Michael Lipka
Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, and most Jews in the United States
say that emotionally they are either very attached (30%) or somewhat
attached (39%) to Israel. But on some measures, Jews’ feelings for
Israel are equaled or even exceeded by those of white evangelical
Protestants.
82% A majority of white
evangelicals believe God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people,
compared with 40% of American Jews who believe the same.
Saturday, October 05, 2013
Iranian espionage plot uncovered by Shin Bet shows a new level of sophistication
Suspected Iranian spy Ali Mansouri attends a remand hearing in a Petah Tikva court, Sept. 30, 2013. Photo: Ben Hartman
This time, it appears that the recruitment and running of the agent was carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's special operations unit (Quds Force), rather than by the Iranian intelligence agency.
Among other things, the role of the Quds Force is to execute terror attacks against Israel and additional targets in the West and in the Middle East. The signifigance of this is that Mansouri was not sent to Israel to spy and collect intelligence like his predecessors, but rather to establish an infrastructure to carry out terror attacks within Israel.
Friday, October 04, 2013
Palestinians as ‘strategic’ refugees
A short document, and better than some (including a somewhat
distorted statement of the Israeli concerns) this should be used as the
basis for attacking the standard European emotional support for the
refugee narrative. Groups like Badil, Adalah, PCHR, etc might respond
with rage against this EU paper. Certainly, there are arguments here
that undermine their campaigns.
GMS
Summary (full document on website)
Palestinians as ‘strategic’ refugees
Download documentRefugees are generally not perceived as a ‘strategic’ issue: humanitarian, economic or tactical security concerns come to mind when thinking of people displaced by conflict, but not strategic ones. This is different in the case of Israel and the Palestinians. The refugee question is not only one of the top three remaining issues obstructing the way to peace (along with the status of Jerusalem and borders); it is also the most difficult one to solve.
If You Want to Shoot, Shoot. Don't Talk
Moshe Feiglin
29 Tishrei, 5774
Translated from Makor Rishon
29 Tishrei, 5774
Translated from Makor Rishon
This
week we witnessed the collapse of the preconception that has guided
Israel’s strategy for dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.
The preconception goes as follows: Iran threatens not only Israel, but the entire free world. Why attack by ourselves, pay a steep price and become the target of international criticism? Let us pass on the responsibility to the rest of the world, while reminding them that if the necessary measures are not taken, we will attack Iran. This is a win-win situation. If the world solves the problem for us, well and good. If not, we will at least enjoy international legitimacy for our own attack.
In reality, this strategy was not win-win; it was lose-lose. Today it is clearer than ever that the world does not intend to solve the Iranian problem, while the legitimacy for an Israeli attack has severely declined. Even worse is the fact that the technical military challenge has become much more difficult and complex because Iran has progressed with and fortified its nuclear facilities.
The preconception goes as follows: Iran threatens not only Israel, but the entire free world. Why attack by ourselves, pay a steep price and become the target of international criticism? Let us pass on the responsibility to the rest of the world, while reminding them that if the necessary measures are not taken, we will attack Iran. This is a win-win situation. If the world solves the problem for us, well and good. If not, we will at least enjoy international legitimacy for our own attack.
In reality, this strategy was not win-win; it was lose-lose. Today it is clearer than ever that the world does not intend to solve the Iranian problem, while the legitimacy for an Israeli attack has severely declined. Even worse is the fact that the technical military challenge has become much more difficult and complex because Iran has progressed with and fortified its nuclear facilities.
From Israel: Maximum Effort
Prime Minister Netanyahu
approached the podium at the UN this week with courage and determination.
He spoke with impeccable logic and eloquence.
(If you would like to see a
video of his talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCDcdnEjJHA )
Following his talk, he remained in
the US an additional day in order to give numerous media interviews on the
subject of the dangers of Iran and the necessity of fully dismantling its
nuclear capability.
In other words, he is putting out
that maximum effort to alert the world to a critical danger.
~~~~~~~~~~
In many quarters here in Israel his words were received with high praise
(all emphasis below added).
Wrote Boaz Bismuth in "The
speech the world needed to hear":
On same day that Abbas talked peace at the UN: Abbas' speech read by Fatah official praised a terrorist who killed 15 as "the most noble among the noble... (with his death) Fatah lost a beacon"
Abbas: "He lived as a giant and died as a giant.
The PA and Fatah held a well-attended memorial in Ramallah for Ahmad Jabara Abu Sukkar who planned a bombing attack, using a refrigerator filled with explosives, that killed 15 Israelis and wounded over 60 in Jerusalem in 1975.
He should remain in our hearts with this glory,
this greatness"
this greatness"
Fatah official about bomb killing 15:
"A wonderful and high quality operation...
that made the enemies lose sleep"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
During
the current peace talks, and on the same day Palestinian Authority
Chairman Abbas asserted at the UN the Palestinians' goal of achieving
peace, an Abbas representative and other PA and Fatah officials were
busy honoring terrorist Abu Sukkar.The PA and Fatah held a well-attended memorial in Ramallah for Ahmad Jabara Abu Sukkar who planned a bombing attack, using a refrigerator filled with explosives, that killed 15 Israelis and wounded over 60 in Jerusalem in 1975.
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Believed Iranian Cyberwar Official Dead in Apparent Assassination
FP Morning Brief
Top News: Mojtaba Atabi, an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who was widely believed to be the head of the organization's cyberwarfare division, has been shot and killed. His body was found in a wooded area outside Tehran with two bullet holes through his heart. Local police say that he was killed by two men on a motorbike.
The death has the hallmarks of an assassination, and many have pointed toward Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Atabi's death is being likened to the killing of five Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007, some of whom were also killed by motorcycle-borne assassins.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that it is investigating a "horrific incident," but did not identify the person killed and denied it was an assassination.
Kuwait: More than 50 U.S. citizens have been held in Kuwait for three months in a sort of legal limbo after taking jobs there as contracted translators, Foreign Policy reports. They are confined to makeshift barracks in airplane hangars as a result of a legal dispute between a U.S.-based contractor and its Kuwaiti business partner.
Top News: Mojtaba Atabi, an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who was widely believed to be the head of the organization's cyberwarfare division, has been shot and killed. His body was found in a wooded area outside Tehran with two bullet holes through his heart. Local police say that he was killed by two men on a motorbike.
The death has the hallmarks of an assassination, and many have pointed toward Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Atabi's death is being likened to the killing of five Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007, some of whom were also killed by motorcycle-borne assassins.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that it is investigating a "horrific incident," but did not identify the person killed and denied it was an assassination.
Kuwait: More than 50 U.S. citizens have been held in Kuwait for three months in a sort of legal limbo after taking jobs there as contracted translators, Foreign Policy reports. They are confined to makeshift barracks in airplane hangars as a result of a legal dispute between a U.S.-based contractor and its Kuwaiti business partner.
ROP: Kenya mall jihad mass murderers promise more: "We will strike Kenyans where it hurts the most, turn their cities into graveyards and rivers of blood will flow in Nairobi"
Jihad Watch
Note: ROP means Religion Of Peace
Note: ROP means Religion Of Peace
In the name of Islam. "Somalia’s al-Shabaab pledge terror campaign against Kenya," from Al Arabiya, October 2 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Somalia’s Islamist group al-Shabaab threatened on Wednesday to increase militant action in Kenya, after the country refused to withdraw its troops from Somalia, reported Agence France-Presse. The al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for last week’s attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, in which at least 67 people died, with 39 more listed as missing by the Red Cross.
“We will strike Kenyans where it hurts the most, turn their cities into graveyards and rivers of blood will flow in Nairobi,” al-Shabaab said in a recent statement.
“The Kenyan government’s decision to keep its invading force in Somalia is an indication that they haven’t yet learnt any valuable lessons from the Westgate attacks,” the extremists added, warning that Kenya was “inviting unprecedented levels of insecurity, bloodshed and destruction.”
Iranian President Turned Down Obama 5 Times
International diplomacy is a lot like dating. Sure you’re the leader of the free world and most of Europe and Asia would love to meet with you. But you want the Iranian dreamboat you can’t have.
So you beg and you whine and you stalk. And you send a million dollar gift just because the President of Iran took your phone call after turning you down 5 times.
Iranian President Hassan Rohani’s “charm offensive,” by his own admission, stopped short of meeting personally with President Barack Obama. “Before my trip (to New York), the Americans had sent 5 messages to arrange a meeting between me and Obama, but I turned them down,” he told the government-run Fars News Agency
“Then they raised a plan for a brief meeting, but I didn’t agree (with it) much; we didn’t disagree with (the idea to have) a meeting, but its grounds weren’t prepared,” he added.
Poll: Majority of Palestinians expect third intifada if peace talks fail
New Palestinian group announces 3rd intifada Photo: YouTube screenshot
Fifty-eight percent of Palestinians expect a third intifada if the
peace talks with Israel fail, a poll published on Wednesday showed.The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion conducted the survey, which covered a random sample of 1,110 Palestinians representing a demographic sample of adults in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. It has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
Fifty percent of Palestinians support the resumption of the peace negotiations with Israel, while 39% oppose it, the survey showed.
Asked how an agreement with Israel should be ratified, 46% said that it should be approved through a referendum, while 25% said that a decision by the Palestinian Authority would be sufficient.
Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts Livni vows to end Mideast conflict with final-status accord
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
In her negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, Justice Minister
Tzipi Livni is seeking a final-status agreement that would end the
Israeli-Arab conflict, she said on Wednesday.
In an interview that will be distributed at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Herzliya on October 24, in which she will be a featured speaker, Livni said she had not changed her negotiating tactic from her previous talks with the Palestinians that ended in 2008: There is no deal on anything until there is a deal on everything.
She denied repeated accusations by Likud deputy ministers Danny Danon and Ze’ev Elkin that she is working on achieving an interim agreement with the PA that would create a Palestinian state in temporary borders.
In an interview that will be distributed at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Herzliya on October 24, in which she will be a featured speaker, Livni said she had not changed her negotiating tactic from her previous talks with the Palestinians that ended in 2008: There is no deal on anything until there is a deal on everything.
She denied repeated accusations by Likud deputy ministers Danny Danon and Ze’ev Elkin that she is working on achieving an interim agreement with the PA that would create a Palestinian state in temporary borders.
Al-Qaida-linked Rebels Desecrate Churches in Syrian Town
John Rossomando
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4181/al-qaida-linked-rebels-desecrate-churches-in
Al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant sacked a Melkite Greek-Catholic Church in the Syrian town of al-Raqqa.
The Melkites follow the Roman Catholic pope but use the rituals of the Greek Orthodox. They have remained loyal to the Assad regime out of fear of heightened persecution by Islamic extremists.
Footage shown on al-Aan TV shows the rebels systematically disassembling the church. They tear down the cross on top of the church and replace it with a black jihadist flag. They chant "Allahu akbar!" and sing hymns throughout the operation.
The video also shows young children desecrating the cross taken from the church.
A Saudi militant is heard saying of the cross, "The 'Nazarenes' (Christians) worship it." And a child is heard saying, "This is the 'Messiah' (Christ) they worship."
An Armenian Orthodox church was also attacked.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4181/al-qaida-linked-rebels-desecrate-churches-in
Al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant sacked a Melkite Greek-Catholic Church in the Syrian town of al-Raqqa.
The Melkites follow the Roman Catholic pope but use the rituals of the Greek Orthodox. They have remained loyal to the Assad regime out of fear of heightened persecution by Islamic extremists.
Footage shown on al-Aan TV shows the rebels systematically disassembling the church. They tear down the cross on top of the church and replace it with a black jihadist flag. They chant "Allahu akbar!" and sing hymns throughout the operation.
The video also shows young children desecrating the cross taken from the church.
A Saudi militant is heard saying of the cross, "The 'Nazarenes' (Christians) worship it." And a child is heard saying, "This is the 'Messiah' (Christ) they worship."
An Armenian Orthodox church was also attacked.
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Ruh roh: US Senators buying into Rohani's charm offensive
It's not just the Obama administration that's buying into 'moderate' Iranian President Hassan Rohani's charm offensive. After all, the Obami have been looking for an excuse to 'engage' with Iran for the last six years. But some US Senators are also buying into the 'new tone' from Iran, and that could mean a delay in more sanctions against Iran.
The Senate Banking Committee had been due in September to look at a new package of sanctions passed in July by the House of Representatives, but now it will not do so for at least a few more weeks, an aide said.
That could create a better atmosphere at talks between Iran and six major nations in Geneva on October 15-16, the first such encounter since President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a historic phone call last week.
While the sanctions issue has been slowed by congressional wrangling over the US government shutdown, lawmakers acknowledged that the idea had come up of deliberately delaying new sanctions to improve the mood at the Geneva talks.
Israel's Failing Strategy
The Jewish state cannot rely on the United States for its security.
Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House on Monday. Photo: chris kleponis / pool/European Pressphoto Agency
By
So
Israel's prime minister is now left to play the part of querulous Uncle
Ben, who arrives the day after the funeral convinced his scheming
siblings have already
absconded with mother's finest jewelry.
Uncle Ben's suspicions may well be right. But he largely has himself to blame for not acting in time.
Benjamin
Netanyahu visited the White House on Monday and on Tuesday addresses the
United Nations. It's a predictable routine. First he obtains the
stylized assurances from PresidentObama—still exulting from his
15 minute phone call Friday with Iran's Hasan Rouhani—that Iran will
not be allowed to get a bomb and that "all options are on the table."
Then Mr. Netanyahu denounces Iran at the U.N. and issues unspecified,
and increasingly noncredible, warnings that Israel
may act on its own.
All hat and no cattle, as they say.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Troubling, Unsettling"
But of course! How could the
situation be anything but?
This morning's lead story in the
JPost included this (emphasis added):
"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
will go into his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Monday aiming not
only to reveal the 'true face' of the Iranian regime, but also wanting to hear a
reaffirmation from Obama of Israel's right to defend
itself.
"One of Israel's main concerns
presently is that Iranian President Hasan Rouhani's 'charm offensive' has
chipped away at Israel's legitimacy for military action if
Tehran crosses the red line Netanyahu established at the General Assembly last
year."
Monday, September 30, 2013
Al-Shabaab and Obama’s Family Push For Islamic Kenya
Both the al-Shabaab terrorists and the Obama family want the nation of Kenya to be under Sharia code.Al-Arab wrote that Obama’s cousin, Musa Obama, “studied Sharia in Medina” and has called
“upon the Arab and Islamic states to put more effort toward aiding the Kenyan Muslim brethren, especially since there is much support coming from Western nations and Western churches.”Musa has also confirmed that his organization, the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation, “gives scholarships to study Sharia in Medina [Saudi Arabia].”
He stated, furthermore,
“that despite the fact that Barack Obama hasn’t visited his tribe in Kenya since his election in the United States, there is a continual communication between him and several members of his family and his tribe in Kenya, of which the Kenyan prime minister is also a member.”Thus, we know for a fact that Musa Obama studied Sharia in Medina, that his organization gives scholarships for Muslim youths to study Sharia in Saudi Arabia, for the purpose of de-Christinizing and extinguishing Christianity in Kenya, where the majority of people are Christians. Musa Obama, Sarah Obama (Obama’s grandmother) and Sayed Obama (Obama’s uncle) are lending scholarships for youths to enter the three major Sharia schools in Saudi Arabia: Umm al-Qura, the Islamic University in Medina, and the University of Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.
The Palestinian Use of Propaganda
Michael Curtis
The
use of propaganda has a long history, going back to the Persians in 6th
century B.C. The word itself can be traced back to at least the early
17th century when in January, 1622, Pope Gregory XV set up the
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Its objective was
missionary work to oppose the Protestant Reformation. In general,
propaganda is the use of communication to influence the emotions,
attitudes, and opinions of people in the attempt to get them to accept a
particular political, religious, or economic point of view. It implies,
in democratic as well as in non-democratic societies, conscious
manipulation of the opinions of those societies.
Watch: The New and Improved IAF United Hercules Squadron in Action
IDF Blog
The Elephant Squadron and the Yellow Bird Squadron, which united as
one Hercules squadron, are both veteran squadrons flying the C-130
Hercules for over 40 years through many successful operations.
It’s a development that was set in motion years ago, a significant process of combining air force powers.
The C-130 Hercules fleet is an essential strategic asset to the State of Israel with a long legacy including many operations, the most famous of which is Operation Entebbe.
Click here to view video
It’s a development that was set in motion years ago, a significant process of combining air force powers.
Palestinian Authority rejects Hamas calls for intifada in the West Bank
Asharq Al-Awsat
Calls from
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for a "third intifada" to
confront Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque are rejected by other Palestinian
groups
A Palestinian child takes part in a
march organised by the ruling Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza’s Nusseirat
refugee camp on September 27, 2013, in commemoration of the September 28, 2000,
outbreak of the devastating second intifada. (TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)
Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Palestinian
Authority (PA) has rejected calls by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for a
third intifada in the West Bank, saying it would “not allow the West Bank to
become an arena for chaos to serve a private agenda.”
The calls came following rising tension
over continued attempts by Israeli extremists to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem.
Opponents have accused Hamas of calling
for the intifada in the West Bank in order to deflect attention from the crisis
in Gaza caused by the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt. There has
also been speculation that the group is trying to put pressure on the PA in the
West Bank.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Another tack: Thanks for the revelations
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Martin Indyk Photo: Reuters
With the Syrian thriller and its spin-off machinations keeping us on the edge of
our seats, who had time to even notice, much less care about, the volubility of
Ramallah’s honchos? Too much distracting din made it difficult to pay much mind
to Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cronies. But this didn’t keep
them from babbling, and what they revealed deserved our attention – even if the
utterances in question weren’t the sort the more politically correct in our
midst prefer we dwell on.
The Palestinian Al-Hayat al-Jadida daily quoted Abbas as bluntly issuing the following ultimatum when addressing a visiting Arab athletic delegation: “We told the present Israeli negotiators that if you want to go back on what was agreed with [former Israeli premier Ehud] Olmert, we will go back on our agreement for a land swap and so we will ask for all of the 1967 land as is.”
Elaborating further, Abbas claimed that Olmert at the time asked for territorial exchanges amounting to 6 percent of Judea and Samaria, while the Palestinians wouldn’t go beyond 1.9%.
The Palestinian Al-Hayat al-Jadida daily quoted Abbas as bluntly issuing the following ultimatum when addressing a visiting Arab athletic delegation: “We told the present Israeli negotiators that if you want to go back on what was agreed with [former Israeli premier Ehud] Olmert, we will go back on our agreement for a land swap and so we will ask for all of the 1967 land as is.”
Elaborating further, Abbas claimed that Olmert at the time asked for territorial exchanges amounting to 6 percent of Judea and Samaria, while the Palestinians wouldn’t go beyond 1.9%.