The IPT Update

Update@ctnews.org

General security, policy

1.  Iranian ship, in plain view but shrouded in mystery, looks very familiar to US 

2.  Al Qaeda urges followers to bomb world targets with instructions on how to make a car bomb

3.  Chinese police university trains Beijing hackers

4.  Pentagon goes hypersonic with long-range rapid attack weapon

5.  Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, takes stand in unexpected move

6.  Judge allows Sarasota Herald-Tribune & Miami Herald join suit over 9/11 case

7.  FBI: 2 NC men suspected of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism in Syria or Yemen

8.  Jacksonville man pleads guilty to conspiring and attempting to support terrorists 

9.  MA man, Tarek Mehanna, seeks US Supreme Court review of his terror support conviction

10. FBI agent cleared in FL shooting of suspect questioned about Boston Marathon bombing

11. IRS employs former cop convicted of illegally accessing FBI files

12. Muslims who sued NYPD over spying at New Jersey mosques file appeal, turn to Mayor de Blasio

 

Air, rail, port, health, energy & communication security

13. Judge questions secrecy shrouding 'no fly' list

14. Emergency response to LA TSA shooting faulted

15. Ex-Microsoft worker charged with passing journalist trade secrets

Hamas Terrorist Opens Fire, Drawing Response from Israeli Forces

IDF

A Hamas terrorist shot and wounded two security personnel as Israeli forces tried to arrest him in Jenin. The Israeli forces returned fire and killed the terrorist. After rioters hurled explosives and other weapons at the forces, they returned fire again and killed several other terrorists.

The IDF and ISA (Israel Security Agency or Shin Bet Security Service) carried out an overnight operation in Jenin Saturday to arrest an armed Hamas operative. The suspect, Hamza Abu Alhija, was wanted for involvement in shooting and bombing attacks as well as planning future terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.

Senior minister says Israel can’t rely on US

By GIL HOFFMAN

 

Comments follow similar statement earlier this week by Moshe Ya’alon.

Weekly cabinet meeting, October 20, 2013. Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Another senior minister in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet sharply criticized American foreign policy Tuesday, anonymously joining the open attack by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Speaking to journalists in the Knesset, the minister said the Americans’ handling of the crisis in Ukraine proved that Israel could no longer rely on the United States. He said it was clear to everyone that the US had never intended to take military action against the Russians.

“The lesson of this crisis screams to the sky,” the minister said. “US foreign policy is collapsing all over the world. America showing weakness in Russia has implications on the Palestinian front. Israel cannot be Ukraine. It is ridiculous to hear about American guarantees for Israeli security, which would at best last a few weeks. When we’re in danger, they won’t be there to defend us. We must be the sole guarantors of Israeli security.”

Abbas: I Am a Hero. I Said No to Obama

 Khaled Abu Toameh
March 21, 2014

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4224/abbas-obama-no

If in the past Abbas was afraid of Hamas's response to the signing of a peace deal with Israel, it is now clear that he also has good reason to fear the reaction of top Fatah officials to any movement he makes concerning the peace process.
These rallies [Abbas asks for] are intended not only to send a message to Obama and Kerry, but also to Abbas's rivals in Fatah.

Even before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas left Washington on his way back to Ramallah, Palestinian Authority [PA] officials rushed to announce that their president's talks with President Barack Obama over the future of the peace process were "unsuccessful."
The officials said that Abbas rejected most of the proposals made by Obama during their meeting at the White House, including the idea of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and maintaining an Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley. Abbas, according to the officials, also dismissed as "immature" Obama's proposal concerning the status of Jerusalem because it did not call for a full Israeli withdrawal from the eastern part of the city.

US President Barack Obama and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at a White House press conference on March 17, 2014. (Image source: White House video).

Abbas's rejection of the U.S. proposals for a "framework agreement" with Israel did not come as surprise.
Over the past few months, Abbas and his top aides and negotiators have repeatedly voiced their strong opposition to these proposals, with some accusing the US Administration of endorsing the Israeli stance and failing to serve as a honest broker in the conflict.
Before heading to Washington, Abbas instructed the PA to organize public rallies in the West Bank in his support.

IDF Soldiers Unveil Terror Tunnel in Gaza Once Again

 IDF Blog
Earlier this week the IDF exposed the opening of a tunnel built by Gaza terrorists near Israeli civilian communities. The tunnel’s opening is hundreds of meters inside Israel and it varies in depth. The investigation of the tunnel is ongoing.


In 2013, three such tunnels were discovered along the Gaza-Israel security fence.
The last tunnel found by IDF soldiers in Gaza was discovered on October 7, 2013, near Israeli civilian communities. It was approximately 18 meters underground and extended 1.7 kilometers, and was successfully detonated by the IDF on November 1, 2013.

“The exposure of this tunnel was based on intelligence, and boots on the ground in the vicinity of the Gaza security fence,” IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said, ”Our operational assumption is that Hamas and other terror organizations continue to tunnel and prepare points of attack against Israel and its civilians.

Report: Hezbollah sources claim responsibility for Golan attack

ARIEL BEN SOLOMON

Sources tell Arab paper that Israel already violated the rules of the game, and that Hezbollah is "ready for war."

Hezbollah members carry mock rockets. Photo: REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Sources close to Hezbollah’s leadership took responsibility for the bombing that injured four Israeli soldiers on the Golan border on Tuesday, telling an Arab newspaper that Hezbollah is “ready for war.”
They told an Arab newspaper that Israel violated the rules of the game when it attacked Hezbollah on the Lebanese-Syrian border last month, and that it showed Israel was “ready for war.”

Israel attacked, believing the party was busy in Syria and would not open up another front, said the sources quoted by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai on Thursday.
“The response was quick and we did not content ourselves to respond with our own strike, but to do even better, and we will increase them [these attacks] as well,” said the sources.
The attack last month by Israel was meant to test Hezbollah, to see if we would follow Syria’s example and not respond. However, Hezbollah is not like Syria, which is busy fighting against terrorists at home and avoids opening up another front, said the sources.

EU and UNICEF lay first stone of €10 million seawater desalination plant in Gaza

WAFA

GAZA, March 20, 2014 – (WAFA) - The European Union and UNICEF launched Thursday the construction of a major seawater desalination plant which will provide 75,000 Palestinians with safe drinking water in Gaza, a UNICEF press release said.

The project, to be implemented by UNICEF thanks to a €10 million grant from the European Union, will provide 6,000m3 of desalinated seawater per day to serve residents in Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza. The plant is being installed on land adjacent to the sea near Deir al-Balah.

The European Union Representative, John Gatt-Rutter, laid the first stone in the presence of representatives of the Palestinian Water Authority, Gaza’s Coastal Municipal Water Utilities, the local municipalities and UNICEF.

Abbas Reaffirms Commitment to Palestinian Fixed Principles

WAFA

RAMALLAH, March 20, 2014 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas pledged Thursday to commit to Palestinian fixed principles in a speech he delivered to thousands of supporters in Ramallah.

Abbas stressed that he will not give up the Palestinians' rights or betray their trust.

Abbas made these statements to thousands of Palestinians who staged a rally to welcome him back from Washington at the Presidential compound (al-Muqataʻa) in Ramallah.

Commenting on his recent official visit to the US and meeting with US President, Barack Obama, Abbas said: “I have honored my pledge and kept my promise.”

Stats Debunk Demographic Threat to Israel

 

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/03/19/stats-debunk-demographic-threat-to-israel/

By Tom Wilson

Figures released today show that Israel’s demographic situation continues to move in a direction that is positive for the future of the Jewish state, quite in contravention to the prevailing wisdom about Israel’s impending demographic peril. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has released the birthrate figures for 2013, revealing that the Jewish birthrate is continuing to rise as the Muslim birthrate is continuing to decline. While population projections are by their nature often inaccurate on account of the myriad unforeseeable variables, it seems that this is a front on which Israelis can afford to feel some optimism. Yet, despite the growing body of evidence to the contrary, there is no shortage of voices warning Israel of imminent demographic doom. This is a central tenant of the doctrine of the Israeli Left, and it is also a threat with which President Obama has increasingly been seeking to panic Israel.

The right to a Jewish nation

Dror Eydar

What hasn't the Left done to sustain the fantasy they've been promoting? The other side of that fantasy is flinging it in our faces: We aren't interested in an end to the conflict; we do not recognize the right of the Jewish people to any sliver of the State of Israel, not even to the Florentin neighborhood in the heart of Tel Aviv. All of it comprises an Islamic waqf belonging to the Palestinians, who have existed since God created the world.

(This week, new revelations about the Big Bang theory were published. Immediately, it was asked, "Who caused the Big Bang?" What kind of question is that? The Palestinians.)

But on the Left, business as usual. Nahum Barnea was lamenting over the outcome of the last nine months of negotiations, writing, "Every gamble has two parties, a swindler and a fool. That also applies to the Israeli-Palestinain conflict; and in this case, our prime minister is not the fool." Barnea is an expert at injecting venom into his political enemies, but the depth of depravity in his writing represents his fundamental standing alongside the Palestinians. Poor little Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he wrote, he could have lied as Arafat did, but he chose integrity, proclaiming, "First of all, no!" Then, alas, he "fell into the trap."

Israel is screwed, blued and tattooed

Ted Belman [This is a letter I wrote to a few respected analysts.]

Jonathan Spyer just wrote Shifting Mideast Sands Reveal New Alliances

I was disappointed with the article as he didn’t factor in US policy. I pointed out that there is a very strong bond between Qatar and the US. They are working together to align with Islamists throughout the ME and N. Africa at the expense of the secular dictators.
The S Arabia split with Qatar is also a split with the US.
While the US is still supporting the MB in Egypt, S Arabia just declared them a terrorist organization.


As Jonathan pointed out, there is an alliance between S Arabia and Egypt.  Israel is an ex officio member of that alliance. Which brings us to Hamas. Both Qatar and Iran are are establishing a foothold in Gaza; Qatar through Hamas and Iran through Islamic Jihad.
As we know, Egypt is destroying the tunnels to Gaza and fighting Hamas, al Qaeda and others in Sinai. Less known is that the CIA is backing the Islamists in Sinai and elsewhere. The US is committed to bringing down al Sisi and restoring the MB to power.

Vetting ‘The Jewish State’

Jeffrey Woolf 

For weeks now, we’ve all been reading about Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians publically acknowledge the legitimacy of the State of Israel as a ‘Jewish State’ (or, as Herzl termed it ‘The State of the Jews.’). The demand is so logical, so self-evidently valid, that it enjoys overwhelming support among Israeli Jews and, until a week ago, was endorsed by Secretary of State John Kerry. Indeed, many observers found themselves scratching their heads in amazement at the absolute refusal of PA Head, Mahmoud Abbas to even consider such a possibility. Abbas has, as we shall see to his credit, stuck to his guns and absolutely refused to concede to this Israeli demand.

Predictably, Arab intransigience has engendered a move to pressure Israel to drop its demand. Secretary of State Kerry now calls the demand ‘a mistake.’ Now, Jewish thinkers, Israeli Politicians and publicists, tantalized by a potential deal are getting on the band wagon and urging that the Prime Minister’s demand either be modified or totally withdrawn. They fear for the sensitivities of Israel’s non-Jewish citizens. They fear for the democratic fabric of Israeli society. They are concerned for all kinds of reasons, many of them apparently credible. Nevertheless, they are wrong. Though they write not out of malice, such statements are symptomatic of a serious case of religious, cultural and political myopia.

Netherlands: Iranian Agents Kidnap, Torture

Shadi Paveh

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4215/netherlands-iran-agents

For the first time in the Netherlands, an Iranian -- an Arab poet -- was kidnapped and tortured by Iranian government agents there.

According to a report by Karim Dahimi that was widely reported in Farsi, on March 6, 2014, an Ahwazi Arab-Iranian poet and human rights activist living in the Netherlands, Mr. Saeed Mousa Mosavi, was kidnapped and beaten by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran after he returned to his home in the evening.
Mosavi stated that during his ordeal, he was stripped naked, videotaped and tortured with electric shocks. The agents apparently knew about Mosavi's daily activities, and interrogated him about Ahwazi activists who had visited him at his home. He was also questioned about several specific Iranian-Arab activists.

Abbas to Tell Obama ‘No’ on Recognition

Maayana Miskin

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will meet Monday with United States President Barack Obama. Analysts expect the meeting will be a tense one.

According to previous reports, Abbas plans to agree to extend negotiations with Israel, but only if Israel frees terrorist leaders and agrees to freeze construction in Judea and Samaria (Shomron) – essentially recognizing the PA claim of ownership over land east of the 1949 armistice line.

Now new reports in the PA media have revealed that Abbas also plans to refuse to recognize Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.

Abbas has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel. His reason: he believes millions of descendants of Arabs who fled pre-state Israel must be given the right to “return” to Israel, which could make it a majority-Arab state.

PMW op-ed in Jerusalem Post: Abbas: Jewish history is a "delusional myth"

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=10930

"Arafat's recognition of Israel in 1993 [was] a meaningless ornament to a deceptive peace process that is cited regularly by the PA to create a facade of sincerity."

Mahmoud Abbas' adamant rejection of Israel as a Jewish state is more than semantics: It is tied to his mocking Jewish history in Jerusalem as Israel's "delusional myth" and the PA schoolbook's teaching that "Zionist gangs stole Palestine... and created the so-called state of Israel."

The following is PMW's op-ed published today as Mahmoud Abbas is meeting with President Obama in Washington.

Why Abbas thinks Jewish state is a 'delusional myth'

By Itamar Marcus

Netanyahu's demand and the PA's refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state are clearly not just a quibble over semantics.

A major obstacle blocking progress toward an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's demand and PA President Mahmoud Abbas's refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The Jerusalem Post reported this week that US Secretary of State John Kerry thinks Israel's demand is a mistake. The question is: Why are both sides so concerned about that which is already accepted internationally? As early as 1917, the Balfour Declaration supported the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people."

What is the Real BDS Endgame? The Elimination of Israel

Ehud Rosen

Vol. 14, No. 3   

• To certain audiences, BDS supporters will emphasize that the reason why the international community should apply punitive measures to Israel is due to its presence in territory captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. However, in many cases, BDS activists are often quite clear about their intentions.

• Omar Barghouti: “The current phase has all the emblematic properties of what may be considered the final chapter of the Zionist project. We are witnessing the rapid demise of Zionism, and nothing can be done to save it, for Zionism is intent on killing itself. I, for one, support euthanasia.”

• As’ad Abu Khalil: “Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the State of Israel.”

• Ahmed Moor: “OK, fine. So BDS does mean the end of the Jewish state….I view the BDS movement as a long-term project with radically transformative potential….In other words, BDS is not another step on the way to the final showdown; BDS is The Final Showdown.”

• If the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations bear fruit and continue, will the PA shun the growing number of its officials who support and promote BDS, or will the PA allow this tendency to continue to grow?

Will Muslims Pay for the Rebuilding of the Temple?

My Right Word

I caught this item and thought to myself, Purim or not, can we apply this to the Muslim Waqf authorities and get them to fork over for the revuildsing of the Temple?

When Elaine Hession opened the letter she almost passed out and her partner Jonathan Hill turned "as white as a ghost".  Last month the couple received a notice from the Land Registry informing them their local church had registered its right to make them contribute to the cost of repairs.
Under chancel repair liability, homeowners living within the parishes of churches built before 1536 can be held liable for costs. The law dates back to the time of Henry VIII and, although actual claims are rare, in 2009 Adrian and Gail Wallbank from Warwickshire sold their home after losing an 18-year legal case and being left with costs of £250,000.

Seven rockets hit Israel after Islamic Jihad agrees to halt of rocket fire

Robert Spencer 
Even if Islamic Jihad is telling the truth when it says that it didn’t launch these rockets after the cease-fire, this latest barrage makes it clear that no one can or is willing to control the most fanatical jihadists in Gaza. But Ramadan Shalah, the leader of Islamic Jihad, just said that Islamic Jihad and Hamas that “we both coordinate all our moves together, in war and peace.” Is this not true of other groups? If not, then negotiations are useless, because these groups are out of control, and will render any negotiated settlement meaningless (as if it weren’t already). And if so, then negotiations are useless, because the “Palestinians” are trying to deceive Israel and the world into thinking they want peace even as they plot more jihad against Israel (as if that weren’t also already obvious).