellor accuses Saudi Arabia of funding Islamic extremism in the West
The German vice-chancellor has publicly accused Saudi Arabia of financing Islamic extremism in the West and warned that it must stop.
Sigmar Gabriel said that the Saudi regime is funding extremist mosques and communities that pose a danger to public security.
“We have to make clear to the Saudis that the time of looking away is over,” Mr Gabriel told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview.
“Wahhabi mosques all over the world are financed by Saudi Arabia. Many Islamists who are a threat to public safety come from these communities in Germany.”
The allegation that Saudi Arabia has funded mosques with links to Islamist terrorism in the West is not new. But it is highly unusual for a Western leader to speak out so directly against the West’s key Arab ally.
ISIS Increasingly Using Children As Human Shields
ISIS is increasingly using human shields to deter airstrikes conducted by an U.S.-led coalition, CBS reported on Friday.
Fighters are even using children as escorts while maneuvering in the street in order to exploit U.S. rules of engagement, which are intended to avoid collateral damage. …
By barricading themselves with civilians the terror group has inhibited U.S. airpower in the key Iraqi city of Ramadi, tilting the fight more toward being a “street by street” battle.
ISIS’ strategy of using human shields, in violation of international law, mirrors that of the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas. During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, IDF troops found a Hamas combat manual that encouraged civilians to expose themselves to advancing Israeli forces, in part to prevent the IDF from opening fire. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri appeared on the terror group’s television station to urge Gazans to stay in buildings that had been targeted by Israel. “We in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy in order to protect the Palestinians homes,” he said. The practice was confirmed by journalists both during and since last year’s war.
Dalai Lama calls for 'dialogue' with ISIS
The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group harms Islam through its intolerance, but "dialogue" with the jihadists is vital, the Dalai Lama said in an interview reported on Monday by the Italian daily La Stampa.
"Islam is a religion of peace. Those who are intolerant harm their own faith and their own brothers," the Tibetan spiritual leader was quoted as saying in Bangalore, southern India, where he took part in a seminar on peace and the economy.
Even so, "there has to be dialogue, with IS as well," the Dalai Lama said, in remarks reported in Italian.
Asked how this should be achieved, he replied, "Through dialogue. One has to listen, to understand, to have respect for the other person, regardless. There is no other way."
Report: Terrorists Tried to Attack Israeli Gas Rig during War in Gaza
A security official told a Knesset committee the attack during Operation Protective Edge missed its objective of blowing up the rig.
Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza tried to blow up an Israeli oil-shore gas rig during the Protective Edge counter-terror campaign last year, a government official told a Knesset committee.
During the war, as JewishPress.com reported, Hamas claimed to have targeted the Noa offshore gas rig.
Yossi Cohen, who heads the National Security Council, revealed to the Knesset Economics Committee that there have been several attempts to attack offshore rigs, according to Globes.
IDF court sentences PA parliamentarian to 15 months in jail
The Judea Military Court has sentenced Palestinian Authority parliament member Khalida Jarrar to 15 months in prison for charges related to her membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as part of a plea bargain.
The decision, which ends a saga which started with controversially putting Jarrar in administrative detention prior to her being indicted in regular court proceedings, was handed down on Sunday, but only came to light on Monday.
In June, the West Bank Military Court of Appeals ordered Jarrar to remain in detention until the end of her trial, which started later that month, and on a variety of charges including incitement to violence.
Not only Sunday's sentence, but also the June ruling especially had broad implications internationally in relations between Israel and the Palestinians and future close-call cases dealing with accusations against high-profile Palestinians that include classified evidence.
Egypt destroys 20 tunnels along border with Gaza
The Egyptian military says it’s destroyed 20 recently discovered underground tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip.
The army says the tunnels were found and destroyed in November. The announcement came on its official Facebook page on Monday. There were no further details.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of the Palestinian coastal territory since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel allows in closely monitored humanitarian supplies. For years, Egypt tolerated a smuggling industry that allowed hundreds of tunnels to bring in goods like cigarettes and spare parts, as well as weapons, into the strip.
Hebrew handbags make appearance in Islam's second holiest city
Palestinians on their way to Saudi Arabia as part of a holly pilgrimage to Mecca were surprised to discover handbags ordained with Hebrew script, according to eyewitnesses.
The Hebrew handbags were spotted in Medina, Saudi Arabia, the second holiest city in all of Islam, much to the amazement of the Palestinian travelers.
"Do you know that these cases have Hebrew writings," one traveler asked the the Bangladeshi merchant selling the items.
"I do not know. We got the goods from the city of Jeddah," he replied.
It is unclear how the bags were imported into Saudi Arabia.
Hanukkah greeting ad flummoxes NYT readers
A Hanukkah greeting printed in the Sunday New York Times contained an error that changed the meaning into a bizarre message about a deceased earlobe.
Sharp-eyed readers noticed that the advertisement, from fashion outlet Lord & Taylor, had missed the mark by confusing one letter for another three times.
The message, in Hebrew, was supposed to read “Happy Hanukkah holiday,” but by consistently printing the letter ת or tav instead of the letter ח or het, the text instead translated roughly as “the tag of her earlobe that died.”
Web users quickly shared the faux pas on social media sites.
Gollum Sues Turkish Doctor for Comparing him to Erdogan (satire)
“Lord of the Rings” character Gollum has filed a lawsuit against a Turkish doctor over a series of images comparing Gollum to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Being compared to Mr. Erdogan has personally and libelously defamed my character,” Gollum told The Mideast Beast. “We may both be hideous villains obsessed with attaining power at all cost, but at least I have some redeeming qualities.”
Gollum also noted that he was not nearly as ugly as the Turkish president.
Caption: Two peas in a pod. Image from Turkey’s Harfvolver at http://bit.ly/1NDTPXL
“Have you seen the guy’s mustache?” Gollum asked. “It looks like he tried to French kiss a baby porcupine and never bothered to take out the quills.”
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