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Report: Palestinians to Give US Ultimatum on Peace Process

August 23, 2017

The Palestinians are threatening diplomatic warfare if the US does not give in to their demands.

Source: Report: Palestinians to Give US Ultimatum on Peace Process | United with Israel

 

The Palestinians are threatening diplomatic warfare if the US does not give in to their demands.

The Palestinians have decided to present President Donald Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, with an ultimatum at their upcoming meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the end of the month.

The Palestinian ultimatum states that unless progress is made within 45 days on launching talks with the Israelis, the Palestinians will consider themselves no longer committed to the US mediation and will turn to an alternative plan to push for unilateral United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state.

A senior Palestinian source told Shlomi Eldar, a senior Palestinian affairs reporter writing for Al-Monitor, that Abbas is running out of the time he has to govern and cannot waste it on “games.”

Abbas is demanding that Trump publicly declare that the US regards the two-state solution as the only solution and that he insist Israel “stop creating facts on the ground” through construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Trump has said he would accept any solution that would resolve the conflict. “Looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like,” he said in February, at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.

“If we don’t hear within a month and a half that the American team has stopped talking and started doing, Abbas intends to mobilize anyone and everyone he can for the UN General Assembly session on the establishment of a Palestinian state, regardless of the Israeli and American reactions,” the official told Al-Monitor.

Abbas expressed frustration with the US on Sunday, saying he has met with the American representatives 20 times since Trump took office in January but still had no clear vision of what peace plan they had in mind.

“I don’t understand their conduct toward us, as inside his country the administration is in chaos,” Abbas was quoted as saying.

The Palestinian official who spoke with Al-Monitor said that even though the PA’s belligerent course of action could result in serious damage to its relationship with Washington, these were not empty threats and the ultimatum to the US had been carefully considered.

By: United with Israel Staff

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Phoenix Becomes Illegal Alien Sanctuary after Leftist Group Orders it in Private Meeting with Police Chief

August 23, 2017

Phoenix Becomes Illegal Alien Sanctuary after Leftist Group Orders it in Private Meeting with Police Chief, Judicial Watch, August 22, 2017

Arizona’s largest city recently became a sanctuary for illegal aliens after its police chief held a private meeting with a leftist group that demanded a change in immigration enforcement policies, records obtained by Judicial Watch show. The closed-door session between Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams and Will Goana, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona, occurred just weeks before the Phoenix Police Department quietly implemented a new policy banning officers from contacting the feds after arresting an illegal alien and forbidding them from asking about suspects’ immigration status. The new order violates key provisions of a state law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and leaves the city vulnerable to costly lawsuits.

Judicial Watch exposed the abrupt policy revision last month after obtaining a copy of the Phoenix Police Department’s new sanctuary Immigration Procedures and filed a public records request to uncover the steps that led to the change. Law enforcement sources told Judicial Watch in July that the revisions were crafted by a Hispanic advisory committee that promotes open borders with the backing of the influential ACLU. It appears to be part of a broader scheme to dodge federal immigration laws in Arizona’s most populous county. Earlier this year Judicial Watch reported that the newly elected sheriff in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, was releasing hundreds of criminal illegal immigrants—including violent offenders—from county jail facilities to protect them from deportation.

The new records obtained by Judicial Watch show that an ACLU offshoot known as People Power attempted to meet with Williams, who became chief on October 28, 2016, on April 19, 2017 to order the policy change. It’s not clear if that meeting took place, but it appears that it did not and People Power called in the big guns at the ACLU. That’s when Goana, who also lobbies the Arizona legislature on civil liberties issues, met privately with the chief, on May 9, according to the records. People Power reps followed up with a meeting request on May 16 to discuss the Phoenix Police Department’s immigration policy changes with Chief Williams, the records show. The meeting occurred on June 9, about a week after Phoenix City Manager Ed Zuercher met with People Power and gave the group a glowing review. In his assessment, the city manager describes the leftist group as “one of the most reasonable groups I’ve talked with” and says it consisted of “a former high school teacher, a magazine editor, 2 attys, a massage therapist, and two Hispanic advocates who I’ve never seen before.” On June 29, Chief Williams had a follow-up meeting with the ACLU and People Power regarding the changes to the immigration policy, the records show.

People Power was launched by the ACLU as a direct response to the “Trump administration’s attacks on civil liberties and civil rights.” It recruits local activists to pressure law enforcement and elected officials to commit to the following demands: Not ask people about immigration status; Decline to engage in the enforcement of immigration law; Refuse to detain immigrants on behalf of the federal government unless there is a warrant signed by a judge. Thanks in large part to the group’s efforts, the 3,000 officers in the Phoenix Police Department have been stripped of discretion from addressing the crime of illegal immigration or using sound judgement when it involves suspects thought to be in the U.S. illegally. No other federal crime in department policy has those restrictions. Officers continue to have the discretion to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Postal Inspectors, U.S. Marshalls and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) without fear of violating department policy.

Allowing officers to use their discretion when dealing with criminal aliens has been an effective tool in curbing crime. In 2008, former Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris revealed that a 24% decrease in homicides and a 26% decrease in auto thefts could be partly attributed to “a new immigration policy that allows our officers to use their discretion when dealing with criminal aliens” and “unprecedented cooperation between our investigative units and our state, federal, and local partners (Maricopa County Attorney’s Office).” Border patrol contacts in the Tucson Sector reported that in the same fiscal year (2008 – October to September) they saw a 41% decrease in border apprehensions. Nevertheless, on July 24 the new restrictive immigration policy went into effect at the Phoenix Police Department at the request of an open borders coalition. Now officers can’t even use the term “illegal alien,” which has been officially replaced with “unlawfully present.”

Categories: ACLU, Illegal alliens, Judicial Watch, Phoenix Arizona, Sanctuary cities
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Iran Caught Shipping Soldiers to Syria on Commercial Flights in Violation of Nuclear Deal

August 23, 2017

Iran Caught Shipping Soldiers to Syria on Commercial Flights in Violation of Nuclear Deal, Washington Free Beacon, , August 23, 2017

New photographs obtained by congressional leaders show Iran shipping militant soldiers to Syria on commercial airline flights, a move that violates the landmark nuclear agreement and has sparked calls from U.S. lawmakers for a formal investigation by the Trump administration, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Photographs published by a Washington, D.C., think-tank and provided to Congress show Iran using its flagship commercial carrier, Iran Air, to ferry militants to Syria, where they have joined the fight against U.S. forces in the region.

The new photographic evidence has roiled congressional leaders, who accuse Iran of violating the nuclear deal, which prohibits it from using commercial air carriers for military purposes. These lawmakers are demanding the Trump administration investigate the matter and consider imposing new sanctions on Iran.

The release of these photographs allegedly showing Iran Air’s illegal activity comes as top U.S. air carrier manufacturer Boeing moves forward with a multi-billion dollar deal to sell Iran Air a new modern fleet. Many in Congress have opposed the deal due to Iran’s longstanding use of commercial aircraft for military purposes, such as transporting weapons and troops to regional hotspots such as Syria and elsewhere.

Iran Air’s central role in the illicit transportation of militant forces to Syria could complicate Boeing’s efforts to move forward with the sale, which still requires approval from the Trump administration’s Treasury Department.

Congressional leaders are now calling for a suspension of all licenses permitting these sales in light of the new evidence, according to a letter obtained by the Free Beacon.

“Iran’s use of commercial aircraft for military purposes violates international agreements as well as Iranian commitments under the JCPOA,” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, according to the delegation of lawmakers pushing for an investigation. “We believe these photos mandate a thorough investigation of these practices and a comprehensive review of Iran’s illicit use of commercial aircraft.”

“During this investigation, the United States should suspend current and future licenses for aircraft sales to Iran,” the letter goes on to say.

Those calling for an investigation include Reps. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), Andy Barr (R., Ken.), and David Reichert (R., Wash.).

“Iran Air has engaged in Iran’s illicit transport of military goods and personnel to Syria since implementation of the” nuclear deal, the lawmakers write.

The Treasury Department has vowed in the past to consider and investigate any new evidence revealing Iran’s illicit use of commercial aircraft. The lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to make good on this promise.

“In light of these assurances to both investigate evidence of Iranian wrongdoing and to re-designate Iranian airlines engaging in sanctionable activity, we strongly urge you to investigate the enclosed photos,” the lawmakers write. “If as a result of your investigation, you find Iran Air guilty of conducting military transports with commercial aircraft, it should be re-designated.”

The new photographs, reportedly taken in 2016 and 2017, show Iranian fighters aboard Iran Air planes on their way to Syria to pick up arms in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

The militants are believed to be affiliated with the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Afghan Shiite militia, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which first disclosed the photographs to Congress.

“These photos seem to display militiamen sitting on seats clearly labeled with the Iran Air logo,” the lawmakers inform the Treasury Department. “These individuals are not Afghani civilians; they are believed to be members of an Iranian-backed militia, trained and funded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), actively fighting for the Assad regime in the Syria.”

Iran Air is guilty of “facilitating the ongoing atrocities committed against the Syrian people by the Assad regime and its allies,” the lawmakers write.

The issue has become all the more pressing in light of recent attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces operating in Syria.

“We strongly urge you to swiftly investigate and conduct a comprehensive review of Iran Air’s role in supporting Iran and the Assad regime militarily, and hold accountable those found guilty of such activity,” the lawmakers write.

Categories: Aircraft sale to Iran, Iran - Syria war, Iran Air, Iran scam, U.S. Congress and Iran
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North Korea and Iran: The nuclear result of strategic patience

August 23, 2017

North Korea and Iran: The nuclear result of strategic patience, Israel National News, Barry Shaw, August 23, 2017

(Please see also, US Says to Ask IAEA Questions about Inspecting Iran’s Military Sites and Discussion Of Iranian Violations Of JCPOA Is Futile; The Inspection Procedure Designed By The Obama Administration Precludes Actual Inspection And Proof Of Violations. “Strategic patience” —  stupidity or worse? — DM)

While American politics in melt down mode over the Democrats almost yearlong obsession in trying to find a scintilla of evidence with which they can hang Trump on charges of colluding with the Russians, both North Korea and Iran have been busy getting on with developing their nuclear missile programs.

North Korean President Kim Jong-Un has blatantly carried out a series of missile tests that show their capability of launching a nuclear missile strike that will put the west coast of the United States within range. 

When President Trump warned North Korea of the “fire and fury, never seen before” should they test America’s patience, some Democrats and Obama hang-overs, such as Ben Rhodes, the White House Deputy National Security Secretary under President Obama, accused Trump on MSNBC of “extreme and false statements about all manner of things. It’s more concerning,” he said, “when they are about nuclear weapons.”

So who gets it? Ben Rhodes, or President Trump?  Rhodes introduced a security policy of “strategic patience.” Rhodes, it should be remembered, was an ardent promoter of Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran which rewarded the Islamic Republic to the tune of $150 Billion while allowing them to continue their intercontinental ballistic missile development program.

Compare Rhodes criticism to Trump’s statement to Donald Trump’s comments about making nuclear deals with regimes like North Korea on an NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ TV interview in October 1999. That was a decade and a half before Donald Trump entered politics. Here is what he said about the Administration’s refusal, or inability, to adequately close down North Korea’s nuclear program, “Do you want to do it in five years when they have warheads all over the place, each one of them pointing at New York and Washington, is that when you want to do it, or do you want to do it now?”

In that interview, Trump talking about the US negotiators, and using his familiar verbal style, added that the North Korean leaders “are laughing at us. They think we’re a bunch of dummies.”

Who can say, faced with today’s crisis, that Trump was wrong?

The most recent North Korean testing has seen them use their missile launch capability for carrying miniaturized nuclear weapons which they announced would be placed on their warships to aim at Guam. This is not new technology or intelligence. Revelations show that the US Military Intelligence reported this technology to the Obama Administration back on April 2013, but, operating on Ben Rhodes’s “strategic patience” paradigm, President Obama decided to deny the contents of this intelligence assessment, and do nothing about it. In other words, they covered up the intelligence as being politically inconvenient. Strategic patience bathed in denial has resulted in North Korea arriving at this dangerous moment for the United States and the Trump Administration.

It is worth reminding ourselves that Wendy Sherman was one of the architects of both the North Korean and the Iranian nuclear deals. The North Korean deal was used as the US template for the negotiations with Tehran over their advanced nuclear program.  Both were based on the fallacy of a strategic patience policy of “let’s go easy on them and see what happened in ten years’ time.”

How did the US Intelligence and the Obama Administration allow this dramatic national security failure to occur? This should be required study for leading Strategic and National Security think tanks.

The strategic patience policy is a frightening failure. It is nothing more than politically kicking the can down the road to be picked up by a future Administration when it is about to explode in a mushroom cloud.

America is in crisis mode right now. They are scrambling to come up with a solution to the North Korean nuclear threat, but there appears to be no good solution in sight, particularly when you are dealing with unpredictable rogue regimes. Conflict seems inevitable.

This is the consequence of kicking that can down the road.  Tomorrow, they will wake up to the same crisis when Iran takes the wraps off their project and are ready for a nuclear breakout.

Barry Shaw is the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies. 

Categories: “Strategic patience", Iran scam, Iranian missiles, Iranian nukes, North Korea - negotiations, North Korean missiles, North Korean nukes, Obama and Iran, Obama and Iran scam, Trump and Iran, Trump and Iran scam, Trump and North Korea
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Remarks by PM Netanyahu after meeting Russian President Putin

August 23, 2017

 

 

 

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I discuss Pres. Trump’s address on U.S. strategy against ISIS | AIFD

August 23, 2017

I discuss Pres. Trump’s address on U.S. strategy against ISIS | AIFD via YouTube, August 22, 2017

(But according to McMaster, Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. Please see also, In Egypt, Clashes Between The Institution Of The Presidency And The Institution Of Al-Azhar. — DM)

Categories: Fighting Islamist terrorists, Islamist terror groups, Islamist terrorists, Zuhdi Jasser
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US Says to Ask IAEA Questions about Inspecting Iran’s Military Sites

August 23, 2017

US Says to Ask IAEA Questions about Inspecting Iran’s Military Sites, Tasnim News Agency [Iranian], August 23, 2017

(Please see also, Discussion Of Iranian Violations Of JCPOA Is Futile; The Inspection Procedure Designed By The Obama Administration Precludes Actual Inspection And Proof Of Violations. — DM)

Iran’s top authorities have flatly rejected giving international inspectors access to their military sites, and Iranian officials have told Reuters that any such move would trigger harsh consequences.

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TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The US Envoy to the United Nation, Nikki Haley, said she will pay a visit to Vienna on Wednesday to ask questions about what she described as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s plan to inspect Iran’s military sites.

According to media reports, Haley meeting with IAEA officials in Vienna is in line with what has been described as a fact-finding mission, which is part of President Donald Trump’s review of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers in July 2015.

“If you look … at past Iranian behavior, what you’ve seen is there have been covert actions at military sites, at universities, things like that,” Haley, a member of Trump’s cabinet, told Reuters in an interview.

“There were already issues in those locations, so are they including that in what they look at to make sure that those issues no longer remain?” she said. “They have the authority to look at military sites now. They have the authority to look at any suspicious sites now, it’s just are they doing it?”

However, Reuters reported that she was traveling to Vienna to ask questions, not to push the IAEA to do anything.

Iran’s top authorities have flatly rejected giving international inspectors access to their military sites, and Iranian officials have told Reuters that any such move would trigger harsh consequences.

“Why would they say that if they had nothing to hide? Why wouldn’t they let the IAEA go there?” Haley said.

The US recent move came irrespective of the fact that the IAEA chief in numerous reports has confirmed Iran’s compliance with the terms of the July nuclear deal.

That is while, Iran’s political and military officials have already ruled out any possibility of foreign access to the country’s military sites.

In May 2015, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed that Iran will not allow the inspection of its military sites.

The Leader has also ruled out any request for interviews with Tehran’s nuclear scientists, describing it as an instance of “interrogation”.

“I would not let foreigners come (here) and talk to the Iranian nation’s dear scientists… who have expanded this wide knowledge to this stage,” Imam Khamenei said at the time.

Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri has also made it clear that any access to the country’s military sites or information would run counter to Iran’s security and public demands.

Earlier this month, Head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran’s Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati slammed the US notion of inspection of Iran’s military centers as absolute nonsense, stressing that the country would never allow Americans to have access to its security sphere.

Raising subjects such as the inspection of Iran’s military sites is a reminder of Don Quixote, Velayati said of American officials, noting that the US once perceived itself as the world’s superior power, but its successive defeats in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere proved the hollowness of that notion.

In separate comments, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh underlind that foreign countries will never be allowed to inspect Iran’s military centers.

Categories: IAEA, Iran scam, Iran secret deals, Iranian military sites, Iranian nukes, JCPOA, Nikki Haley
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Israelis fail to secure US guarantees on Iranian threat in Syria

August 23, 2017

August 22, 2017

Source: Israelis fail to secure US guarantees on Iranian threat in Syria

IDF forces training in the north. (Barak Chen/IDF Spokesperson Unit)

US officials reportedly refrained from pledging to insist on the the removal of pro-Iranian militias at Israel’s border with Syria. 

Israel remains concerned about Iran’s military buildup in southern Syria, at Israel’s northern border, despite high-level discussions between US and Israeli security officials in Washington last week.

The Israeli delegation that visited Washington included Yossi Cohen, head of Mossad and IDF Military Intelligence. The team, which met with US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell, Chief Negotiator Jason Greenblatt and others, was reportedly discouraged by the position taken by the US on Syria.

The delegation was sent to the US to warn against the military deployments by Hezbollah, Iranian forces and the Syrian regime, and to tell the US “exactly what is going on there,” according to officials. Such a military buildup directly threatens Israel.

 Trump Administration’s ‘Lack of Clear Position’

Israeli media reports noted that the delegation shared “sensitive, credible and deeply troubling intelligence,” showing the expanding deployment of pro-Iranian forces in Syria, which estimates put at 500 Iranian army soldiers, 5,000 Hezbollah terrorists and several thousand guerrillas from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

American officials reportedly refrained from pledging to insist on the removal of all pro-Iranian militias from Syria in the ceasefire talks currently underway with Russia. Delegation members noted “a kind of embarrassment and lack of a clear position” among Trump administration officials regarding America’s commitments in Syria and the Middle East.

The Israeli report noted concern that the US could be hamstrung on the Syrian issue due to “the domestic problems President Trump is currently mired in, as well as the crisis with North Korea.”

Netanyahu to Discuss Developments with Putin

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, to discuss developments in the region, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office.

 Russia is a signatory to the ceasefire agreement signed during the G20 summit in July between the US and Jordan, according to which Moscow is responsible for ensuring that forces under its influence—the Syrian regime, Iran and Iranian proxies—abide by its terms.

The unresolved issues include who would guarantee the arrangements in the de-escalation zones, prevent the entry of Iranian, Hezbollah or Shi’ite militia forces, and monitor the ceasefire, and are expected to be high on the agenda for the Netanyahu-Putin meeting.

“Israel has no objection to a (peace) agreement in Syria, but we are firmly opposed to such an agreement in which Iran and its proxies will be left with a military presence in Syria,” Netanyahu told Putin in May.

Credit: The Tower via BICOM

 

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Tillerson to Taliban: ‘We May Not Win,’ ‘But Neither Will You’

August 23, 2017

by Pam Key

22 Aug 2017

Source: Tillerson to Taliban: ‘We May Not Win,’ ‘But Neither Will You’ – Breitbart

Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump’s new strategy in Afghanistan is to make the Taliban negotiate with the understanding that they would not “win a battlefield victory,” adding that, “We may not win one, but neither will you.”

Tillerson said, “I think the president was clear, this entire effort is intended to put pressure on the Taliban to have the Taliban understand you will not win a battlefield victory. We may not win one, but neither will you. So at some point, we have to come to the negotiating table and find a way bring this to an end.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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