Archive for February 23, 2016

The Refugee Hostel: Germany’s Islamist Hell

February 23, 2016

The Refugee Hostel: Germany’s Islamist Hell, Front Page MagazineStephen Brown, February 23, 2016

refugee-crisis-357690

They fled religious hatred, rape and violence in their homelands for the “safe” haven of Germany — only to encounter the same, brutal conditions in their new accommodations: the refugee hostel.

Violence in refugee centers became a national topic in Germany last October, only weeks after Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel invited into Europe one million, mainly Muslim, refugees. But exposure of this disgraceful situation appears to have had little effect, as German newspapers are reporting this month that conditions remain unchanged.

In fact, life in German refugee hostels has now become so unbearable that religious minorities, women traveling alone or with children, and homosexuals are fleeing their accommodations. For them, according to one paper, the word “hostel” has become synonymous with ‘”defenselessness”.

The constant harassment and mistreatment at the hands of Muslim male refugees is not only becoming intolerable and dangerous, but, for some, life-threatening.

“Torn bibles and insults, ripped off crosses and even blows to the face, the complaints about violence in the refugee centers do not let up,” the German newspaper, Die Welt, stated recently.

According to Rainer Wendt, chairman of the German Police Union, outbreaks of violence in German refugee centers were occurring before last August. In the first six months of 2015, police were called out 1,288 times to refugee asylums and registered 499 crimes. One problem is definitely the overcrowding, Wendt said, but there are also “knallharte” (very brutal) criminal structures among the refugees.

Most violent incidents occur between Muslims themselves. They form groups, Wendt says, according to “ethnicity, religion or clan structure and go at one another with knives and self-made weapons.” And the fights, which can involve dozens on each side, concern “power struggles” and are “above all, religious or politically motivated.” Numerous violent disputes have ended in death.

“Here the Sunnis fight the Shiites, there are Salafists of different brands …women are forced to wear the veil. Men are forced to pray. Islamists want to install their values and order there,” said Wendt.

But among the mistreated minority groups, one is especially targeted for abuse: Muslim converts to Christianity. Many are from Iran and Afghanistan where Christians are a persecuted minority and Islamic law demands that they be put to death for leaving the faith.

One human rights organization official says the chances of a Muslim convert to Christianity, unwilling to hide his faith, being subjected to violence or mobbing in a refugee center is “nearly 100 percent.” And the situation is only going to get worse.

“Among those arriving now, a not insignificant portion is at least on the level of the Muslim Brotherhood in its religious intensity,” he said.

Pastor Gottfried Martens, who counts six hundred Christian converts from Islam in his Berlin parish, agrees. Martens, who baptized many of them himself, said, it is “above all Christian converts from Islam who have to suffer as a minority” in the hostels. Christians are not allowed to prepare their meals in the kitchens and “whoever does not pray five times a day in the direction of Mecca is mobbed.”

“Almost all of them have huge problems in their hostels,” said Martens. “Strictly believing Muslims there convey the view: Where we are, sharia rules, our law rules.”

Which causes one to wonder: What does this situation bode for Germany’s future once these “refugees” are let loose in society?

One Christian refugee from Iran is probably also asking himself this same question. In an anonymous interview with Die Welt, he said he would never have thought he would face religious persecution in Germany like that in Iran. There, he had belonged to an underground church and fled after the secret police had arrested his brother for attending one too. After crossing Turkey on foot, he made it to Germany where he thought he could finally live out a Christian life without fear.

But he was wrong. Placed in a hostel with mostly strictly believing Sunni Syrians, the young Iranian says he cannot openly profess his faith or “then I will be threatened.”

“During Ramadan, they wake me up before dawn and say I should eat before the sun comes up,” he told Die Welt. “When I decline, they say I’m an “infidel.” They spit at me. They treat me like an animal and threaten to kill me.”

The one other group suffering equal, and possibly worse, abuse in German refugee asylums is women traveling alone. Overall, women make up 25 percent of the migrant population. And they, as well as children, are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. The federal official responsible for this area in refugee asylums nation-wide says reports of such violence reach him daily from around Germany.

As regards the number of such incidents, no one knows for sure. But according to the Psychosocial Center for Refugees, “there are many.” In a center in Giessen, there were 15 reported cases of sexual abuse of women in one month, leading police to investigate cases of rape and forced prostitution. The situation there is described as “a second- or third-world situation…like a UN refugee camp in Africa.”

But the “dark number” regarding sexual assaults is thought to be “high.”

“It is difficult to bring a refugee woman to make a statement to the police,” states one article on the subject. “There often exists cultural inhibitions or the fear an act of violence could negatively affect their asylum application.”

Women are usually greatly outnumbered by men in the hostels. In one center, of the 600 residents, only 87 are women and 34 are underage girls. Such is their fear, they rarely go out their doors, keeping to themselves. As a result, women refugees often feel like “fair game” for the male residents and of having been “abandoned” to them.

“For many women in their accommodations, it is like a co-ed visiting a men’s prison,” said one woman, a former hostel employee.

In some hostels, men are reported to be “always lying in wait.” One Iranian Christian woman said male residents in her hostel are constantly trying to grab her between the legs or touch her hair, a foreshadowing of the mass sexual assault of women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. And, again, a foreshadowing of what is in store for women once these savages descend in large numbers on all of German society.

A female Russian journalist, who fled to Germany after running afoul of the Putin government, said after living in four different refugee hostels that she “would never have thought such conditions are possible in Germany.”

In one asylum, the violence between two groups of men, she relates, was so severe that “many police came every evening.” She also lived in fear her door could be broken open at any time. Once, conditions were so bad, she did not shower for five days. And women only went to the washroom in pairs.

But it was in the women’s washroom that the Russian journalist witnessed the most “humiliating” occurrence. In three of the hostels, a man was constantly there, as if standing guard, changing his “watch” regularly with others. The intruder may have been charging money to use the facilities, as sometimes happens in refugee centers, although she never had to pay. Nevertheless, she believes these men wanted to show women by their unwanted presence “we despise you, you have nothing to say.”

“I comprehended that this had system,” she said. “…The women there are worth nothing, nothing at all. They are being treated like dogs.”

When the Russian refugee asked one asylum administration why it wasn’t doing anything about the danger women face, she got the impression it was being “silently accepted.” The ten thousand private security men stationed in refugee hostels around Germany are obviously providing insufficient protection. Refugees have also sometimes complained about their behaviour.

Some politicians and German police chiefs, like Wendt, demanded last October, after receiving the initial reports of violence, that religious minorities, women traveling alone and unaccompanied children should have separate accommodations. Which would be the sensible solution. But little has been done despite the federal official’s admission that “abusers have it very easy establishing closeness to women and children and committing acts of sexual violence.”

The reason for such inexcusable, and perhaps criminal, indifference, as for much else that is destroying Western civilization, is ‘political correctness’. By separating the refugees by gender, religion and ethnicity, liberals believe one would already be setting up “parallel societies” in the hostels. As well, separation would represent “a victory” for the Islamists as it repudiates Western values regarding equal treatment, thus hindering integration. Such liberals believe that “intensively religious Muslims must learn to live with other religions.”

Good luck with that.

Incredibly, some liberals have convinced themselves the hostels’ problems are not gender, religion or ethnicity related but rather are owed only to organizational factors like cramped living conditions or better staff training. For example, one woman, who researches gender-specific violence with a German human rights organization, sees no “special connection between the hostels, the residents’ origin and the potential for violence.”

“What happens there also happens to German women outside the accommodations,” she said.

With the existence of such indifferent and shameful attitudes among some of those involved with the hostels, it is not surprising one female observer has concluded that women refugees “have no hope for help and understanding.”

And in their dangerous naivety liberals, as usual, fail to recognize the true reality: Strictly believing Muslims, upon crossing the German border, do not automatically become potential human rights activists who are “suddenly filled with the spirit of Western tolerance.” Instead, they shout out ISIS slogans in the refugee hostels and threaten Shiites with beheadings. Tolerating and respecting women, different ethnic groups and religions is not high on their list of things to do in Germany.

Thus, the real tragedy of the refugee asylums is that people, living human beings, are being heartlessly and needlessly sacrificed on the leftists’ altar of utopian ideas, offerings to their multicultural god. Little account is taken of the naked fear women, children and religious minorities are experiencing. Once again proving that Liberal “humanitarianism” only extends as far as its politically correct beliefs.

Canadian FM outdoes himself

February 23, 2016

Canadian FM outdoes himself, Israel Hayom, Ruthie Blum, February 23, 2016

(Please see also, Abu Mazen rebuffs Kerry’s appeal to cool Palestinian terror against Israelis. – DM)

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion exhibited a real knack for the twofer on Friday, by going after both his political opposition and the Israeli government in one disingenuous swoop.

In perfect doublespeak, Dion managed to announce his (Liberal) party’s support for a Conservative motion condemning the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, while attacking it as an attempt to foment discord in parliament.

The motion to “condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals” to engage in BDS — “the demonization and delegitimization” of Israel — was tabled by Tory MP Tony Clement.

“This is not a partisan issue,” he asserted, urging Liberals to “side with us on this motion. Send a strong message to our fellow Canadians and to freedom-lovers around the world.”

Tory MP David Sweet went even further, calling BDS “anti-Semitic.” Sweet also got up and commended the Liberals for joining in a bipartisan effort to combat it. But this was too much for Dion, who made sure to say that though the Liberals would support the motion, they had “reservations” about it, among them the impure and divisive motives of the Tories in pushing the bill forward.

“To me, this is further proof that the Conservatives have not learned from their mistakes and are still trying to divide Canadians on issues that should unite them,” he said.

Huh?

And then he proceeded to defend not only “freedom of expression,” but BDS as well — at least its supporters whose motives (unlike those of the Tories) are pure.

“Some supporters of the boycott have bad intentions, do not want peace and are working against Israel,” he said. “However, it cannot be denied that many of the boycott supporters are mistaken in good faith. Many organizations and individuals in Canada and abroad support the BDS movement out of the belief that it will somehow accelerate the peace process and be a nonviolent initiative that leads to a lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their goal ultimately is the same as ours: a two-state solution with a secure, stable and democratic Israel, living side-by-side with a secure, stable and democratic Palestinian state. However, they are mistaken in the way this goal may be achieved.”

This is quintessential Dion drivel in its finest. Since the November election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which marked the end of Stephen Harper’s conservative government, Dion has been making it clear in his convoluted way that Israel shares, if not bears, responsibility for the ills befalling it.

The wave of Palestinian terrorism against the Jewish state that surged shortly before Trudeau took office provided Canada’s recently instated top diplomat with the perfect opportunity to show the international community that he — the new peace sheriff in town – grasped this tenet. To illustrate he meant business, Dion promptly took a sharp turn away from his predecessor’s public display of support for Israel as a staunch Western ally, under the same kind of attack at the hands of radical Islamists as the rest of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim world.

The way he did this was to issue a public statement equating Palestinian and Israeli “violence and incitement,” and calling on “both sides” to return to the negotiating table. His timing was impeccable, as an additional heads up about a more harshly worded reprimand to Israel came on the heels of two particularly horrifying stabbing attacks by Palestinian terrorists against two Israeli women — one slashed to death in front of her traumatized teenage daughter, the other wounded while pregnant.

Imagine how painful it must be for him, then, to have to join forces with his enemies at home in countering Israel’s enemies abroad. No need to worry, however. We have not heard the last of Dion, whose ability to distort reality to suit his fantasy may yet surpass that of his counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Fortunately for Israel, Canada has no real power; it has simply become yet another former ally professing to have its best interests at heart.

World Council of Churches Demonizes Israel – Again

February 23, 2016

World Council of Churches Demonizes Israel – Again Does the German Protestant Church Know What It Is Doing?

by Thomas Smith February 23, 2016 at 5:00 am

Source: World Council of Churches Demonizes Israel – Again

  • Usually, in regular Lenten services, solemn memories of divine mercy on the sinners of the world take center stage for Christians. But not in this liturgy. Center stage was instead given to committing a sin of evil speech: launching a lie about an Israeli-made water shortage suffered by Palestinians. The lie is a sin in which all the member churches of the WCC are invited to participate.
  • Those leaders of Protestant churches, turned into political propagandists, used the pulpit of Jerusalem unjustly to call upon the Protestant faithful worldwide to listen to Palestinian water libels against the State of Israel.
  • This liturgy abused the biblical readings as a means of invigorating the equally false Kairos Palestine message, that Israel takes the Land of Palestine and has no right to be where it is.
  • A close look shows no scientific analysis, neither of water distribution nor of water politics for the territories of Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
  • The Palestinians certainly are experiencing a water crisis; the question is to what extent are they themselves are responsible for it, and to what extent are their own leaders responsible for keeping them as victims for effective international “marketing.”

On February 10 (Ash Wednesday in the Western Christian calendar), the Palestinian Lutheran Bishop, Munib Younan, on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC), launched the Lenten Campaign of the Ecumenical Water Network. Entitled “Seven Weeks for Water,” it was presented at the (German) Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Younan — a “yes-signatory/no-signatory” of the infamous document published by Kairos Palestine in 2009 — was flanked by other well-known supporters of Palestinian agitation against Israel:

  • Dr. Antje Jackelen, the Archbishop of Sweden, (another “yes-advocate/no-advocate” of the document)
  • Rev. Dr. Olaf Fykse Tveit, the General Secretary of the WCC (he heads the body that generated Kairos Palestine and continues to be its main sponsor)
  • Mrs. Hind Khoury, the current Secretary General of Kairos Palestine; also a Palestinian economist from Bethlehem and PLO delegate general to France 2006-10)
  • Mr. Dinesh Suna, the Coordinator of the Ecumenical Water Network
The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem, Israel. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

It was an impressive group of seasoned activists for Palestine who gathered for a ten-page prefabricated liturgy during an hour-long church service. The few people in the pews were to be sensitized about an alleged injustice to the Palestinian people: the supposed deprivation of rightful quantities of water by supposedly evil Israelis. In order to bring some action into this otherwise flow of distorted information, each participant got a cross of ash on his forehead — possibly one of the few remnants of the Christian custom of Lent.

In regular Lenten services, for seven weeks until Easter, solemn memories of divine mercy on the sinners of the world take center stage for Christians. But not in this liturgy. Center stage was instead given solemnly to committing a sin of evil speech: launching a lie about an Israeli-made water shortage suffered by Palestinians, a sin that all present were invited to commit daily for the next seven weeks; a sin in which all the member churches of the WCC are invited to participate.

Those leaders of the Protestant churches, turned into political propagandists without even any hindrance, used the pulpit of Jerusalem unjustly to call upon the Protestant faithful worldwide to listen to Palestinian water libels against the State of Israel. This liturgy abused the biblical readings as a means of invigorating the equally false Kairos Palestine message, that Israel takes the Land of Palestine and has no right to be where it is.

The WCC acolytes who gathered at the Redeemer Church are now set up to spread this propaganda through a confusing network of seemingly distinct organizations, all of which turn out — on closer inspection — to be WCC subsidiaries.

Two organizations were highlighted: first, the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP), launched in 2013 at the 10th WCC Assembly in South Korea. The PJP in Jerusalem was accompanied by three strategic support groups: the “Theological Study Group,” the “Reference Group,” and the “International Research Group.” Second, the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN), launched in 2008 as a network of churches and Christian organizations, to keep watch on water access. Although PJP and EWN seem to be two different entities, the WCC’s press center advertised its Seven Weeks for Water campaign as a

“pilgrimage of water justice in the Middle East, with specific reference to Palestine. The Biblico-theological reflections and resources for the seven weeks will be based on the water crisis in Middle East region and take into consideration issues of justice and peace.”

That is, the work of PJP and EWN is closely interlinked. Both groups, in fact, are committed to the Palestinian cause and can be best understood as parts of the WCC-sponsored network that implements the Kairos Palestine agenda.

A close look at the EWN website shows no scientific analysis, neither of water distribution nor of water politics for the territories of Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The EWN material also shows no reference to any of the existing water distribution analyses in Israel (e.g.: here and here). Neither is the well-documented mismanagement of water by the Palestinian Authority mentioned, nor is Israel’s just and generous over-the-quota water support for the PA areas.

The aim of the water campaign clearly appears to spring from an unjust and unsubstantiated discrimination against the State of Israel, as propagated in the Kairos Palestine statement. The intent of launching the Seven Weeks for Water campaign was unashamedly addressed by Tveit in his sermon,

“As the WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is focused on issues of the Middle East, particularly in this year, we hope your stories and struggle for justice and peace will become the stories and struggle for the churches around the world. May this Lenten season help us to reflect on these issues more deeply. May the Seven Weeks for Water during this Lent help us to highlight the water crisis in Palestine and other places in the world in desperate need for more clean water.”

Such Palestinian narratives had been collected, a short time before the services at the Redeemer Church, under the watchful eyes of Bishop Younan, when the “International Research Group” met in Bethlehem. Dinesh Suna wrote on his Facebook page:

“The IRG meeting of the WCC’s Pilgrimage of justice and Peace started today at Bethlehem. To set the tone of the discussion we went to listen to stories of struggle to end occupation of Palestine by Israel. It was quite a touching moment for us to hear these stories…”

Did these people ever meet with Israelis, as well? Did the “International Research Group” ever research the countless academic water analyses, which are freely available on-line? There is no reference that either activity ever took place.

Instead, we are informed, the WCC’s PJP is organizing “two strategically important groups” in “the Holy Land” between February 9-17. One is PJP’s “Theological Study Group” at the Roman Catholic St. Anne’s Church in Jerusalem on February 9-11, “in order to deepen the theology for accompanying PJP.”

The other is PJP’s “Reference Group” in Bethlehem, February 12-17, presumably for parading more “eyewitnesses of the water crisis.” The Palestinians certainly are experiencing a water crisis; the question is, or should be, for their sake, to what extent are they themselves are responsible for it, and to what extent are their own leaders responsible for keeping them as victims to have them appear more wretched for effective international “marketing.”

Tveit and his WCC staff accompany both groups. The point of this money-intensive travel of those well-salaried clergy-cum-politicians is not to solve any misery. Rather, it is, as Tveit sermonized: “we hope your stories and struggle for justice and peace will become the stories and struggle for the churches around the world.”

In short, the WCC invites the Christian world to join in an assault upon the State of Israel. This is the actual underlying message of Kairos Palestine and PJP’s Seven Weeks for Water campaign.

Predictably, WCC’s PJP projects will find any number of young, enthusiastic, uninformed and naive Christian followers to deceive. And the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem is just a perfect location for launching more and more of such initiatives. How curious.

Also curious is that the German Protestant Church, owner of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem, and committed to reconciliation with Israel, seems to tolerate WCC approaches against Israel, under the local auspices of the Palestinian Bishop. Is Bishop Younan just a willing fig leaf for German Protestant Church agitation against Israel? Or does the German Protestant Church not know what is going on in its own church in Jerusalem?

Thomas Smith is a scholar based in the Middle East.

Erdan: IDF plan for peace talks is ‘infuriating’

February 23, 2016

Erdan: IDF plan to beat terror with peace talks is ‘infuriating’ Internal Security Minister discusses IDF Intelligence head’s call for ‘diplomatic process,’ noting periods of peace talks more lethal.

By Ido Ben-Porat

First Publish: 2/23/2016, 3:28 PM

Source: Erdan: IDF plan for peace talks is ‘infuriating’ – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva

Minister Gilad Erdan
Flash 90

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) on Tuesday denied that IDF Intelligence Corps head Maj. Gen. Herzl (Herzi) Halevi told the Security Cabinet the Arab terror wave will expand if peace talks aren’t launched with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Halevi appeared at the Security Cabinet on January 24 together with other senior Intelligence Corps officials to deliver the annual intelligence appraisal for 2016, before delivering it again Tuesday to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to Channel 10 reports on Monday night.

The report alleged that Halevi told the Cabinet a “diplomatic process” with the PA is the only way to stop the terror wave, as he claims the military has largely done all it can. If peace talks are not advanced, he stated additional forces will join the terror wave, including the Tanzim terror group, which is the “armed wing” of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

“I sat in many meetings that he (Halevi) took part in. I never heard him say something like that,” Erdan told Army Radio on Tuesday, denying the reports.

“If something like that was said in a briefing for military correspondents, I think that’s an infuriating statement because we remember the days of a diplomatic process, in which the attacks and the terror were much stronger.”

Erdan’s statement would appear to be a reference to the 1994 Oslo Accords, in which Israel supplied the newly created PA and its Security Forces with weapons. The Accords led to the 2000 Second Intifada or Oslo War, in which over 1,000 Israelis were murdered; PA officials later bragged that 70% of the attacks were conducted by PA Security Force members.

In the current wave as well a number of the terrorist attackers have been identified as PA policemen.

Erdan also spoke about returning the bodies of terrorists, a move he has generally opposed as a deterrence factor so as to avoid massive funerals encouraging more attacks.

“Since our last talk I think one or two bodies were returned. The reason no one heard about it is because the families agreed to cooperate with the police and hold a respectable funeral…not one with incitement or support for the act of terror that the terrorist conducted,” he said.

“We have no interest in holding these bodies, rather (we do it) simply because we are in a wave of terror in which the glorification of the ‘martyr’ and the imitation by his friends is an integral part. We are not prepared for things like this to happen in funerals and possibly even bring about additional attacks.”

Abu Mazen rebuffs Kerry’s appeal to cool Palestinian terror against Israelis

February 23, 2016

Abu Mazen rebuffs Kerry’s appeal to cool Palestinian terror against Israelis, DEBKAfile, February 23, 2016

epa05173718 Visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) speak to each other during their meeting in Amman, Jordan, 21 February 2016. Kerry arrived in Amman on 20 February for an official visit during which he also will meet Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East. EPA/JAMAL NASRALLAH / POOL

epa05173718 Visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) speak to each other during their meeting in Amman, Jordan, 21 February 2016. Kerry arrived in Amman on 20 February for an official visit during which he also will meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East. EPA/JAMAL NASRALLAH / POOL

US Secretary of State John Kerry came away empty-handed from his latest meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in Amman on Sunday, February 21,- which shouldn’t have surprised him as it was par for the course.  DEBKAfile’s Middle Eastern sources report that Kerry was finally persuaded that Abbas would not give Israel an inch on any political or security-related matters. The Palestinian leader has never swerved from his conviction that it was the duty of the international community to force Israel to present the Palestinians with a state of their own – without direct negotiations. 

To this end, Kerry found Abu Mazen clinging to the initiative put forward by French President Francois Hollande, for an international conference that will establish a Palestinian state, while letting the Palestinians off the hook of talks with Israel.

France in fact warned Israel that without progress towards a two-state solution of the conflict, Paris would go ahead and recognize a Palestinian state on its own.

The Palestinian leader is determined to campaign on behalf of the French initiative in the coming month, undeterred by the US Secretary’s repeated warning that Washington will not go along with it, even if France puts it before the UN Security Council.

But Kerry was most of all taken aback to find himself rebuffed by Abu Mazen when he asked him to make a speech or issue some statement calling on the Palestinians to halt their terrorist attacks against Israel now entering their fifth consecutive month. Al his efforts to persuade the Palestinian leader to tamp down the violence were in vain.

A senior member of Kerry’s entourage told DEBKAfile’s sources: “Abbas obviously thinks that terrorism in its present form serves his policy, although he won’t admit as much in public.” The source described the US Secretary’s mood after this encounter as “disappointed and shocked.”

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that Abbas is treading a very fine line. While he finds a measure of violence useful for letting the Palestinians vent their resentments, he nonetheless instructs his security services to partially cooperate with Israel so that Palestinian violence does not get out of hand and make him their next target.

And before him is the constant sight of the consequences of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the rise of Hamas rule. This must be prevented from happening on the West Bank avoided at all costs.

Notwithstanding this reality, the age-old controversy dogging Israeli politics erupted again this week, when the IDF military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, was quoted (or misquoted) as commenting some weeks ago at a security cabinet session that diplomatic traction between Israel and the Palestinians might cool the current wave of terror,

This theory, disproved each time a new round of peace talks sparked a fresh outbreak of Palestinian terror in the last three decades, was strikingly refuted once again in the Kerry-Abbas meeting in Amman.

Recent leaks from Israel’s security cabinet, although often taken out of context, show that intelligence evaluations are too often wide of the mark – both on the Palestinian issue and the prospects of the Syrian conflict.

This may have something to do with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahus delay in appointing a new National Security Council Director to take over from Yossi Cohen who has been appointed Mossad Director.
Netanyahu, it appears, is not happy with the intelligence evaluations put on his table and may decide to dispense with yet another evaluator.

Netanyahu, it appears, is not happy with the intelligence evaluations put on his table and may decide to dispense with yet another evaluator.

Also short on substance were the remarks made by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Feb. 22 from the deck of the American destroyer, the USS Carney, which is anchored at the port of Haifa in the framework of the joint US-Israeli Juniper Cobra 2016 missile defense.

Yaalon said, “The United States and Russia, both of which are currently active in the Syrian civil war, recognize Israel’s freedom to act in defense of its interests.”

While the two powers may indeed recognize this freedom in principle, Israel will be certain to avoid any action that makes it liable to being accused of damaging the chances of a ceasefire going into effect in Syria on Feb. 27. Both the US and Russia will also make sure that no outside power, whether Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Israel, intervenes militarily in the Syrian conflict whatever their security interests may be.

Trump: Israel Is Victim In Conflict With Palestine, If Attacked ‘100% I’d Come to Their Defense’

February 23, 2016

Trump: Israel Is Victim In Conflict With Palestine, If Attacked ‘100% I’d Come to Their Defense’

by Ian Hanchett

23 Feb 2016

Source: Trump: Israel Is Victim In Conflict With Palestine, If Attacked ‘100% I’d Come to Their Defense’ – Breitbart

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that he sees Israel as the victim in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and he would “100%” come to its defense if it was attacked in an interview broadcast on Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Trump was asked about his comments that he would be “neutral” in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and whether he sees “that Israel is the victim in this?” Trump said that he does and that he’s “a great friend of Israel.”

He added that making a deal between Israel and Palestine would be “the ultimate deal” if it was possible, and “I have been told by people, very high level people, it’s impossible, because the hatred, especially on the one side, I won’t even say which side –”

After host Sean Hannity cut in with, “On the Palestinian side.” Trump continued, “is so intense. It’s so incredible, and from the time they’re 2 years old they’re told to hate, to hate, to hate. It’s got to be taken away.”

Trump concluded that if Israel was attacked, “100% I’d come to their defense. 100%. Now, you know that under the Iran deal… but under the Iran deal, if Israel ends up attacks Iran because they’re — they see they’re doing the nuclear, or if it’s the other way around, we have to fight with Iran. By the way, that’s not happening, folks. I don’t care. Deals are meant to be broken in some cases, all right?”

Turn off the lights ! of topic

February 23, 2016

Lights go out on Donald Trump at rally

Published on Feb 21, 2016

Donald Trump doesn’t miss a beat as the lights go out in the middle of the GOP frontrunner’s speech at an Atlanta rally.

They can not get him in a dark corner !

 

 

 

 

IAI awarded two mega contracts

February 23, 2016

IAI becoming industry leader; awarded two mega contracts IAI awarded multimillion dollar contracts from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to build parts for Boeing 777x and Lockheed Martin F-35s.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

First Publish: 2/23/2016, 1:49 PM

Source: IAI awarded two mega contracts – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva

F-35 in flight
Lockheed Martin

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been awarded two new and lucrative contracts, one by Boeing to build the empennage leading edges for the 777X, and one by Lockheed Martin to produce 800 wing sets for the F-35 project.

The Boeing project will see IAI help construct the newest passenger aircraft, the Boeing 777x, which is expected to enter into service in the year 2020. IAI was also awarded an extension of its existing contract for the 777 empennage leading edges which will continue for the duration of the life of the program. These two Boeing contract awards follow hard on the heels of a strategic agreement which was signed by the two companies and will see the pair explore opportunities for additional future contracts that could be worth upwards of several hundred million dollars.

The Lockheed Martin contract to produce more than 800 pairs of F-35 wings for the multinational cooperative F-35 project, is worth a potential value of $2.5 billion that will be spread across the next 10-15 years.

According to two reports by the IsraelDefense website, both Boeing and Lockheed Martin have recognized the value of working with the IAI and developing new systems and technologies in Israel.

“Boeing’s renewed vote of confidence in IAI is an act that cannot be overestimated. Working with the world’s leading aviation giant serves as a stamp of quality for IAI’s technological and aviation capabilities”, said an IAI spokesperson in an interview with IsraelDefense.

With regard to the second contract, “Lockheed Martin recognizes IAI’s commitment to the F-35 program and understands the importance of the quality delivered by the IAI team,” said Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin F-35 program manager.

Joseph (Yossi) Weiss, president and CEO of IAI said in reference to the Lockheed Martin contract that  “the award reflects a strong vote of confidence in IAI’s abilities and commitment to this partnership, part of the development of the most advanced fighter aircraft ever produced. We are extremely proud of this cooperation and believe it will continue to be strengthened in the future.”

IsraelDefense reports that “the IAI currently supplies Boeing with the empennage leading edge for the 777 as well as the pivot bulkhead, passenger floor beams and door surround details for the 787 Dreamliner.”

With regards to the F-35 Wings package, the IAI will be significantly stepping up production to meet the quota following the creation of an automated F-35 wing production line. The automated production line is, according to reports, extremely accurate and ensures protection of the environment during all stages of the production process.

IAI will build the 777X empennage leading edges at its Lod, Israel, manufacturing facility, with the first delivery planned for the second half of 2017. Construction of the 800 F-35 wing sets will span the next 15 years. The wing production center at IAI’s ‘Lahav’ Division also produces wings for the F-16 and T-38 aircraft, as well other aerostructures for other aircraft and customers.

Truce Signed in Syria by Assad Regime, Rebel Forces – Excludes ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Nusra

February 23, 2016

The truce formally begins on Saturday and was agreed upon by Russia and the United States.

By: Hana Levi Julian Published: February 23rd, 2016

Source: The Jewish Press » » Truce Signed in Syria by Assad Regime, Rebel Forces – Excludes ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Nusra

Da’esh (ISIS) fighters seizing control of Deir Ezzor in Syria.
Photo Credit: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

As the gunshots and sounds of mortarfire grow closer to Israeli communities in the Golan Heights, the Syrian regime has signed a truce with representatives of the rebel forces.

The truce, however, excludes Da’esh (ISIS), Al Qaeda and the Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusra Front) terrorist organizations, according to a statement released Tuesday afternoon by the state-run SANA news agency, which raises the issue of how long it will actually last, and how relevant it really is.

“The Syrian Arab Republic accepts the cessation of fighting actions on the basis of continuing the military efforts for combating terrorism against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Jabhat al-Nusra and other al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organizations according to the Russian-U.S. agreement,” said an official source at the Syrian Expatriates and Foreign Ministry.

The military picture in Syria is far from simple.

Both Russia and the U.S.-led coalition are still claiming to be bombing ISIS terror targets in Syria, but one can hardly separate those out from the general population, let alone from other combatants.

The Syrian regime forces include the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist guerrilla fighters and Russian military personnel on the ground and in the air.

The U.S.-led coalition forces in the air have been bombing targets on behalf of the more moderate Syrian opposition forces. But there have been overlaps and on more than one occasion the “moderate” rebels have united with radical Islamists when they deemed necessary to overcome an enemy target. In this way, weapons, ammunition and other foreign ordnance changes hands, and Da’esh (ISIS) and/or Al Qaeda-linked terrorists end up possessing American arms and military technology.

Moreover, Ankara — also a member of NATO along with the United States — has been bombing Kurdish sites in northern Syria, claiming the PYD and PYG groups are related to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group. Turkey alleges the PKK perpetrated last week’s horrific suicide car bombing in the capital city, Ankara, together with a PYD-linked Syrian national.

Regardless of who is dropping the bombs, after five years of one of the most savage civil wars in the Middle East very little is left of the “Syrian Arab Republic” that the world — or President Bashar al-Assad himself — once knew. At present, even the outlying districts of Damascus have been bombed into rubble in many areas, as seen in the video below, filmed by RussiaWorks.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry source noted that the cease-fire is set to begin on Saturday Feb. 27. In order to ensure the success of the cease-fire, “the Syrian government affirms readiness to continue to coordinate with the Russian side for identifying the areas and the armed groups that are to be included in the cessation along the period it is in effect,” the source said.

“The Syrian government stresses the importance of border curbing, halting support provided by some countries to the armed groups, and preventing these organizations from boosting their capabilities or changing their positions so as to avoid anything that may undermine this agreement,” the source warned.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that he and U.S. President Barack Obama had agreed on a joint statement announcing their plans to stop military operations in Syria. The U.S. State Department announced the agreement, which it said includes “plans to stop the military operations in Syria, [but] which exclude the Islamic State (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations.”

Syria backs US & Russia-brokered ceasefire ‘if fight against terrorists continues’

February 23, 2016

Syria backs US & Russia-brokered ceasefire ‘if fight against terrorists continues’

media Published time: 23 Feb, 2016 10:22 Edited time: 23 Feb, 2016 12:39

Source: Syria backs US & Russia-brokered ceasefire ‘if fight against terrorists continues’ – media — RT News

The Syrian government has accepted the terms of a ceasefire deal announced by the US and Russia, a foreign ministry source said, as cited by Sana news agency. But Damascus wants the fight against terrorists such as Islamic State to continue.

The source added that Syrian authorities would coordinate with Russia to decide which groups and areas would be included in the “cessation of hostilities” plan.

Syria said that it was important to seal the borders and halt foreign support for armed groups, as well as to prevent “these organizations from strengthening their capabilities or changing their positions, in order to avoid… wrecking this agreement,” according to the source.

The source added that Syria “affirms readiness to continue to coordinate with the Russian side to identify the areas and armed groups that are to be included in the ceasefire during the period it is in effect.”

READ MORE: Putin: Syrian truce is real chance to end bloodshed

Syria said that it was important to seal the borders and halt foreign support for armed groups, as well as to prevent “these organizations from boosting their capabilities or changing their positions as to avoid anything that may undermine this agreement,” according to the source.

Read more

© Ilya Pitalev

Damascus announced its acceptance of a halt to combat operations on the basis of continuing military efforts to combat terrorism – against Daesh [an Arabic acronym for Islamic State], the Nusra Front, and the other terrorist organizations linked to it and to Al Qaeda, according to the Russian-US plan.

Turkey said it welcomed the ceasefire plans, adding, however, that it is not optimistic about a positive outcome of the talks on a political transition, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said, as cited by Reuters.

On Monday, Russia and the US adopted “Terms for a Cessation of Hostilities in Syria” and proposed that a ceasefire start on Saturday, February 26 at midnight Damascus time.

According to the statement, the truce will “be applied to [all] those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment” to accept its terms. It will exclude Islamic State, the Nusra Front and “other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council.”