WarSclerotic

‘IDF More Advanced And Accurate Than Ever’ – Israel National News.

Army source reveals airstrike preparation time since 2006 dropped from half hour to two minutes, ground maneuvers key despite budget cuts.

By Kobi Finkler, Ari Yashar
First Publish: 3/25/2014, 6:49 PM

A senior IDF source discussed the encouraging advancements as well as the budget constraints of the army on Tuesday, exactly a week after an IAF airstrike hit Syrian army posts in response to an explosive placed on Israel’s border.”All of the national infrastructure is in the IDF’s scopes,” reported the source. “The army is preparing for the threats of the enemy, and for all scenarios demanding an immediate attack without time to prepare.”

Speaking about the IDF’s capabilities, the source noted “we are armed today with the most effective, advanced and, most importantly, precise weapons, that are much faster than in the past.”

“If in the (2006) Second Lebanon War a time frame of half an hour was needed to conduct an air strike to take out an immediate threat, today that time frame stands at a mere two minutes,” revealed the source.

IDF acquisitions ensure that the army will only continue to improve, according to the source.

“We are about to acquire a new cannon, which not only fires at a rate four times faster than previous cannons, but also its precision and destructive power allow the army to respond immediately to threats, and also to drastically minimize the number of fighters in the cannon battery and unit,” emphasized the IDF source.

“We’re a very effective army,” acknowledged the official. “You can compare the number of fighters under the Israeli air force’s brigadier general as opposed to the same general in Western armies to understand how effective we are.”

Despite budget cuts, ground maneuvers remain key

The senior captain subtly criticized IDF budget cuts, noting “the budget sword raised against the army forces us constantly to make creative technological solutions that can make operational activities cheaper while conserving human resources, such as in the new cannon. We’re losing every fifth person in the standing army, and that isn’t easy.”

While efforts are being made to streamline the IDF and its chain of command, the source emphasized the importance of a strong presence on the ground.

“It’s true there is accurate fire, and quality information,” noted the IDF official, “but still it’s clear that the topic of ground maneuvers was and remains the greatest preparation need in the army.”

Without controlling the ground the IDF will never win a war, reports the source. “Without the exposed chest of the regiment commander standing opposite the terrorist and killing him, we won’t be able to finish the fighting, and therefore the need for ground maneuvers is essential.”

In closing, the source noted “we need to reach a situation where the amount of time fighting is reduced to minimize the damage to the home front as much as possible. That’s our mission and we are preparing for it intensively, even in these days of resource cuts and reserve duty day cuts.”

Off Topic: Kerry to meet Abbas in Amman in last ditch effort to salvage talks – Jerusalem Post.

Abbas tells Arab League Israel would “bury” Kerry framework document; Israeli officials regret Abbas not seeking Arab world support for compromise.

By HERB KEINON, KHALED ABU TOAMEH 03/25/2014 22:29

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on Wednesday, hours after Abbas – speaking to the Arab league — dismissed as unnecessary the framework document Kerry has been toiling on for months.

Abbas, addressing a meeting of Arab heads of state in Kuwait, said in reference to Kerry’s document that was envisioned as a basis for continuing talks beyond the April 29 deadline, that the Palestinians did not need new agreements that would be “buried” by Israel through reservations and pre-conditions.

Kerry’s efforts come just days before Israel is scheduled to release on Saturday night the final batch of 26 Palestinian security prisoners it agreed to set free as part of the package enabling the nine-month talks to begin last July. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has not given any indication whether he plans to go through with that release. Some in his cabinet are calling on him not to do so until Abbas commits to continuing the talks.

Abbas claimed that the Israeli government was now trying to avoid carrying out the release, and the PA government in the West Bank accused Israel of “political blackmail” in linking the issue with extending the negotiations.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry, currently in Europe accompanying US President Barack Obama on a trip there, will meet Abbas to “continue to narrow the gaps between the parties.”

Israeli officials said at this stage they knew nothing of a possible Kerry meeting in Jerusalem with Netanyahu, and Psaki said only that the two men would be in touch “over the phone or video conference.”

According to Israeli officials, there have been ongoing discussions in recent days to salvage the process, and US envoy Martin Indyk has been in the area since the weekend meeting with both sides.

In his speech to the Arab leaders, however, Abbas showed no sign that he was on the verge of showing flexibility, reiterating his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and stating that the Palestinians want an independent state on “all the territories that were occupied in 1967.” He said that such a state should have full control on the ground, airspace, borders, water and natural resources.

He accused Israel both of foiling the US efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East, and of seeking to “perpetuate its occupation.” He also called for a just and agreed solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.
Abbas told the Arab summit that Israel was trying to “divide” the Aksa Mosque between Muslims and Jews as is the case with the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. He said that the Palestinians were strongly opposed to any attempt to divide the holy site. He also accused Israel of stepping up its campaign to “scrap the Arab, Islamic and Christian identity of Jerusalem.”

Abbas’ words fell on fertile ears, with the Arab League expected to draft a resolution at the end of the two day summit categorically refusing to recognize Israel as nation state of the Jewish people, and rejecting pressure on the Palestinian leadership to do so.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elarabi blasted Israel as as an “apartheid system” and a final bastion of colonialism. Saudi Prince Salman bin Abdel-Aziz said Israel was working against peace with its settlement policies, as well as with its demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

One Israeli government official noted the irony that, while the Arab leaders were blasting Israel publicly, “behind the scenes there is almost an unprecedented willingness among leaders in the Arab world to engage with us.”

Unwilling to give examples, the official said that among many in the region Israel is seen not as the enemy, but rather as an ally against the common enemy of Iran and radical Shia.

None of this is expressed in the Arab league, he said, partly because it is a “vehicle for consensus politics, which often needs to play to the lowest common denominator.”

The official said that among senior leaders in the Arab world there is a willingness for fair compromises by the Palestinians with Israel. “If Abbas was interested in getting cover for compromises, he would get that cover,” the official said. By the same token, he said, Abbas is interested in getting Arab League support for his inflexible positions.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett slammed the Arab League’s refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish state and compared Abbas to former Syrian president Hafez Assad.

During a tour of the Golan Heights, the Bayit Yehudi faction head said “the Arab League today returned to the the days of Khartoum, when they ruled out peace with us. Today they are denying our right to exist in a Jewish state.”

“As I stand here at the Quneitra observation post on the Golan Heights, I can only wonder what would happen if al-Qaida terrorists were here, threatening our children,” Bennett said.

“Unfortunately, security experts who explained to us why we need to leave the Golan Heights are the same experts that tell us today to relinquish our assets for a piece of paper from the Arab League and Abu Mazen [Abbas],” he added.

“This did not happen in the Golan, and it will not happen in any part of the Land of Israel,” he vowed.

In a reference to talks Israel held with Syria in 1999, in which then-prime minister Ehud Barak discussed the possibility of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace, Bennett referred to Abbas as “a more extreme version of the 1999 model of Assad.”

Jpost staff contributed to this report

Draft Russia-Sanctions Bill May Also Tighten Iran Penalties – Global Security Newswire.

March 25, 2014
By Diane Barnes
Global Security Newswire

A pro-Russian protester takes down a Ukrainian flag as activists storm a Ukrainian air base in western Crimea on Saturday. The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday approved a Russia-sanctions bill with language that may lead to tightened penalties against Iran’s supporters. (Dmitry Serebryakov/AFP/Getty Images)

A U.S. congressional panel on Tuesday approved a Russia-sanctions bill with language that may lead to tightened penalties against Iran’s supporters.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed legislation by voice vote that would aim to punish Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, in part by tightening enforcement of a 2005 law targeting suspected proliferators to Iran, North Korea and Syria. The 2005 measure authorizes Obama to penalize foreign individuals and groups suspected of supplying any of the three nations with sensitive materials covered by one of several export-control regimes.

“Russian companies have been sanctioned in the past for proliferation to Syria and Iran,” but the State Department “has been delinquent in implementing” the 2005 legislation, says a committee summary of the bill passed on Tuesday.

The Ukraine Support Act draft would give President Obama 30 days to develop “a plan to fully implement the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act, including sanctions against Russian companies,” according to the report on the bill, introduced by panel Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).

A House Foreign Relations Committee spokesman did not respond to requests for details on the bill’s intended targets. But the legislation text specifically identifies Rosoboronexport, a sanctioned Russian firm accused of supplying Iran with possible components for its missile program.

Congressional efforts to ramp up Iran sanctions have taken on particular sensitivity amid multilateral negotiations on the Middle Eastern nation’s nuclear program. The United States and five other governments are seeking to address fears that Tehran’s nuclear program is geared toward arms development, and Iran has threatened to pull out of discussions in response to new sanctions in coming months.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee decided earlier in March against including a separate Iran-sanctions proposal in a Ukraine aid bill it was considering.

Obama: I’m Concerned About a Loose Nuke Being Detonated in Manhattan – The Weekly Standard.

(Oh My God. I can’t bear it any longer.
After he threatened Russia with consequences what did Putin do?
That’s right. He gave him the middle finger and went ahead.
What is the clown’s answer?
“Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neigbors, not out of strength, but out weakness.”
I guess if someone detonates a nuke in Manhattan, it will also because that someone is weak.
What is Mr. Hope and Change  doing to prevent Iran from aquiring nukes?
Yep, killing potential sanctions, killing the Tomahawk and Hellfire missile programs and hoping that Putin is a nice boy and that he does not sabotage his negtiations with Iran.
Well, clown in chief, what if Putin because of his ‘weakness’ does exactly that?
It’s unbelievable how much this guy lives in lala land.
– Artaxes)

Romney still wrong about Russia, says Obama.

11:56 AM, Mar 25, 2014 • By DANIEL HALPER

Speaking at a brief news conference in the Hague, President Obama said he’s more worried about a loose nuke being detonated in Manhattan than he is about Russia:
 

“With respect to Mr. Romney’s assertion that Russia is our number one geopolitical foe, the truth of the matter is that America has a whole lot of challenges,” said the president.

“Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neigbors, not out of strength, but out weakness.

“Ukraine has been a country which Russia had enormous influence for decades, since the break-up of the Soviet Union, and we have considerable influence on our neighbors, we generally don’t need to invade them in order to have a strong cooperative relationship with them. The fact that Russia felt compelled to go in militarily and laid bear these violations of internationl law indicates less influence not more.

“So my response then continues to be what I believe today, which is: Russia’s actions are a problem. They don’t pose the number one national security threat to the United States. I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan,” said Obama.

Daniel Halper is online editor of The Weekly Standard and author of the forthcoming book Clinton, Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.

Report: Former head of al Qaeda’s network in Iran now operates in Syria – The Long War Journal.
By Thomas Joscelyn          March 25, 2014

Muhsin al Fadhli, a senior al Qaeda leader who once headed the organization’s network in Iran, relocated to Syria in mid-2013, according to a report in The Arab Times on March 21. Citing anonymous sources, the publication reports that al Fadhli has joined the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria. He was apparently sent to the country after a dispute broke out between Al Nusrah and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS).

Al Fadhli was one of the trusted operatives who reported back to Ayman al Zawahiri on the dispute, according to the Arab Times, and he influenced al Qaeda’s decision to eventually disown ISIS.

Today, al Fadhli reportedly recruits European Muslims to join the jihad in Syria and “trains them on how to execute terror operations in the western countries, focusing mostly on means of public transportation such as trains and airplanes.”

The Arab Times account does not identify its sources and parts of it do not ring true. For example, al Fadhli’s “four main targets” inside Syria are supposedly Bashar al Assad’s forces, the Free Syrian Army, the Islamic Front, and ISIS. However, only two of these targets make sense in the current operational environment. The Al Nusrah Front is closely cooperating with the Islamic Front, which is a coalition of several jihadist and Islamist rebel groups, and also works with the Free Syrian Army.

Still, the story makes sense in the context of other known aspects of al Qaeda’s operations.

Al Fadhli became the leader of al Qaeda’s network inside Iran after a senior al Qaeda leader known as Yasin al Suri was detained by Iranian authorities. In July 2011, the US Treasury Department identified al Suri as the head of the network, which it said operates under an agreement between the Iranian regime and al Qaeda. Several months later, in December 2011, the State Department announced a reward of $10 million for information leading to al Suri’s arrest.

This put pressure on the Iranians to shelve al Suri for a time. In February 2012, press reporting indicated that al Fadhli had replaced al Suri as al Qaeda’s chief inside Iran. And in October 2012 the Treasury Department confirmed that al Fadhli had indeed filled in for al Suri.

But earlier this year, the US government announced that al Suri had assumed his leadership role inside Iran once again. In late January, Treasury and State Department officials spoke with Al Jazeera, saying that al Suri was supporting the Al Nusrah Front from Iranian soil despite the fact that Al Nusrah is currently fighting Iran’s ally and proxies in Syria. In early February, the Treasury Department officially confirmed that al Suri has “resumed leadership of al Qaeda’s Iran-based network after being temporarily detained there in late 2011.”

With al Suri back in the game, al Qaeda had the operational freedom to deploy al Fadhli to Syria. Al Qaeda’s senior leaders dispatched trusted operatives to Syria once the dispute between Al Nusrah and ISIS became heated. Therefore, al Fadhli’s reported presence inside Syria makes sense in the context of al Qaeda’s decision to reshuffle its personnel.

The Arab Times report draws from Kuwaiti sources, who have an interest in tracking al Fadhli since he is a native of their country. In 2009, the publication accurately reported that al Fadhli was then living along the Iran-Afghanistan border.

And according to the US government, al Qaeda’s Iran-based network relies on Kuwait-based donors and facilitators, who support the Al Nusrah Front and other parts of al Qaeda’s operations. This provides even more reasons for Kuwaiti authorities to keep close tabs on al Fadhli’s movements.

Connected to high-profile terrorist plots against Western interests

If al Fadhli is indeed inside Syria and training recruits to attack the West, then this is a significant cause for concern among counterterrorism authorities.

Al Fadhli was first designated as a terrorist by the US Treasury Department in 2005. Treasury noted at the time that his dossier was extensive.

Al Fadhli has long been an elite member of al Qaeda. In early September 2001, Treasury explained, he “possibly received forewarning that US interests would be struck.” The Sept. 11 operation was compartmentalized and only select members of the network received advance notice.

The Kuwaiti al Qaeda operative has been tied to the Oct. 6, 2002 attack on the French ship MV Limburg and the Oct. 8, 2002 attack against US Marines stationed on Kuwait’s Faylaka Island. One Marine was killed during the Faylaka Island shootout. He may have also been involved in the bombing of the USS Cole on Oct. 12, 2000.

He went on to support Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s operations inside Iraq.

An al Qaeda cell responsible for the 2009 plot against Camp Arifjan, a US military installation in Kuwait, had ties to al Fadhli. That cell was broken up by Kuwaiti authorities before it could launch an attack.

And Egyptian officials have alleged that still another plot, targeting the US Embassy in Cairo and other Western interests, involved al Qaeda’s Iran-based network. The May 2013 plot was tied to a terrorist known as Dawud al Asadi, who had been in contact with the cell responsible in the months beforehand.

Dawud al Asadi is one of the aliases used by Muhsin al Fadhli, but Egyptian officials have not publicly confirmed al Asadi’s real identity. Al Asadi reportedly put members of the cell in contact with Muhammad Jamal al Kashef, a longtime subordinate to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, as well as with other members of Jamal’s network.

Washington and the Middle East: What in the world is the US playing at? | JPost | Israel News.

03/24/2014 21:45

America is disengaging itself from the Middle East while seemingly encouraging extremist forces. It is a well-known fact that nature abhors a vacuum. What happens next is anybody’s guess.

An unidentified source at the US State Department recently told the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai that the Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t constitute a danger to the United States, adding that no one has asked Washington to put it on the list of terrorist organizations.

The last part of this statement is probably true, but was it the right moment for such a public declaration when that same organization is engaged in a terrorist war against Egypt – Washington’s long-standing Arab ally in the Middle East? When Cairo has declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization?

This statement looks more like a political gesture than an innocuous piece of information. The Muslim brothers certainly interpreted it as a mark of continued support for their cause. The fact it that since the demonstrations started against Hosni Mubarak in January 2011 Washington has been unfailingly supporting the Brotherhood, and went as far as suspending most of its military assistance to Egypt after the ousting of Mohammed Morsi.

One may well ask what the rationale is behind this policy. Not so long ago the Obama administration was bragging it had killed Osama bin-Laden, America’s archenemy and a devoted follower of such dedicated Muslim Brothers as Abdulla Azzam and Mahmud Qutb. The first, a Palestinian member of the Egyptian MB, was bin-Laden’s teacher and mentor and among the founders of al-Qaida; the second, brother of Sayyed Qutb, taught bin-Laden at King Abd Al Aziz University in Jeddah. Sayyed Qutb’s teachings are considered the fount of ideology that gave rise to radical Islam in the 20th century, with disastrous consequences for the whole world. Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheik who masterminded the first attack on the world trade center 1993 and is now serving a life sentence in a US prison, was the leader of the Gama’a al-Islamia, an offshoot of the Brotherhood responsible for the Sadat assassination in 1981, and a friend of bin-Laden from their shared fight in Afghanistan. One could go on and on.

For the past 85 years the Brotherhood and the groups it spawned have been spreading terror and mayhem both against fellow Muslims and against the West. Yet the American administration does not hesitate to say publicly that the Brotherhood is not a threat. There are rumors about a number of Arab Americans connected to the Brotherhood allegedly in the White House, the State Department and even the Counter Terrorism Bureau. Lists of names are circulating, but one is loath to believe it could be true.

Egypt is the most conspicuous victim of this bizarre policy. It is in urgent need of some of the military equipment withheld by American administration – such as Apache helicopters and sophisticated monitoring devices – in its fight against the Brotherhood and jihadist terror. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahami said lately that the US is even delaying the return of a number of Apache helicopters sent for periodical revision.

German customs authorities also recently seized recently a perfectly legitimate shipment of weapons from Poland destined to Egypt consecutive to the embargo on weapons imposed by the European Union. In other words the US and the EU are jointly ostracizing Egypt, the largest Arab country fighting radical Islam. Left with no other option, Egypt turned to Russia for closer cooperation; a major arms deal is being processed. And under the pressure of the war against terrorism Egypt now asks the Russians to hasten the shipment of the Russian combat helicopters.

AMERICAN POLICY has also brought a rift with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, which already feel they have been betrayed after learning that Washington had negotiated behind their back with Iran, their declared enemy, on a compromise regarding its nuclear plans. Challenging Washington, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Kuwait let it be known that they would finance the Egyptian- Russian weapons deal. President Barack Obama’s scheduled visit to the kingdom in mid-March for some fence-mending was canceled or at least postponed because of sharp differences with the Gulf countries.

The relations between Saudi Arabia and the US have never been the same since 9/11 when it was discovered that 16 out of the 18 terrorists involved were Saudis. Riyadh tried to make up for it by banning the Brotherhood from the kingdom. Saudi imams have even issued a fatwa forbidding terrorism, including attacks against third countries. This explains why Saudi Arabia applauded the ouster of Morsi; it is also at the heart of its feud with Qatar, a staunch supporter of the Brotherhood. Indeed Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Bahrain lately recalled their ambassadors from Doha and warned the emir to change its policy.

The Middle East has never been a stable region. Its short history since World War I is replete with wars, military coups and massacres. The countries of that region never fully developed their economies in spite of their vast natural resources, and were always leaning on the great powers of England, France, the US or the Soviet Union. The disappearance of England and France as colonial powers and the disintegration of the Soviet Union left America the sole ally of the pragmatic Arab countries facing Iran and al-Qaida. Now even that is fast disappearing. The failed Arab spring made the situation worse and the Middle East is now in shambles. Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen are fast dislocating. Lebanon is tottering on the brink; so is Sudan. Egypt is in crisis.

Only the traditional kingdoms – Gulf countries, Jordan and Morocco – have kept their stability but, for how long? The disintegration of Libya is a disaster since its huge stockpiles of sophisticated weapons have been looted and are now fueling terror in Egypt and other Arab countries. The all-important alliance in the region which kept Iran at bay is no more. Traditional allies such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries cannot rely any more on America. Extremism and fanaticism are on the rise and the Middle East has become a ticking time-bomb.

It is hard to fathom US policy in the Middle East. However what is beyond dispute is that America is disengaging itself from the Middle East while seemingly encouraging extremist forces. It is a well-known fact that nature abhors a vacuum. What happens next is anybody’s guess.

The author is a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt.

To get at Obama and Kerry, Arab League summit drafts hard-line ultimatums for Israeli-Palestinian peace track, DEBKAfile, March 25, 2014

(U.S. relations in the Middle East continue to deteriorate. Does President Obama have even an inkling about why? — DM)

The radical stance the Arab rulers have adopted on Mid East peacemaking is designed to warn the US president to expect a hard time in his talks with Saudi leaders in Riyadh. A large group of Arab nations – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait – is telling him through the vehicle of a hard line on Mid East peacemaking that they can be just as unyielding on other issues, starting with their vendetta against the Brotherhood.

Arab leaders whose summit begins in Kuwait Tuesday, March 25, are set to carry hard-line ultimatums for the US-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli negotiations as a means of derailing US Secretary of State John Kerry’s stubborn effort for a peace accord, and as a red flag for President Barack Obama three days before he lands in Riyadh..

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report the Arab League summit’s two-day agenda includes a veto on recognizing Israel as the Jewish national state,a resolution that will be binding on all members including Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Another resolution would mandate the proclamation of all parts of East Jerusalem, including Al Quds al Sharif (Temple Mount) and the entire Old City of Jerusalem, the location of the shrines of three faiths, as the capital of a Palestinian state. This is diametrically opposed to US and Israeli positions.

Another ultimatum the Arab leaders propose to issue would halt Jewish settlement on the West Bank and Jerusalem, freeze development and ultimately dismantle all traces of a Jewish presence in a future Palestinian state.

Yet another demand will be for “the immediate release of all the Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails” – by which they mean all Palestinians serving time after being convicted of terrorist crimes, including Israeli Arabs.

The special US envoy for the peace talks, Martin Indyk, spent the past week in a desperate bid to avert the passage of these extreme all-or-nothing demands by the Kuwait summit. He leaned hard on Jordan’s King Abdullah and the Palestinian leader to hold back from voting on these resolutions (which must be unanimous under the Arab League charter). He maintained that their impact would be inevitably to bury yet another Israel-Palestinian peace track.

Indyk’s effort was in vain. He was also disappointed by the pointed lack of support he received from Anne Patterson, Assistant US Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and former ambassador to Cairo, where she became a fervent supporter of an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood – an organization which most Arab League leaders meeting in Kuwait view as a threat to their stability. For Patterson, Indyk is an outsider.

The radical stance the Arab rulers have adopted on Mid East peacemaking is designed to warn the US president to expect a hard time in his talks with Saudi leaders in Riyadh. A large group of Arab nations – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait – is telling him through the vehicle of a hard line on Mid East peacemaking that they can be just as unyielding on other issues, starting with their vendetta against the Brotherhood.

That vendetta tops their agenda, although it is worded as a draft resolution calling for “a collective Arab position in the war on terror.” It was rated as important enough for the conference to choose Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour to address the opening session of the conference with a speech devoted to the subject of “terrorism.”

And indeed, Sunday, March 23, just ahead of the Arab League summit, an Egyptian court sentenced 529 Muslim Brotherhood adherents to death for attacking government centers and killing soldiers and police officers.

It is more than likely that the Egyptian strongman, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, will allow the sentences to be executed as a brutal message to the Brothers not to expect any let-up in the war he is pursuing to stamp out their influence.

Another key item on the summit agenda revolves around the same issue. It is the campaign the same group of Arab leaders is waging against Qatar over its support for the Brotherhood. The Saudi, Egyptian, UAE, Bahraini and Kuwaiti governments have recalled their ambassadors from Doha; and Riyadh has threatened Qatar with a military, land and air blockade unless it withdraws this support and shuts down the Al Jazeera TV broadcasting station.

Palestinians Dream of Destroying Israel, Peace Treaty or Not, Gatestone Institute,  Khaled Abu Toameh, March 25, 2014

(Do the rose colored glasses perpetually worn by President Obama, Secretary Kerry et al obscure from view the Palestinians helping PA President Abbas to end the “peace process?” Perhaps it should be renamed: “the terrorism perpetuation process.” — DM)

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry may be able to force Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, under threats and pressure, to sign a “framework agreement” with Israel. But as this week’s rally of hatred in the Gaza Strip shows, even after the signing of a Palestinian-Israeli “peace” treaty, a large number of Palestinians will not abandon there dream of destroying Israel.

“Jihad in Palestine is not terrorism. Jihad in Palestine is a sacred duty.” — Yusef Rizka, representative of Hamas.

A mass rally held in the Gaza Strip on March 23 showed that Hamas continues to enjoy popular support among Palestinians. Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets to attend the rally commemorating the 10^thanniversary of the assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Hamas officials claim that nearly one million Palestinians attended the rally in the center of Gaza City.

The mass rally supporting Hamas in Gaza, March 23, 2014. (Image source: The Palestinian Information Center)

This means that Hamas, which seeks to destroy Israel, remains as strong as ever in the Gaza Strip, despite Egypt’s undeclared war against the Palestinian Islamist movement.

The Egyptian war has indeed hurt Hamas, especially in wake of the destruction of hundreds of smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians, however, as shown by the mass rally, evidently remains unaffected.

Addressing the crowd, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh admitted that the Egyptian war has harmed his movement. “Hamas is going through difficult times,” he said. “We are also facing harsh challenges.”

Haniyeh added that despite Egyptian security measures against his movement and the Gaza Strip, Hamas was not in a state of panic.

At the rally, defiant Hamas leaders repeated threats to pursue terror attacks against Israel. One Hamas official, Fathi Hammad, even expressed optimism that his movement and other Palestinian terror groups would be able to destroy the “Zionist entity in a few years.”

Hamas seems to be hoping, however, that the rally will send a message not only to Israel, but also to the Palestinian Authority and Egypt. The message that Hamas is seeking to relay to Egypt is that, despite the ongoing Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip, the movement is not showing any sign of weakness.

As Hamas representative Yusef Rizka explained, “This is a message to those who are trying to undermine Hamas and damage its reputation. We do not meddle in the internal affairs of Arab countries.”

Addressing the Egyptians, who have accused Hamas of involvement in terrorist attacks inside Egypt, Rizka said, “Jihad in Palestine is not terrorism. Jihad in Palestine is a scared duty.”

Still, the strongest message coming out of the rally was directed toward the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas has good reason to be worried in the aftermath of the latest show of force by Hamas. When tens of thousands of Palestinians take to the streets of the Gaza Strip to call for the destruction of Israel and an end to the peace talks between the PA and Israel, it is clear that a large segment of Palestinian society remains opposed to any compromise with Israel.

The pro-Hamas rally is also aimed at sending a message to the U.S. Administration that Mahmoud Abbas does not have a mandate to sign any document that declares an end to the conflict with Israel.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry may be able to force Abbas, under threats and pressure, to sign a “framework agreement” with Israel. But as this week’s rally of hatred in the Gaza Strip shows, even after the signing of an Israeli-Palestinian “peace” treaty, a large number of Palestinians will not abandon their dream of destroying Israel .

Today we Greeks celebrate our independence day.
On March 17, 1821 the Maniots (the descendants of the Spartans) were the very first to rise up in rebellion and on March 25, 1821 the revolution to liberate Greece from the Ottoman yoke was proclaimed.
Following a bloody war of independence under the motto “Liberty or death”, in 1829 Greece was the first country of the Ottoman Empire to gain its independence.
I always found inspiration in the fact that my people after almost 400 years of oppression finally fought and gained its freedom.
This story is as inspiring as the story of the return of the Jewish people to its homeland after 2000 years of exile.

To all the Greeks out there: Happy independence day.
To all the others: May this day be an inspiration in your struggle for freedom and in the defense of your liberty.

Artaxes

Articles: Putin’s Iran Threat is good for Israel.