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US Secy of State Tillerson Dials Back Position on PA ‘Pay to Slay’ Policy

June 14, 2017
By Hana Levi Julian

21 Sivan 5777 – June 14, 2017

Source: US Secy of State Tillerson Dials Back Position on PA ‘Pay to Slay’ PolicyThe Jewish Press | Hana Levi Julian | 21 Sivan 5777 – June 14, 2017 | JewishPress.com

Photo Credit: US Department of State

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson dialed back his assertion that the Palestinian Authority has “changed their policy” regarding payment of salaries to terrorists and their families during testimony before a committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Tillerson told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the United States is in the middle of an “active discussion” with Ramallah on the issue.

 The statement is a step back from his previous stance, in which he maintained the Palestinian Authority had “changed its policy” of paying monthly sums to families of terrorists convicted and jailed for attacking and killing Israelis — a position he explained to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“They have changed that policy and their intent is to cease the payments to the families of those who have committed murder or violence,” Tillerson said during testimony on Tuesday. “We have been very clear to them that this is simply not acceptable to us. It is certainly not acceptable to the American people.”

The Secretary explained to committee members on Wednesday that assurances were “given to me during the President’s visit to Bethlehem.” He added that he had a certain “window of patience” on the matter but that if it takes too long he “will become disinterested” – which would then be reflected in the amount of US foreign aid to the PA.

The contradictory statements were somewhat confusing, with Tillerson appearing to be personally conflicted himself about what is happening, as opposed to what he believed would be happening, in response to his efforts and those of President Donald Trump to reach out to the PA leadership to create a springboard for new peace talks.

Tillerson’s remarks reflect the deep disappointment that has seeped through the Congress, which is now planning legislation to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if the “pay to slay” policy does not end.

Israeli lawmakers have given preliminary approval to a similar measure that would deduct the amount of those payments from the tax monies collected by the Jewish State on behalf of the Ramallah government, prior to transferring those funds.

Nevertheless, Palestinian Authority Prisoners’ Affairs Commissioner Essa Qaraka said in a statement this week that payments to convicted terrorists and their families, and those of “martyrs” (those killed in attacks on Israelis) will certainly continue, because “almost every other household among the Palestinian people is the family of a prisoner or martyr.”

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Did Loretta Lynch try to protect Clinton?

June 14, 2017

Did Loretta Lynch try to protect Clinton? Fox News via YouTube, June 13, 2017

 

Categories: Clinton investigation, Comey and AG Lynch, Judicial Watch, Loretta Lynch
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The Story : Krauthammer: AG Sessions exposed absurdity of Russia probe : 6/13/2017

June 14, 2017

The Story: Krauthammer: AG Sessions exposed absurdity of Russia probe: 6/13/2017, Fox News via YouTube

 

 

Categories: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Democrat agenda, Great Trump - Russia conspiracy, Sessions' testimony before Senate
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Retired admiral admonishes Trump: You can’t kill your way out of the terrorism problem

June 14, 2017

Retired admiral admonishes Trump: You can’t kill your way out of the terrorism problem, Jihad Watch, , June 14, 2017

Former State Department spokesman John Kirby slammed President Trump on Monday for employing a mostly military approach to combating extremism and radicalism rather than getting at the root causes.

Kirby should try to lecture Israel with his advice about not “killing your way out of terrorism,” in regard to its defensive wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973. Kirby should also consider the war of the Allies against Hitler’s Nazi machine. There is a time and place for just war.

Instead of physical war, Kirby advises using a “multifaceted” strategy and “getting at the root causes of extremism and terrorism,” which he identifies as “poverty and human rights and corruption overseas.” Kirby’s strategy is based on falsehoods: he wrongly assumes that if you somehow fix the problems of poverty and corruption, then you will fix the problem of jihad terror. He refuses to admit that this war is an Islamic jihad against the West, with its justifications rooted in Islamic texts. It has nothing to do with anything else but conquering the infidel. Poverty and corruption are extraneous issues.

A better multifaceted approach to jihad terror in addition to the physical war would involve a  tougher immigration policy, which Trump is trying to implement, as well as monitoring the preaching in mosques: far too many have been spreading hate and jihadist messages. It would also involve cracking down on organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Retired admiral: You can’t kill your way out of a terrorism problem”, by Olivia Beavers, The Hill,  June 12, 2017:

Former State Department spokesman John Kirby slammed President Trump on Monday for employing a mostly military approach to combating extremism and radicalism rather than getting at the root causes.

“You cannot kill your way out of a terrorism problem,” Kirby said on CNN’s “New Day.” “We can hit these guys as often as we want and as aggressively as we want, but we are never going to kill the problem of terrorism.”

Kirby said the president and his team primarily speak about terrorism in “very aggressive, military terms.”

“But when you listen to President Trump and his surrogates talk about terrorism, and the threat — and the very real threat that it poses, you hear that talk about it almost in purely militaristic terms — in very aggressive, military terms,” the retired Navy rear admiral said.

“And I don’t see a comprehensive, cohesive, you know, multifaceted strategy in the works right now,” Kirby added.

Kirby said the White House is only talking minimally about how to get to the root causes of why people radicalize.

“There’s very little discussion about getting at the root causes of extremism and terrorism — working on issues of poverty and human rights and corruption overseas — and that’s a real problem here, because this is a generational conflict.”

The former State Department spokesman said the fight against terrorism is going to continue “for a much longer time.”

“We’ve been at this now for at least 16 years — very aggressively on the ground. We are going to be at it for a much longer time.”

Trump signed a memorandum in January giving military leaders 30 days to come up with “comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS.”……

Categories: Islam - causes of terrorism, Jobs for jihadists, John Kirby
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Baseball Shooter a Big Wake-Up Call for the Left

June 14, 2017

Baseball Shooter a Big Wake-Up Call for the Left, PJ Media, Roger L Simon, June 14, 2017

(This can’t be correct. The Lamebrain Media keep telling us that Trump is the source of all hatred and violence. — DM)

It couldn’t be more obvious that highly-disturbed individuals such as the deranged gunman using baseball-playing Republican congressmen for target practice on Wednesday can come from all political, ethnic, racial and religious categories; nevertheless, it’s high time for some introspection from the left.  This should be a wake up call for them.  Indeed, for the sake of our country, it had better be.

This man came from the extreme end of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but he didn’t emerge entirely by himself.  He came from a petri dish that are all submerged in, nurturing hate as never before in most of our lifetimes.

We need look no further than yesterday’s grilling of Jeff Sessions by the Senate Intelligence Committee.  This investigation is putatively about Russian interference in our election, but we learn nothing about that.  Not a thing.  In fact, it’s barely mentioned.  The entire event is used as a means to “get Trump” and/or his associates.  Senators like Heinrich ooze hate, obviously playing to a likeminded crowd.  It is indeed a “witch hunt” and any reader of The Crucible knows where that leads.

Meanwhile, just this past weekend, here in Los Angeles we had our annual Gay Pride celebration.  But it didn’t seem to about pride at all, only about unremitting attacks on our president (and by implication anyone Republican), as if everyone in the streets would have been delighted to see a replay of Kathy Griffin’s nauseating decapitation or the denouement of the current Shakespeare-in-the-Park production where a Trump/Caesar is beheaded nightly (Ironically, Trump was on record for gay marriage long before Clinton or Obama, but facts mean nothing to the pussy-hatted.)

And then there were the wild accusations of anti-Semitism when nearly half of Trump’s family is Jewish and – as it turned out – of the few such incidents that occurred since his inauguration none were committed by his supporters. In fact, they all came from the left.  This was, of course, barely reported.  It didn’t fit the narrative of hate.

And this is to omit the most horrifying examples of all – the absolutely despicable behavior toward conservatives on our campuses.  It’s like the return of the Brown Shirts.

Sense a pattern?

I used to be on the left and remember well the incantations of “by any means necessary” or the “ends justify the means.”  No, they don’t. The means become the ends.

Robespierre is alive and well in 2017 USA.

This pathetic character in Alexandria is, now was, the left’s ungoverned id.  By any means necessary – that’s for sure. They will undoubtedly try to shove him under the rug as quickly as possible, just one more aberrant individual to be forgotten, just one obscure Bernie volunteer gone bad. Sanders did his best to separate himself within minutes of the revelation.  Yes, it’s undoubtedly true that this was just one rotten apple, but it’s also true that only five years ago Bernie was recommending Venezuela  – now ground zero for starvation, kidnapping and murder – as a path for us to emulate.

Something has gone wrong here — deeply wrong.

Categories: Democrats and Trump, Hate from the left
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No Allah in London or Orlando

June 14, 2017

No Allah in London or Orlando, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield, June 14, 2017

“In the name of Allah, the merciful,” Omar Mateen told the police. “Praise be to Allah, and prayers as well as peace upon the prophet of Allah. I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.”

Allah is missing from the hundreds of media stories about the Pulse attack which all mention homophobia. But Omar never spoke of gay people during his talks with police. He called himself an “Islamic soldier” and described the attack as revenge for the death of Abu Waheed; a senior ISIS leader.

The media accounts ignore the actual Islamic motive of the attack and they substitute an imaginary one. Reducing the Pulse attack to homophobia because the target was a gay bar is as misleading as treating 9/11 as an attack on the financial services industry. The victims were targeted because of what they weren’t, not because of what they were. They were murdered because they were non-Muslims.

The Washington Post managed to do an extensive article on the Pulse attack without ever mentioning Omar’s name or Islam.  The Orlando Sentinel headlined its coverage as, “Pulse gunman’s motive: Plenty of theories, but few answers”. The Daily News also wants to know, “What was Mateen’s full motive?”

A year later, it’s still unclear what the motive that the terrorist stated at length might actually be. After an initial attempt at censorship, the full transcripts of Omar Mateen’s conversations were released.

And they changed absolutely nothing. Instead the media doubled down on the whitewashing.

The most extensive connection between the Pulse attack and Islam comes from a USA Today network local paper which claims that the Islamic terrorist attack created “a culture of fear of Muslims” who “fear for their lives”.

Muslims never exist as perpetrators. Only as victims.

Another USA Today local paper has a feature story about a Muslim who spent more time going to Omar’s mosque which, besides Omar, had already been linked to another Islamic terrorist.

It’s not just the Pulse attack in America. The situation is even worse in the UK.

When a nursery worker was attacked in the UK by Muslim women shouting, “Allah will get you”, slashed with a knife, kicked and punched, the BBC carefully trimmed out the Allah part.

No Allah please, we’re British.

In the London attack, three Muslims shouted, “This is for Allah” and “This is for Islam”. Meanwhile a man hiding from the attackers was lectured, “It’s not Muslims”. In North London, a man shouting, “Allah, Allah. I’m going to kill you all” in a Jewish neighborhood was blamed on mental illness.

Commander Mak Chishty, who heads outreach for the London Metropolitan Police, read a statement from Muslim community groups claiming that terrorism “masquerades as Islam.”

And it’s been carrying on this brilliant masquerade ever since the days of its murderous founder.

Allah is that unique deity whose designs are every bit as mysterious as having a knife shoved in your chest. Allah’s followers take great pains to communicate the link between the knife and Allah in extremely obvious ways such as shouting, “This is for Allah” and “Allah will get you” while stabbing you.

And they still continue to be tragically misunderstood.

Omar Mateen declared that he had killed 49 people in “the name of Allah”. But the search for his real motive is still ongoing a year later.

HRC, the country’s biggest gay rights lobby, featured “Ramadan reflections”. A sensible Ramadan reflection might have noted the link between Ramadan and Islamic terror. The Islamic State had urged Ramadan attacks calling it, “the month of conquest and jihad.” Instead HRC celebrated Ramadan; the reason for the season that massacred the patrons of a gay bar.

It even ran a post suggesting that “Each of Us Is A Door to Allah”.

Omar Mateen opened a door to Allah and to the Pulse nightclub on June 11, 2016. The door to Allah in Orlando stayed open for three hours. It closed only when a SWAT team took him down.

Doors to Allah keep opening up all over the world. And bodies fall through them. When you hear shouts of “Allahu Akbar” followed by screams of pain, you know that a door to Allah just opened near you.

On 9/11, several doors to Allah opened. The passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 forced their particular door to Allah shut with their bodies. The last sounds on the plane’s flight recorder are, “Allahu Akbar”.  In Fort Hood, Nidal Hasan opened a door to Allah and shouting, “Allahu Akbar” began his killing spree. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev opened his door to Allah on his computer. His password was “Allahu Akbar 1”.

Allahu Akbar is a little too obscure for most non-Muslims. So to clarify things, Muslim attackers have begun to yell things like “This is for Allah” and “This is for Islam” assuming that can’t be misinterpreted.

But of course it can be and will be.

HRC links the Pulse attack to transgender bathrooms and gun control. It signed on to a statement which links the attack to claims that a “backlash against the American Muslim community led to hate speech and violence, shootings, and mosque vandalism that claimed even more victims”.

And so a year later the only suspects in the Pulse attack are abstractions like “gun violence”, “mass shootings” and “bigotry”. No amounts of confessions and definitive statements are ever enough.

Muslim terrorists continue to be very clear about their motives. Our authorities continue to be hopelessly obscure about theirs. Allah is mistranslated as god. Or it’s left out entirely. And tired of being misunderstood, Islamic terrorists will seek some further way to clarify what they are doing and why.

It’s hard to see how they can get any more obvious than “This is for Islam”, but no doubt we’ll find out.

Meanwhile from London to Orlando, there will be the usual tired narrative of vigils against a vague “hate” and for an even vaguer “love”. We will be told to celebrate the diversity of the victims while ignoring the uniformity of the killers. There will be renewed calls for bans on guns and knives. And then perhaps cars. A mythical Muslim backlash will be bemoaned and Muslims will be inducted in as victims.

And then another attack will follow. And another one. And another one after that.

All these attacks will have a common Allah denominator. From Orlando to London, these Islamic terrorist attacks are being carried out for Allah. They are being committed as part of a religious mission.

When the Times Square bomber was being sentenced, Judge Miriam Goldman-Cedarbaum lectured him, “I do hope that you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people.”

The Muslim terrorist’s reply was straightforward. “This is but one life,” he said. “If I am given a thousand lives, I will sacrifice them all for the sake of Allah, fighting this cause, defending our lands, making the word of Allah supreme over any religion or system.”

These words didn’t come from a YouTube video. They were a paraphrase of the Koran.

Muslim terrorists don’t have to think about whether the Koran wants them to kill a lot of people. They just have to read it. They know what Allah and the Koran want of them. Our leaders choose not to know.

There’s no Allah in London or Orlando. Just mysterious deaths whose motives remain a mystery.

Categories: Media and Islamist terror, Terrorist attacks in the name of Allah have nothing to do with Islam
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A Replacement of Population is Taking Place in Europe

June 14, 2017

A Replacement of Population is Taking Place in Europe, Gatestone Institute, Giulio Meotti, June 14, 2017

People-smugglers bring the migrants to the NGOs’ ships, which then reach Italian seaports. Another legal enquiry has been opened about the mafia’s economic interests in managing the migrants after their arrival.

One cannot compare the migrants to the Jews fleeing Nazism. Pope Francis, for example, recently compared the migrants’ centers to Nazi “concentration camps”. Where are the gas chambers, medical “experiments,” crematoria, slave labor, forced marches and firing squads? These comparisons are spread by the media for a precise reason: shutting down the debate.

By 2065, it is expected that 14.4 million migrants will arrive. Added to the more than five million immigrants currently in Italy, 37% of the population is expected to be foreigners: more than one out of every three inhabitants.

First, it was the Hungarian route. Then it was the Balkan route. Now Italy is the epicenter of this demographic earthquake, and it has become Europe’s soft underbelly as hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive.

With nearly 10,000 arrivals in one recent three-day period, the number of migrants in 2017 exceeded 60,000 — 48% more than the same period last year, when they were 40,000. Over Easter weekend a record 8,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean and brought to Italy. And that is just the tip of the iceberg: during the summer, the number of arrivals from Libya will only increase.

A wooden boat carrying migrants waits to be escorted to the Topaz Responder vessel, as members of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station make a rescue at sea on November 21, 2016 in Pozzollo, Italy. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A replacement of population is under way in Italy. But if you open the mainstream newspapers, you barely find these figures. No television station has dedicated any time to what is happening. No criticism is allowed. The invasion is considered a done deal.

In 2016, 176,554 migrants landed in Italy — an eight-fold increase since 2014. In 2015, there were 103,792. In 2014, there were 66,066. In 2013, there were just 22,118. In the last four years, 427,000 migrants reached Italy. In only the first five months of this year, 2017, Italy received 10% of the total number of migrants of the last four years.

There are days when the Italian navy and coast guard rescue 1,700 migrants in 24 hours. The country is exhausted. There are Italian villages where one-tenth of the population is already made up of new migrants. We are talking about small towns of 220 residents and 40 migrants.

One of the major aspects of this demographic revolution is that it is taking place in a country which is dramatically aging. According with a new report from the Italian Office of Statistics, Italy’s population will fall to 53.7 million in half a century — a loss of seven million people. Italy, which has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, will lose between 600,000 to 800,000 citizens every year. Immigrants will number more than 14 million, about one-fourth of the total population. But in the most pessimistic scenario, the Italian population could drop to 46 million, a loss of 14 million people.

In 2050, a third of Italy’s population will be made up of foreigners, according to a UN report, “Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Decline and Aging Populations“, which designs a cultural melting-pot that could explode in cultural and social tensions. The level of arrivals will fall from 300,000 to 270,000 individuals per year by 2065; during the same period, it is expected that 14.4 million people will arrive. Added to the more than five million immigrants currently in Italy, 37% of the population is expected to be foreigners: more than one out of every three inhabitants.

In addition, the humanitarian-aid system has been hit by new scandals. “The investigative hypothesis to be verified is that subjects linked to ISIS act as logistical support to migration flows”, was a warning just delivered in front of the Schengen Committee, to the Italian anti-mafia and counterterrorism prosecutor, Franco Roberti. There are now judges investigating the connection between the migrants’ smugglers in North Africa and the Italian NGOs rescuing them in the Mediterranean. People-smugglers bring the migrants to the NGOs’ ships, which then reach Italian seaports. Another legal enquiry has been opened about the mafia’s economic interests in managing the migrants after their arrival.

Only 2.65 percent of those migrants who arrived in Italy were granted asylum as genuine refugees, according to the United Nations. The other people are apparently not fleeing wars and genocide. Yet, despite all this evidence, one cannot compare the migrants to the Jews fleeing Nazism. Pope Francis, for example, recently compared the migrants’ centers to Nazi “concentration camps“. One wonders where are the gas chambers, medical “experiments,” crematoria, slave labor, forced marches and firing squads. Italian newspapers are now running articles about the “Mediterranean Holocaust“, comparing the migrants dead by trying to reach the southern of Italy to the Jews gassed in Auschwitz. Another journalist, Gad Lerner, to support the migrants, described their condition with the same word coined by the Nazis against the Jews: untermensch, inferior human beings. These comparisons are spread by the media for a precise reason: shutting down the debate.

To understand how shameful these comparisons are, we have to take a look at the cost of every migrant to Italy’s treasury. Immigrants, once registered, receive a monthly income of 900 euros per month (30 euros per day for personal expenses). Another 900 euros go to the Italians who house them. And 600 euros are needed to cover insurance costs. Overall, every immigrant costs to Italy 2,400 euros a month. A policeman earns half of that sum. And a naval volunteer who saves the migrants receives a stipend of 900 euros a month. Were the Nazis so kind with their Jewish untermenschen?

The cost of migrants on Italy’s public finances is already immense and it will destroy the possibility of any economic growth. “The overall impact on the Italian budget for migrant spending is currently quantified at 2.6 billion [euros] for 2015, expected to be 3.3 billion for 2016 and 4.2 for 2017, in a constant scenario”, explains the Ministry of the Economy. If one wants to put this in proportion, these numbers give a clearer idea of how much Italy is spending in this crisis: in 2017, the government is spending 1.9 billion euros for pensions, but 4.2 billion euros for migrants, and 4.5 billion euros for the national housing plan against 4.2 billion euros for migrants.

The Italian cultural establishment is now totally focused on supporting this mass migration. The Italian film nominated at the Academy Awards last year is Fire at Sea, in which the main character is a doctor treating the migrants upon their arrival. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi carried with him 27 DVDs of the film to a session of the European Council. Italy’s commercial television channels produced many television programs about the migrants, such as “Lampedusa“, from the name of the Italian island. 100,000 Italians even took the streets of Milan for a “rally of solidarity” with the migrants. What “solidarity” can there be if half a million people have been rescued by the Italian government and the whole country seems determined to open its doors to all of North Africa?

Winston Churchill was convinced that the Mediterranean was the “soft underbelly” of Hitler’s Europe. It has now become the soft underbelly of Europe’s transformation into Eurabia.

Categories: Europe, Mafia, Population replacement
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How to Send the Wrong Message to Palestinians

June 14, 2017

by Bassam Tawil
June 13, 2017 at 5:00 am

Source: How to Send the Wrong Message to Palestinians

  • In the eyes of many Arabs and Muslims, Trump is no longer the strong leader they feared a few months ago. Rather, he has proven to them that he too is susceptible to blackmail and intimidation. And when Trump caves, US credibility suffers. Had Trump gone ahead and fulfilled his promise to move the embassy, he would have earned the respect of many Arabs and Muslims, who would have looked to him as a proper leader.
  • A further point ought to be of extreme interest to the US: When the Palestinians and Arabs talk about the possibility that such a move would “harm” US interests in the region and “trigger violence and bloodshed,” they are actually threatening to launch terror attacks against American nationals and interests. That is why Trump’s recent decision not to move the embassy to Jerusalem is being understood in the Arab world as surrender to terrorism.
  • Consider what happened when Trump recently ordered a missile attack on Syria. Many Arabs and Muslims took to social media to heap praise on Trump for displaying courage. If and when Trump honors his promises, he will earn even more respect in the Arab and Islamic countries.

US President Donald J. Trump’s waiver delaying the relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem accomplishes two things.

First, it disappoints many Israelis for failing to fulfill his pre-election promise. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it has sent precisely the wrong message to the Palestinians. What the Palestinians and other Arabs heard in this message is that the US president folds under pressure and threats.

This message of weakness and retreat harms not only Trump’s credibility, but also that of the US by making it appear a country that caves under threats of violence.

In general, it is Trump’s presentation of power that garners respect among many Palestinians and Arabs. The Arabs admire and respect such figures because they have been ruled for decades by ruthless tyrants and dictators such as Saddam Hussein. But the Arabs also respect leaders who keep their promises, even if they disagree with and oppose those promises.

Trump’s decision to delay the relocation of the US embassy came after repeated threats by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and some Arabs that such a move would “plunge the entire region into violence and bloodshed.” These threats began during Trump’s election campaign and escalated after he entered the White House.

President Donald Trump’s decision to delay the relocation of the US embassy in Israel (pictured) from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem came after repeated threats by the Palestinian Authority that such a move would “plunge the entire region into violence and bloodshed.” (Image source: Krokodyl/Wikimedia Commons)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his cohorts in Ramallah spearheaded the campaign of threats and intimidation. They even went as far as threatening to revoke their recognition of Israel’s right to exist if Trump dared to fulfill his promise.

Last January, Abbas was quoted as saying that the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem would prompt the Palestinians to withdraw their recognition of Israel.

“I wrote a letter to President Trump urging him to refrain from such a move. I made it clear to him that such a move would not only deprive the US of playing any legitimate role in solving the conflict, but would also destroy the two-state solution.”

Abbas’s mufti, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, warned Trump that transferring the embassy to Jerusalem would be seen as an “aggression not only against the Palestinians, but against all Arabs and Muslims as well.” PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat joined the chorus of threats by warning Trump that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would “plunge the Middle East into violence and chaos.”

The Palestinian threats were accompanied by threats from some Arab governments and Islamic clerics. They too warned Trump that the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem would trigger a wave of violence and jeopardize US interests in the Middle East. The former mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Jum’ah, said that moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would “constitute a grave escalation and threaten US interests in the region.” Another leading Egyptian Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ibahim Reda, warned that such a move would “trigger a wave of tensions in the region and constitute an aggression against Arabs and Muslims.”

Such threats on the part of Palestinians are nothing new. In fact, Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues issue similar “warnings” whenever they do not get what they want. This is one of their favored tactics against Israel.

For example, the Palestinians used to warn that Israel’s construction of the security barrier in the West Bank would result in violence and anarchy. In reality, however, the security barrier has led to exactly opposite; it has halted suicide bombings against Israel, and saved the lives not only of Jews, but also Arabs who were killed in the wave of terrorism waged by the Palestinians during the Second Intifada.

“Palestinians warn” is one of the most popular results on Google Search.

More recently, for example, the Palestinians “warned” Israel against introducing a new curriculum for Arab schools in Jerusalem by claiming this would lead to the “Judaization” and “Israelization” of Jerusalem.

Last month, the Palestinians came out with another “warning” — this time, that if Israel does not comply with the demands of Palestinian prisoners who went on hunger strike, there would be a “new intifada.”

After 40 days of the hunger strike, the prisoners backtracked and ended their fast — although most of their demands were not met by Israel.

All this is added to the daily threats Abbas and many Palestinians have been making for the past two years regarding visits by Jews to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Hardly a day passes without another threat being issued by the Palestinians about these visits.

The Palestinians work hard to convince the world that routine and peaceful tours of Jewish groups and individuals to the Temple Mount are part of an Israeli “conspiracy” to destroy the Aqsa Mosque and “defile” Islamic religious sites. They have also been warning that the visits would trigger a “religious war” between Jews and Muslims and lead to a “big explosion” and an “earthquake” in the Middle East.

True, the Palestinian incitement over the Temple Mount visits has resulted in a wave of knife and car ramming attacks against Israelis, but no “religious war” has erupted and the Arab and Islamic countries do not seem overly concerned about Jewish visits to the Temple Mount.

These visits, by the way, have been taking place since 1967. The visits were suspended temporarily during the Second Intifada for security reasons, and were resumed about two years ago. It is also worth noting that Christian tourists also continue to tour the holy site — something that does not seem to bother Abbas and his PA friends.

Israel, for its part, has learned to live with the incessant Palestinian threats and warnings. But the international community continues to take these threats seriously, ignoring the fact that by doing so they are constantly sending the wrong message to the Palestinians. Surrendering to threats of violence only emboldens the extremists and paves the way for more violence and bloodshed.

How moving the US embassy to Jerusalem “destroys” the so-called two-state solution is rather a mystery.

If and when the US embassy is moved from Tel Aviv, it will be set up in the western part of the city and not in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians are demanding as their future capital. Only one thing can be inferred from this — that the Palestinians also see the western part of Jerusalem too as part of their future capital.

The Palestinian and Arab threats of violence and chaos in the region sound laughable given the current state of affairs in many Arab countries, including Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya, where Muslims have been slaughtering each other — and Christians — for the past six years.

The turmoil in the Arab world — including the recent tensions surrounding Qatar — is completely unrelated to US policies in particular, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general. Despite the myopia of Arab leaders and Islamic clerics, blood is already spilled at a rather alarming rate in the Arab countries.

The killings in Syria, Iraq and Libya will continue, regardless of whether Trump moves the US embassy to Jerusalem or not.

A further point ought to be of extreme interest to the US: When the Palestinians and Arabs talk about the possibility that such a move would “harm” US interests in the region and “trigger violence and bloodshed,” they are actually threatening to launch terror attacks against American nationals and interests.

That is why Trump’s recent decision not to move the embassy to Jerusalem is being understood in the Arab world as a surrender to terrorism.

From the Arab world’s point of view, it shows the US as cowing under the threat of violence.

Does anyone seriously believe that the leaders of the Arab and Islamic countries really care whether the embassy is located in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv? Don’t these leaders have enough to worry about, such as the Iranian threat to undermine the stability of their regimes and the threat of Islamic terrorism?

Does anyone seriously believe that the Arab and Muslim masses, who have to deal with massive unemployment, dictatorships and terrorism, really care whether the US embassy moves from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?

The Palestinians were hoping that the Arab and Muslim masses would erupt over the Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, but most Arabs and Muslims remain indifferent. In fact, the Arabs and Muslims do not really care about the Palestinians; they have long turned their backs on their Palestinian brothers, who are today almost entirely dependent on American and European funding.

Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will not lead to more anarchy. Christians in Egypt and Iraq are not being killed because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Syrians are not being systematically slaughtered because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Islamic State terror group is not butchering innocent civilians in the Arab world and some Western countries because it is upset with Jewish visits to the Temple Mount or settlement construction.

Palestinians and Arabs heaved a sigh of relief upon learning of Trump’s decision to delay the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem. They are now rubbing their hands in satisfaction and saying to themselves that threats of violence work because even someone like Trump will succumb.

In the eyes of many Arabs and Muslims, Trump is no longer the strong leader they feared a few months ago. Rather, he has proven to them that he too is susceptible to blackmail and intimidation. And when Trump caves, US credibility suffers. Had Trump gone ahead and fulfilled his promise to move the embassy, he would have earned the respect of many Arabs and Muslims, who would have looked to him as a proper leader.

Consider what happened when Trump recently ordered a missile attack on Syria, in response to the regime’s continued killing of innocent civilians, including the use of poison gas. Many Arabs and Muslims took to social media to heap praise on Trump for displaying courage. If and when Trump honors his promises, he will earn even more respect in the Arab and Islamic countries.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim based in the Middle East.

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PA official denies halt of payments to terrorists’ families

June 14, 2017

Issa Karaka, the head of Prisoner Affairs at the Palestinian Authority calls demand by the US administration ‘a declaration of war against Abbas and the PA’; bill to deduct funds PA pays terrorists from tax money Israel collects from Palestinians advances in Knesset.

Elior Levy|Published:  14.06.17 , 14:06

Source: Ynetnews News – PA official denies halt of payments to terrorists’ families

The head of Prisoner Affairs at the Palestinian Authority, Issa Karaka, denied on Wednesday a claim by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the PA has stopped paying salaries to families of terrorists.

In a hearing at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Tillerson said both he and Trump had directly discussed this with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and that he had received a report saying the Palestinians “have changed that policy and their intent is to cease the payments to the families of those who have committed murder or violence against others.”

Karaka dubbed such a demand as “a declaration of war” against Abbas and “an invitation for the dismantlement of the Palestinian Authority.”

 
Issa Karaka

He claimed it “would not lead to stability and would not serve a peace process in the region.”

Karaka explained this is an issue that touches almost every Palestinian family in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. “The Palestinian society is made up entirely of families of prisoners and shahids, and they are all victims because of the Israeli occupation,” he said. “This demand to stop payments for prisoners’ families is no small matter, but something very big with social ramifications.”

Karaka said noted that even if Abbas wanted to halt payments to prisoners, he would not be able to withstand the public outcry such a move would cause.

“No one in the Palestinian Authority could make such a move,” he asserted. “It would be very difficult for the Palestinian Authority to stop the humanitarian aid to the families of prisoners and shahids.”

Karaka confirmed the PA did stop payments to over 200 released Hamas prisoners, some of whom were freed as part of the 2011 Shalit prisoner exchange deal, but noted this “had nothing to do with Tillerson’s demand. It was done due to a dispute between the PA and Hamas.”

An Israeli government official also rejected Tillerson’s claim, saying “The PA continues paying terrorists’ families and continues praising, inciting and encouraging terrorism using those payments.”

Meanwhile, a bill proposal passed in preliminary reading in the Knesset on Wednesday calling to deduct the sums the PA pays terrorists from the tax money Israel collects from the Palestinians. Forty-eight MKs voted in favor and 13 opposed.

“When the Palestinian Authority allocates funds, by law, to terrorists and their families, it promotes a policy of murder of Israelis. Budgeting terrorism is a clear political move, which is not in line with the peace process,” said MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), who proposed the legislation.

 

 

 

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Israel: Tillerson wrong, Palestinian Authority still paying jailed terrorists

June 14, 2017

Source: Israel: Tillerson wrong, Palestinian Authority still paying jailed terrorists – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post

ByHerb Keinon
June 14, 2017 10:13
“Israel knows of no change in the Palestinian policy, which is to continue to pay the families of terrorists,” a senior diplomatic source said.
Rex Tillerson

Rex Tillerson. (photo credit:REUTERS)

“Israel knows of no change in the Palestinian policy, which is to continue to pay the families of terrorists,” a senior diplomatic source said. “The Palestinian Authority continues to praise, incite and encourage terrorism with these payments.”

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Senate Intelligence Committee that President Donald Trump raised this issue with PA President Mahmoud Abbas when the latter was in Washington in May. Tillerson said that he himself pressed the issue even more so when he met Abbas that same day.

“I told him, you absolutely must stop making payments to family members of, quote, ‘martyrs’,”  Tillerson said. “I said, it’s one thing to help orphans and children. But when you designate the payment for that act, that has to stop.”

Tillerson continued: “They have changed their policy – at least I have been informed they’ve changed that policy – and they are, their intent is to cease the payments to the family members of those who have committed murder or violence against others.”

Tillerson said these payments are not acceptable to the administration, and “certainly not acceptable to the American people.” Tillerson was asked about the matter by Idaho’s republican Senator Jim Risch.

 

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