Hamas is in trouble, we may be too

For Hamas, the kidnapping of the three Jewish teens was a massive failure -- no Palestinian prisoners were freed, Israel devastated Hamas' infrastructure in the West Bank, and it put the unity government in jeopardy and deepened Hamas' isolation.

Yoav Limor

An Israeli Air Force strike in Gaza this week | Photo credit: AFP

This week, Israel was on the verge of exploding: In Gaza, there were growing indications of escalation; in Judea and Samaria, tensions became increasingly more palpable; in east Jerusalem riots raged after the murder of a boy from Shuafat; inside Israel, rage abounded when the bodies of the three kidnapped teens were discovered, to the point of potential vigilante justice by groups and individuals.

Amid this chaos, the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet tried to reach conclusions, convening three emergency meetings between Monday and Wednesday, in efforts to arrive at the appropriate, proportional response. There was no contingency plan ready to be executed. Now, after two and a half weeks of pounding the Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces are running out of targets, and certainly the kind that can be presented to the Israeli public as a triumph.

The Diplomatic-Security Cabinet has made decisions, but they are the kind of decisions that require time and persistence: continuing arrests; confiscating funds; shutting down welfare organizations ("dawah") that spread Hamas' teachings.

Five minutes

David M. Weinberg

Five minutes is all it took for the world to issue the strongest of condemnations following the murder on Wednesday of a 16-year old Palestinian boy from east Jerusalem. Five minutes. Then the fiercest of denunciations swiftly poured in.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry rushed to "condemn in the strongest possible terms the despicable and senseless abduction and murder" of Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir. "It is sickening to think of an innocent 17-year-old boy snatched off the streets and his life stolen from him and his family. There are no words to convey adequately our condolences to the Palestinian people."

"Despicable" and "sickening." "Snatched off the streets." "There are no words."

Similarly, Quartet envoy Tony Blair called the murder "horrendous" and "heinous," and said that "the perpetrators must be found swiftly and brought to justice." Blair is so "very worried" about "the unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank, including assaults on Palestinians, 'price-tag' attacks and settler violence that cannot be tolerated."

Fractured States

Jonathan Spyer
The Jerusalem Post
July 4, 2014

http://www.meforum.org/4745/fractured-states

In the latest evidence of ongoing fragmentation in what was once Iraq and Syria, Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq, this week announced his intention to hold a referendum in the coming months to decide the question of Kurdish independence.
"I have said many times that independence is the natural right of the people of Kurdistan," Barzani told the BBC in an interview. "All these developments [in Iraq] reaffirm that, and from now on we will not hide that the goal of Kurdistan is independence… I cannot fix a date now, but it's a question of months."
Barzani's words reflect the increased self-confidence of the Kurds, following their recent acquisition of the oil-rich Kirkuk area and the effective performance of their armed forces against the jihadis of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – in sharp contrast to the army of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The Islamic Caliphate: the Obama Administration’s Failed Foreign Policy in The Middle East

Majid Rafizadeh
 

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist and scholar, is president of the International American Council and he serves on the board of Harvard International Review at Harvard University. Rafizadeh is also a senior fellow at Nonviolence International Organization based in Washington DC and a member of the Gulf project at Columbia University. He has been a recipient of several scholarships and fellowship including from Oxford University, Annenberg University, University of California Santa Barbara, and Fulbright Teaching program. He served as ambassador for the National Iranian-American Council based in Washington DC, conducted research at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and taught at University of California Santa Barbara through Fulbright Teaching Scholarship. He can be reached at rafizadeh@fas.harvard.edu.

Dr. Rafizadeh is a regular commentator for national and international outlets including CNN, BBC TV and radio, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, RT, CCTV and Aljazeera English. He is frequently quoted in major news outlets including CNN, BBC, Aljazeera and he regularly writes for both academic and non-academic papers such as New York Times International, Foreign Policy, Aljazeera,  Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Yale Journal of International Affairs, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, George Washington International Review, to name a few. Follow Dr. Rafizadeh at @majidrafizadeh.

As the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (or Islamic Caliphate) pushes across Iraq and other countries in the region, and as they score unprecedented victories in order to establish their Islamic Caliphate, the Obama administration remains indecisive and hesitant to take any assertive position.
Due to their military advancements and practical vision (in contrast to more theoretical underpinnings  of Al-Qaeda), ISIL has been capable of attracting more Jihadist, young people, and wealthy donors who would like to see the establishment of an Islamist Caliphate stretching from Iraq to the West.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Message as Caliph

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Gatestone Institute

http://www.meforum.org/4744/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-message-as-caliph

_{"[F]ear Allah as he should be feared and do not die except as Muslims.... Go forth, O mujahidin in the path of Allah. Terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death.... for the dunyā [worldly life] will come to an end, and the hereafter will last forever."}

_{Abu Bakr al-Husayni al-Baghdadi, Caliph, "The Islamic State" [aka ISIS]}

Marking the beginning of Ramadan, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of "the Islamic State" (formerly ISIS: the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and declared Caliph Ibrahim, released a new audio message addressed to the Muslim world.
The new speech is most notable for being forthright about Baghdadi's message on the global nature of the Islamic State's struggle. Baghdadi touched on issues regarding the persecution of Muslims in Burma and the Philippines as well as the French restrictions on the wearing of the veil, and he responded to accusations that the Islamic State engages in 'irhab [terrorism].
Ominously, Baghdadi concluded his speech with aspirations for the Islamic State's conquest of "Rome" and the whole world. Such emphasis on the transnational nature of the Islamic State's project corroborates Baghdadi's projection of himself as the caliph and sole representative of Islamic rule on earth to whom all Muslims must pledge allegiance.

Why is This Not Betrayal?

Baron Bodissey

If you appreciate this essay by Fjordman, please consider making a donation to him, using the button at the bottom of this post.

Why is This Not Betrayal?
by Fjordman

It is dismissed as a “crazy conspiracy theory” if one suggests that Western political elites actively support the Islamization of Europe and the Western world. Yet one might argue that this is not a conspiracy theory — or even a theory — merely an observation.

The more Muslims and people who champion Islamic ideas imported into a society, the more Islamic influence there will be in that society. This is basic logic: if you import large numbers of Muslims to a country, you get more Islamization. It’s pretty simple, really.

So let us ask a simple question: Do Western governments allow large numbers of Muslims to settle in Western countries? Yes or no? The answer is obviously yes, as we can easily observe all around us. Western authorities have for decades been in the process of importing large numbers of Muslims to our countries. Since more Muslims means more Islam, this implies that Western authorities actively support the gradual Islamization of our countries.

If you find this to be a provocative observation, then ask yourself the following question: If Western political elites, ruling authorities and mass media really and truly object to the growing Islamic presence in our societies, then exactly what are they doing to curb this growth, apart from some mostly symbolic gestures?

As long as they are not doing anything substantial to halt or even slow down Muslim immigration, they are in fact supporting the continued, gradual Islamization of our countries. There is no other way to put it.

What can be done?

A hard-line option might be to say explicitly that Islamic culture is incompatible with our culture. Therefore, Muslim immigration to all European and Western nations will be immediately and permanently halted. This will probably be seen as too provocative by many people, however.

A more plausible alternative might be to say that while many Muslims might be fine people as individuals, much of the Islamic world is currently in such a state of unrest and turmoil that we need to protect our own societies as much as we can from this. We are therefore sad to announce that we must, for an indefinite time period, suspend any immigration from this part of the world.

An even more moderate solution might be not to say anything about Muslims or Islam at all. Western governments could simply state that our share of the world’s population keeps dropping rapidly. Moreover, we have plenty of problems of our own to deal with. The unemployment rate in several southern European countries is above 20%, with youth unemployment exceeding 40% in some places. It does not make sense in this situation to import millions of more people when we cannot provide work to those who are already here.

With social problems and debt to take care of, we need to put our own house in order first. While we harbor no ill will towards other peoples and nations, we therefore regret to announce that we will have to suspend large-scale immigration from any part of the world until we have put our own house back in order again.

Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah heats up confrontational atmosphere: "Blood demands blood" "Jerusalem, declare a revolution!

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11913

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

On its official Facebook page, Fatah continues to heat up the atmosphere for violent confrontation with Israel. Photos of burning tires and rioting, stone-throwing Palestinians are posted with texts encouraging Palestinians to "rise up," "declare a revolution" for Israel to "get out."

One post repeated Arafat's infamous statement calling for Palestinians to become Martyrs in Jerusalem, adding that "blood demands blood":

"Blood demands blood; millions of Martyrs (Shahids) are marching to Jerusalem."

[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," July 3, 2014]

In another post (above) showing a photo of burning tires and a child throwing a stone, Fatah stated that "I am Palestinian only through my struggle" and "my stone is my weapon":

"My mother taught me that my stone is my weapon;

that I am Palestinian only through my struggle;

she taught me to shout that this is my land, so get out!"

[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page", July 2, 2014]

Yesterday, Palestinian Media Watch reported that Fatah had posted another threat to Israelis:

Don't focus on Hamas alone

Prof. Ron Breiman

The kidnapping and brutal murder of the three youths Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel demand an appropriate, significant, and focused response by Israel. There are those among us who call themselves "moderate" and are urging us to use our heads and calling the others -- those they say tend to "respond from the gut" -- "extremists." As of now, it seems like both groups have conservative tendencies: repeating the same thinking and conduct that has characterized Israeli leadership, Left and Right, since the Black September of 1993, when the fraudulent, capitulatory deal with the entire Palestine Liberation Organization was signed.

Then and now, Israeli leadership -- Left, Right, Center, or any other direction -- has made a distinction between two types of enemies: "good" terrorists who need to be given respect and gestures of honor, and "bad" terrorists, who need to be fought. Even when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas forged an open alliance with his twin brother Hamas, President Shimon Peres spoke of him as a friend and legitimized the vermin that Israel's official government is trying to denounce. 

Blind hatred

Nadav Shragai

The rioters who attacked Arabs in Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday night will probably have trouble believing this, but there were Arabs who cried with us when three boys were buried on Tuesday. I know some of them personally. However, there were also many hateful and malicious Palestinians who rejoiced over the killing of the kidnapped boys. We saw their delight. They did not bother to hide their feelings.

The frenzied people who attacked Arabs in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, and also perhaps the killers of the Arab teen (if, God forbid, it turns out this was an act of revenge), shut themselves off from the law, Jewish morals and basic humanity. Hatred has made them deaf and blind. Rather than serving as deterrence, their actions only expanded the circles of hate and terror and they bound the government's hands, reducing its freedom of action.

Three Israeli teens murdered, what comes next?

David Gerstman    

What we now know about what happened, and what it says about Palestinians, Israelis and Americans

In the wake of yesterday’s awful discovery that Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar and Naftali Frankel had been murdered by the abductors, it’s now clearer what happened.
The Times of Israel reported What happened on the night of the kidnapping:

The prevailing assessment within the defense establishment is that the kidnappers, at least at first, only saw one of the hitchhikers, perhaps Yifrach, who did not know Shaar and Fraenkel. Only once the kidnappers’ Hyundai i35 came to a stop did the kidnappers realize that they would be outnumbered by their hostages within the small confines of the car. This may be what changed the nature of the crime from kidnapping to murder, security sources suggested. …
Recognizing, too late, that the car was not an innocent Israeli vehicle, one of the teens called the police at 10:25 p.m. and whispered, “We’ve been kidnapped.” The call was transferred immediately to a senior officer, who continued to ask questions but received no reply. The call lasted for 2:09 minutes and was then cut off. The officer called the number eight more times, but received three busy signals and reached voicemail five times.

It is likely that shortly afterward the three boys were murdered and taken to the field where they were found buried.

The Encouragers: Jihadists' Agents of Influence

Douglas Murray

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4385/jihadists-influence

While there are people who mass-murder, one factor especially matters: whether around them are individuals, or a circle of individuals, who encourage them to mass murder.
The young men leaving Britain to go fight in Syria are not going in spite of the teachings of certain religious leaders, but because of them.
When Christians, Jews or even other Muslims and others are targeted around the world by Islamists, we even hope that this urge has nothing to do with any of the texts or books or preachings or encouragements in the milieu from which the perpetrators come.

Today in America, Britain and most other Western countries we are still governed by politicians and bureaucrats who refuse to identify the principal form of fanaticism that threatens us. We are governed by elites who hesitate to say -- if they ever say -- what distinguishes the current threat of our time, radical Islam, as the latest group of jihadists, ISIS, establishes beachheads in Syria and Iraq and plants its flag at the border of Jordan and Turkey. In the blancmange of political correctness, which this refusal entails, we hear of the threat of "extremism" and "radicalism" in general. This season there is even talk of "violent extremism" in particular, as though violent extremism is an event like the weather, which could affect almost any sufferer at any time.

Tragedy in Israel

It’s time to end aid to the Palestinian Authority. 

                       

By Rand Paul

 

This week, three young boys were buried in Israel. The victims of kidnapping, they had been murdered by terrorists from Hamas.
The boys, Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frenkel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.–Israeli citizen, were like any other children — their lives ready to be lived, their dreams ahead of them. They grew up in a nation that was at war but desperately wanted peace.

It is a peace they did not live to see, nor will others their age if action is not taken.The Obama administration responded with its condolences to the families and to the state of Israel, as well it should have. But it also called, as it always does in situations like this, for restraint on the part of Israel.
How many times must Israel hear this call? Children are murdered — please show restraint. Cafés and buses are bombed — please show restraint. Towns are victimized by hundreds of rockets — please show restraint while you bury your dead once again.

The Jew-Hating Obama Administration

Ben Shapiro

On Monday, three Jewish boys were found dead, murdered by the terrorist group Hamas: Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frenkel, 16. Frenkel was an American citizen. The three were kidnapped while hitchhiking some three weeks ago. In the interim, President Barack Obama said nothing about them publicly. His wife issued no hashtags. His State Department maintained that $400 million in American taxpayer cash would continue to the Palestinian unity government, which includes Hamas. Presumably Frenkel did not look enough like Barack Obama’s imaginary son for him to give a damn. Or perhaps Frenkel hadn’t deserted his duty in the American military, and therefore his parents didn’t deserve a White House press conference. Maybe Michelle Obama was too busy worrying about children’s fat thighs to spend a moment tweeting out a selfie to raise awareness.

PA condemns Israel for "collective punishment," but issues no condemnation of murder of Israeli teens

Official PA news agency  

only mentions murdered teens 

in English version of news report, 

 but leaves out murders in Arabic report

 http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11900

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Today, the official PA news agency WAFA reported two official PA statements, which included condemnations of Israel's "collective punishment" against Palestinians. They made no reference to the three Israeli teens who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists and whose bodies were found yesterday, but merely referred to "the disappearance of the three settlers" as the reason for Israel's "attack against defenseless Palestinian civilians":  

WAFA reported:

"In its 5th meeting, the government condemned the Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip and the broad and ongoing Israeli military attack against defenseless Palestinian civilians in the West Bank since the disappearance of the three settlers."

[WAFA, the official PA news agency, Arabic website, July 1, 2014]

No Comment at US Consulate General in Jerusalem

 MyRightWord

I just checked the US Jerusalem Consulate Facebook page, nothing on the murder of an American citizen, a teenager who was kidnapped, in the area the Consulate oversees.

Odd.

You can participate in a Ramadan quiz as of 45 minutes ago, though.

^

Posted by YMedad

The Curse of Cain

Sultan Knish

After Cain killed his brother, the Lord told him, "A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth."

But the natural order has been reversed, instead the Abels, if they survive, become homeless
wanderers and the Cains build their Caliphates on the tombs of their victims.

"Cursed shall you be from the earth," the Lord said, and so it has been. 

The earth under their feet may be cursed, it yields nothing but sand and thistles, but they are nomads, forgetting agriculture, remembering only their tradecraft of murder. They become worshipers of death dreaming of the green verdant fields of paradise which they can reach only if they kill enough men, women and children.

Leaving devastation behind them, dead lands, lost cultures, widows and orphans, they claw their way up to heaven on a ladder of bones.

Everything around them dies until the only green is on their flags. They are cursed from the earth and they curse the earth. Where they go, the world dies.

“Baruch Dayan Haemet”

Blessed is the righteous judge.

 

This is the first order of business.  We accept the horror of the Hamas murder of three innocent Israeli students: Naftali Frenkel, 16, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19.

These boys did not die in vain.  We have witnessed for many days now an incredible mood in the nation: a mood of unity, after so much painful dissension. A mood of prayer, even among those who do not usually pray.  A mood of kindnesses and human sensitivity.

 

See here scenes of people gathered after learning the tragic news:

 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182368#.U7KASJtZrIV

 

Joel K., a reader, wrote, “People from Jerusalem are going to Kikar Zion; in Tel Aviv they are congregating at Kikar Rabin. Everywhere in one central place and lighting memorial candles. Haven't seen this kind of public mourning since Rabin was assassinated.”

Op-Ed: White House's Muted Condolences Will Not Be Enough

This is a time for tears but also a time for some very serious decisions.

Published: Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Prof. Phyllis Chesler

My heart is broken, absolutely broken. Words never fail me but at this moment, only words feel inadequate, even inappropriate. I am, of course, talking about the discovery of three dead bodies which once belonged to three beautiful Israeli souls: Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach.

This is a time for tears but also a time for some very serious decisions. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has confirmed that “Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay. He added that the teenagers were “kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by wild beasts.”

The French foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, is “deeply shocked and upset” by the murder of these boys. He also expressed “horror” and indignation.”

President Obama expressed his "deepest condolences" to the families of the murdered teenagers. He added: “I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation.”
President Obama did not accuse Hamas of this despicable act nor did he say our government would assist Israel in its search for security and justice. Obama has once again called for “restraint” and “stability.”
Does he mean that Jihadists should refrain from Jihad because it is “de-stabilizing” the entire Middle East or does he mean, more likely, that Israel should “refrain” from defending itself?
White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, also said:  "We obviously condemn in the strongest possible terms violence that takes the lives of innocent civilians."

This is a very unsatisfying and peculiar statement. To what is Earnest referring? This could apply to anyone anywhere at any time. It’s lack of specificity is cruel and insulting.

The Secret of ME Conflict Exposed!

Steven Shamrak

For almost 50 years Israel has been blamed for all the problems and instability of the Middle East . With the success of ISIS in Syria and Iraq the true reasons behind the conflict are exposed:

1.    There is a long standing deep-seated hatred, based on theological differences, between Shiites and Sunnis. It behind a religious war currently waged by proxies:

a.     Shiites are lead by Iran with its stooges - Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Iraqi Shi'a militias.

b.    Sunnis terrorists are funded predominately by Saudi Arabia. They are - Al Qaeda, ISIS, Fatah and many others.

2.    At the same time, both Muslim sects, Shi'a and Sunni, subscribe to the same ideology/goal - global domination of Islam, which presents an existential threat to the Western way of life and does explain the bullish behavior of Muslim countries and communities in the Western world!

Timline of terror: From abduction to murder

After 18 days of feverishly searching for kidnapped teens, operation Brother's Keeper comes to tragic conclusion.

Ynet

Published:  07.01.14, 01:04 / Israel News

For the past 18 days, IDF soldiers have searched under every rock in the Hebron area for the three missing Israeli teenagers. On Monday, that search came to an end, but all hope was lost. The bodies of the teenagers who've been kidnapped over two weeks ago were found a day after tens of thousands of people attended a support rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square and demanded: "Bring Back Our Boys." The boys, Gil-Ad, Naftali and Eyal, who just wanted to get home, won't return.
The finding of the bodies also brings to an end one of the goals of Operation Brother's Keeper, an operation that was launched following the abduction at a hitchhiking stop in Hebron. From going into the abductors' car, to the call to police in which one of the teens whispered "we've been kidnapped" and through the ceaseless search that ended in great tragedy - these are the 18 days that haunted the Shaer, Frenkel and Yifrach families and, in effect, the entire nation.

Thursday, June 12
9:40 pm - Eyal Yifrach from Elad called one of his friends and told him he was looking for a ride in the Gush Etzion

area. 10 pm - Naftali Frenkel from Nof Ayalon and Gil-Ad Shaer from Talmon left the Makor Chaim yeshiva for the weekend.
10:15 pm - The three hitched a ride at the western exit of Alon Shvut.
10:25 pm - One of the abductees called the police and whispered "we've been kidnapped." The police didn't take the call seriously enough, even though it lasted over two minutes. Commissioner Yohanan Danino called this "a very grave failure."

Friday, June 13
3 am - The father of one of the boys reported to the police that his son never made it home. It was only then that the information about the missing boys was communicated to the IDF and Shin Bet.
12:30 pm - Security forces found a burnt car in one of the Palestinian villages. It is believed this is the car used to kidnap the three.
2 pm - The media was still not allowed to report the news, but many already knew three teenagers had been kidnapped. A message spread like wildfire on WhatsApp saying two of the boys have been rescued, unharmed, in a military operation. According to the false message, five terrorists had been killed in the rescue mission.
5:05 pm - Rumors ended when the IDF spokesman made a statement to the press and said what many had already known - there's a grave fear that the three teenagers had been kidnapped.

Homes of Kidnappers Demolished

IDF demolishes the homes of the two main suspects in the kidnapping and killing of three teenagers, according to eyewitnesses.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

First Publish: 7/1/2014

Marwan Kawasmeh (L), Amar Abu-Eisha

Israel Security Agency

The IDF demolished overnight Monday the homes of the two main suspects in the kidnapping and killing of three young Israelis, witnesses told AFP.
The witnesses said the houses of Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha in Hevron were blown up, in what a human rights group said was the first punitive demolition since Israel halted the practice in 2005.
Kawasmeh and Abu-Eisha were identified by Israel last week as the two terrorists who kidnapped Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha’ar and Naftali Frenkel, whose bodies were discovered earlier on Monday.
Both Kawasmeh and Abu-Eisha have been arrested numerous times and are well known Hamas terrorists in the Hevron area.

There is no “cycle of violence”

Gerald M. Steinberg 

Three Israeli teenagers – Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach — were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood on their way home from school, only because they were Israeli Jews. Their Palestinian Arab murderers, as identified by Israel, did not know their victims and they did not care – the objective was to attack some hated Israelis, and perhaps exchange them or their bodies for jailed murderers. Any random Jews would do.

So it has been for some 100 years in this long war against Jewish national sovereignty and equality among the nations. Long before the 1967 war and the “occupation” provided an excuse for hate and murder, such acts of inhuman violence were common. In 1929, when the Jewish community of Hebron was massacred (ethnically cleansed in modern parlance), there was no cycle of violence — this was an entirely unilateral act.

Netanyahu on murders: 'Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay.'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem April 27, 2014. Photo by Reuters

Calls killers 'beasts'; Peres says Israel's retribution will be harsh.

By Barak Ravid, Jonathan Lis and Haaretz | Jun. 30, 2014

 

Calling the murderers of the three kidnapped teenagers "beasts," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday evening that "Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay."

Netanyahu said in a statement: "In great agony, we found three dead bodies  this evening, and all signs are that these are the dead bodies of our three kidnapped youths – Eyal, Gilad and Naftali.

"They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by beasts," he continued. "In the name of the entire people of Israel, I wish to say to the dear families – the mothers, the fathers, the grandmothers and grandfathers, the sisters and brothers – that our hearts bleed, the whole nation cries with you. We will bring the boys for burial in Israel. Blood vengeance on a little boy is beyond Satan's imagination, as is blood vengeance on young, innocent boys on their way home to see their parents – who will not see them again. Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay. May the memories of the three boys be blessed."

President Shimon Peres said Israel's retribution would be harsh.

"The whole nation blows its head this evening with a grief too heavy to bear," Peres said in a statement. "These 18 days the nation has prayed in one voice that our wonderful boys would be found alive and well. Now, upon receiving the bitter news, the people of Israel mourn the untimely deaths of the best of our young. Alongside this heavy sorrow, we are determined to punish the wicked terrorists with a strong hand. Our war against terror will get stronger, it will not weaken, so that this murderous terror will not dare raise its head."

‘Dialoguing’ with the Muslim Brotherhood and the KGB

Fjordman On June 30, 2014

You can tell a lot about a society by watching what kind of people it puts into positions of power and influence.

Thorbjørn Jagland is a former Prime Minister of Norway from the Norwegian Labour Party. Since 2009, he has been the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE). He was reelected to this position for a second term, with the support of parliamentarians from across Europe, on June 24 2014.

The CoE was established in 1949. It is distinct from and less powerful than the European Union. However, it has a formalized cooperation with the EU on a range of issues, for instance those related to immigration. This cooperation has been strengthened under Jagland’s lead. The CoE further enjoys friendly relations with many Islamic organizations and has made combating so-called “Islamophobia” in Europe one of its stated priorities. 

Saba Ahmed Unveiled

Deborah Weiss On June 30, 2014

During a recent Heritage Foundation event on Benghazi’s unanswered questions, Brigitte Gabriel, President of Act! for America, proclaimed that the peaceful majority have been irrelevant to history’s outcome when tyrannists have had the power and motivation to destroy freedom. But a Muslim audience member whose question prompted Brigitte’s comments, insists she’s not irrelevant.
On June 16, 2014, The Benghazi Accountability Coalition, spearheaded by Ginni Thomas, held a half-day seminar with a series of speakers to raise issues regarding unanswered questions about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of four American patriots at Benghazi.
Brigitte Gabriel was one of three speakers on the first panel. During Q&A, a hijabbed Muslim woman standing in back of a packed audience complained, “Salam Alechim, peace to you all. We portray Islam and all Muslims as bad, but there are 1.8 billion followers of Islam. We have 8 million plus Muslim Americans in this country and I don’t see them represented here.” She asked how the jihadist ideology can be fought with weapons and stressed the need to bring Muslims to the table in order to solve the problem.

Jordan's King: Iraq Crisis Could Affect the Entire Region

Jordan’s King Abdullah II meets American delegation, warns of effects of Iraq crisis.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 6/30/2014

Jordan's King Abdullah II

AFP/File

Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday warned that the crisis in Iraq could affect the entire region, reports the Jordan Times.
Speaking with a delegation of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives, the King renewed Jordan’s keenness on the territorial integrity of Iraq and its call for a comprehensive political solution to the ongoing Iraqi crisis, according to the report.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has started moving towards Baghdad, after conquering the second-largest Iraqi city of Mosul and several other northern cities this week in a lightning offensive.
King Abdullah recently requested urgent military aid from the U.S. and other Western countries, so as to hold off ISIS if it tries to move in on Jordan.
Last week, Jordan placed tanks, army vehicles, missile launchers and soldiers along its border with Iraq.

Another cover-up of genocide

Thane Rosenbaum & Rafael Medoff

Twenty years ago this week, machete-wielding militias of the Hutu tribe in Rwanda were carrying out nationwide massacres of members of the country’s ethnic minority, the Tutsis. Detailed information about the genocide began reaching the West almost as soon as it started.

This has always been an uncomfortable truth for those in the Clinton administration who were responsible for matters of state, global affairs and human rights. To his great credit, president Bill Clinton has acknowledged that America’s silence during the genocide in Rwanda was one of the failures of his presidency. Others in his administration, however, have been neither as honorable nor as forthcoming.

Newly released cables about the 1994 genocide flatly contradict previous accounts by some of those officials, and the refusal of the Obama White House to declassify additional documents hasn’t helped clear up this moral morass. The fact that some of the Clinton-era figures involved in this episode now work in the Obama administration adds yet another troubling layer to this unfolding story.

What Made a Legally Established Settlement Illegal?

By J.P. Golbert, AMERICAN THINKER

When the mothers of the Israeli boys kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists in the area of Gush Etzion, in “Israeli occupied” Judea, spoke before international bodies, many of the diplomats referred to them in their comments and questions as “settlers.” One is given to understand that, in their eyes, inclusion in that category means that they have no human rights and the world’s indifference to their fate is justified. In fact, the boys are not “settlers” but attend schools in Jewish towns in Judea, two of them in kibbutz Kfar Etzion and one in Kiriyat Arba.  

But let’s leave that aside and cut straight to the core of the issue of the legality of Jewish settlements outside the 1949 Armistice Lines.

There is only one International law concerning Israeli settlement that is binding and has never been superseded. The League of Nations, on July 24th, 1922, established the Mandate for Palestine, by unanimous vote, which included two Islamic states, Persia and Albania.

Moment of truth

Dr. Haim Shine

The fabric of relations between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens is still fragile. Over the years, it has been customary to hope that there was a wide fundamental gap between Israeli Arab leaders, who exhibited clear extremism, and the Israeli Arab public, which appeared more moderate. But Friday's violent demonstrations in Umm al-Fahm, along with the malicious and belligerent comments made recently by Balad MKs Hanin Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka, have cast a sad light on the prospects for true coexistence in Israel. Before dealing with two states for two peoples, it is vital that we first clarify the definitions of the peoples.

The demonstrators in Umm al-Fahm on Friday showed unequivocally that they identified with the actions of Hamas, rather than Israel's efforts to find the kidnapped teens and defend its citizens, including Arabs. Keep in mind that, more than once, Israeli Arabs have fallen victim to terror attacks carried out by their Palestinian brothers.

No Peace In The End or, Yes?

Yisrael Medad

6/27/2014, 9:06 AM

Yisrael Medad

I am a resident of Shiloh, with my wife and children, and now grandchildren,...

Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, “Hamas activists,” as per the NYTimes, are being hunted.
As reported here:

Marwan Kawasmeh (29) and Amar Abu-Eisha (33), both of whom have been arrested numerous times and are well known Hamas terrorists in the Hevron area

Yesterday, I was touring with The Forward's Jane Eisner

• Credit: EliePieprz

and one of the points Dani Dayan brought up in response to the question for how long his normailzation plan will last before peace kicks in was that it would take a generation.  I have a different frame.
You notice the ages of the suspects?  Twenty-nine and thirty-three.  How old were they when the Oslo Process began in 1993?  My math says less than nine and less than 13.  In other words, their formative years of 'growing-up' were as schoolchildren.
Did they have any peace-oriented programs in school?  Well, there was this one:
PEACE Programme: Palestinian European Academic Co-operation in Education, established in 1992.  It's details:

Fields/Disciplines
Institutional and staff development, quality of academic programmes in all fields and disciplines.
Objectives
Promoting international cooperation with Palestinian Universities through: exchange of staff and students; grants for Palestinian students and young academics to complete graduate studies abroad; academic projects aimed at enhancing teaching and research at Palestinian higher education institutions
Its areas of action include:
scholarships to Palestinian students and young academics allowing for them to pursue post-graduate studies abroad;
exchange of teachers and researchers as a means for staff development at Palestinian universities;
academic programs at Palestinian universities through bilateral and multilateral agreements and through consortia of member universities,

The ambassadorial Passover dinner that turned into a state secret‏

Israel's envoy to the U.S. Ron Dermer claims that revealing the guest list, which included Secretary of State John Kerry, could undermine Israel's foreign relations. So why were U.S. journalists invited?

By Barak Ravid | Jun. 29, 2014 

 

The Foreign Ministry has refused to reveal the guest list for the second Passover seder meal held at the house of Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, roughly two months ago - an event attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The ministry’s explanation was that revealing the list would cause damage to Israel. The decision, as well as the explanation, are curious, due to the fact that Haaretz has learned that American journalists were present at the event.
The decision was stated in an official letter sent by the Foreign Ministry last Thursday, June 26, in response to a request made by Haaretz under the Freedom of Information Law on April 29.