WarSclerotic

Obama calls for ‘unconditional release’ of purportedly kidnapped IDF soldier
By MICHAEL WILNER
LAST UPDATED: 08/01/2014 22:42

Let Hamas monitor the tunnels?? WTF? Oh well, at least Kerry and Co are singing a slightly different tune. – LS

US president says Hamas may be unable to deliver on cease-fire; adds that Hamas’ ability to enforce halt in fighting relies on its ability to monitor attack tunnels it has built to conduct such abductions.

AMMAN — Hamas is responsible for the bloody, swift end to a humanitarian cease-fire with Israel, US President Barack Obama said from the White House on Friday, once again vowing to pursue a temporary truce along the border of Gaza that will end the killing.

“We have unequivocally condemned Hamas and the Palestinian factions that were responsible for killing two soldiers, and abducting a third, almost minutes after a ceasefire was announced,” Obama said. “That soldier needs to be unconditionally released, as soon as possible.”

Gazan militants emerged on Friday morning from a tunnel into Israeli territory, under deconstruction by the IDF, less than ninety minutes deep into a planned 72-hour cease-fire. One terrorist detonated a suicide vest, killing two Israeli soldiers; another abducted a third Israeli soldier, Hadar Goldin, back through the tunnel into Gaza.

While Obama suggested neither the US, nor the Israelis, are sure of exactly who perpetrated the attack– Hamas, so far, has denied holding an Israeli soldier in its custody – he said that Hamas’ ability to enforce a cease-fire relies on its ability to monitor the tunnels it has built to conduct such abductions.

“I think its going to be very hard to put a cease-fire back together again if Israelis, and the international community, can’t feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a cease-fire agreement,” Obama told reporters. “They’re claiming to speak for all the Palestinian factions.”

“No country can or would tolerate tunnels being dug under their land to conduct terror attacks,” he added.

The citizens of Gaza are “stuck in the crossfire,” the president noted, explaining his administration’s insistence on a ceasefire, despite Israel’s “legitimate security needs.”

Gazan civilians “have to weigh on our conscience,” he said. “And we have to do more to protect them.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry was informed of the abduction and killings while flying back to Washington from a visit to India, when an aide printed out a report and handed him the news.

Kerry quickly called Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu soon after being informed, according to reporters traveling with the secretary.

In a statement released shortly thereafter, Kerry called the incident “an outrageous violation of the ceasefire negotiated over the past several days, and of the assurances given to the United States and the United Nations.”

“Hamas, which has security control over the Gaza Strip, must immediately and unconditionally release the missing Israeli soldier,” Kerry said. “I call on those with influence over Hamas to reinforce this message.”

The chief US diplomat has been communicating with his counterparts in Qatar and Turkey, governments which support Hamas, as well as Egypt, in order to pressure the Gazan group to end its terror tactics against Israelis. Washington maintains no line of contact with Hamas itself, a terrorist organization as designated by the US and the European Union.

“We have urged them, implored them to use their influence to do whatever they can to get that soldier returned,” a senior State Department official told the traveling press. “Absent that, the risk of this continuing to escalate, leading to further loss of life is very high.”

The US, EU, Russia and United Nations, together known as the Quartet on the Middle East, has called on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize the state of Israel, respect previous agreements with its government and work with its security forces. Hamas’ charter calls for the destruction of the state.

By Gary Varvel

Obama administration plans own version Iron Dome to protect John Kerry from Israeli criticism
By Doug Powers • July 29, 2014 10:55 AM

Brought to you by Heinz Ketchup. – LS

Maybe this administration thinks that whole “Israel being a longtime ally of the United States” era was overrated, because as Israel battles Hamas, Team Obama is shoring up its defense of… John Kerry:

The Obama administration pushed back strongly Monday at a torrent of Israeli criticism over Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest bid to secure a cease-fire with Hamas, accusing some in Israel of launching a “misinformation campaign” against the top American diplomat.

“It’s simply not the way partners and allies treat each other,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Her comments were echoed by the White House, where National Security Adviser Susan Rice said the U.S. was “dismayed” by mischaracterizations of Kerry’s efforts. Israeli media reports have cast Kerry as seeking a cease-fire that is more favorable to Hamas and being dismissive of key Israeli concerns.

To help protect John Kerry from “unfair” Israeli criticism, the Obama administration has gotten to work on plans to construct an “Iron DOHM” (Diplomatic Operation Has Mishap) that will automatically deploy when incoming verbal or written attacks are detected.

#TerrorTunnels: Hamas Detonates Suicide Bomb, Kidnaps IDF Soldier Just 90 Mins Into Ceasefire
Posted by Andrew Marcus on Friday, August 1, 2014, 6:27 AM on Gateway Pundit Blog

All bets are off now. – LS

@IDFSpokesperson
We are conducting extensive searches in S. Gaza in order to find a missing IDF soldier. We suspect the soldier was kidnapped by Hamas today
6:00 AM – 1 Aug 2014

Just 90 minutes into the “humanitarian” “ceasefire” Hamas emerged from a terror tunnel, detonated a suicide bomb and took one Jew hostage back through the tunnel.

IDF soldier feared kidnapped

Terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft, and a suicide bomber detonated near soldiers prior to the suspected kidnapping; the IDF says incident is ongoing and that it is in the midst of efforts to track down missing soldier.

Some of the terror tunnels are almost 2 miles long and cost upwards of $1 Million each to construct. Some of that construction money comes from American tax payers. Some of those tunnels were built with entrances INSIDE United Nations buildings, ostensibly with tacit UN approval.

In Memoriam: The 56 IDF soldiers who gave their lives to protect Israel
By JPOST.COM STAFF
30/07/2014

Please click on the link to see a brief narrative and photo of each of these brave young soldiers.-LS

Israel mourns the deaths of the 56 soldiers and officers killed in action in Operation Protective Edge.

Report: Desperate Hamas Stealing UN Food Stamps to Survive
by Joel B. Pollak 30 Jul 2014

Who was it that said an army marches on its stomach?-LS

Though Hamas started the latest round of conflict with Israel, it seems to have calculated–wrongly–that Israel would not launch a ground invasion. Members of the Hamas terrorist organization are reportedly so desperate for food after three-and-a-half weeks of war with Israel that they are seizing United Nations food coupons to keep their members fed–and to prevent them from surrendering to Israeli soldiers out of sheer hunger.

The Jerusalem Post reports that senior Israeli military planners have concluded that Hamas is operating from a position of weakness, having lost much of its secretive tunnel network–and at least some of its popular support:

In recent days, Hamas members seized UN food coupons and prevented Gazan civilians from receiving the aid, in order to try and keep field cell members fed. The Islamist regime refuses to publish most of the names of its members who were killed fighting the IDF, and disposes of their bodies quickly, to avoid harming morale. It has tried to ban Gazan civilians from giving interviews to the foreign press during humanitarian truces.

The IDF has seen Hamas tunnel fighters surrender because they have run out of food.

The Post’s national security correspondent, Yaakov Lappin, cautions that Hamas is not yet “near the breaking point,” and that it is drawing on additional reserves from across Gaza. Still, he writes: “Despite their rhetoric, some senior Hamas leaders are privately asking themselves whether the war they began is worth the price.”

US Embassy in Tel Aviv Severely Restricts Visas for Israelis
By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 7/30/2014, 8:45 PM / Last Update: 7/30/2014, 8:54 PM

Barack is punishing you for not listening. I know. He does it all the time to us in the USA. Of course, there’s always the border with Mexico. It’s wide open and you may even get a ride to your destination once here.-LS

Tourist visa process cancelled until further notice, embassy announces. Is it a matter of security, or discrimination?

The US embassy in Tel Aviv has cancelled tourist visa applications for Israelis, according to a statement on its official website, in a move it claims is a matter of staffing and security.

“Due to the current security situation in Tel Aviv, U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv remains open but is operating at reduced staffing until further notice, and has canceled routine visa application processing and American Citizen services,” the statement says. “Emergencies involving an American citizen and visa applications will be considered on a case by case basis.”

The statement surfaces in the midst of both souring US-Israel relations and an already-pressured visa crisis, which has seen the visa process for Israelis grow more and more difficult over the past year.

In April, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced an internal review into claims that hundreds of young Israelis were being barred from entering the US for political reasons.

An initial investigation found that the rejection rate of visa applications for young Israelis ages 21-26 had doubled, from 16% in 2009 to 32% in 2014; Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro stated that the visa crisis is close to coming to an end several days later.

“The department will take immediate steps to increase the number of young Israelis that can travel to the US according to our immigration laws,” Shapiro wrote, in a Facebook post.

“The law dictates that applicants must prove that they intend to return to Israel in making the request, and that the visa does not allow recipients to stay beyond the designated time period or to work legally in the US,” he said. “But we are aware of the fact that although two-thirds of young applicants receive visas, some people harbor a misconception that young Israelis are not welcome in the USA.”

“Surely that’s not true,” he continued. “Israel is one of the US’s closest allies, and we welcome all networking between Israelis and Americans, including visits to the United States.”

Israeli officials have yet to respond to the letter, which responds to earlier claims that political motivations were at stake in the visa rejections.

Earlier this year, Israeli security officials also claimed they were being targeted by the US, and that hundreds of defense officials were turned away from making important visits to Washington.

Major Israeli politicians claimed in May that the US had been “humiliating” them during the visa application process for years, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot, and had been forced to endure long wait times for acceptance and allowed only brief visits to their alleged ally.

Is Hamas calling it quits
posted at 12:01 pm on July 31, 2014 by Noah Rothman

All this talk of a negotiated ceasefire only lengthens the war. Without it, Hamas could very well be ready to quit. – LS

Over the course of the four-week-long conflict in the Gaza strip, Hamas, the governing authority in that territory, has rejected a variety of ceasefire proposals. Many of those were submitted by Arab negotiators, including Egypt and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. One ceasefire Hamas found favorable, submitted by United State Secretary of State John Kerry, was deemed so favorable to Hamas that Israel’s security cabinet rejected it unanimously.

On Thursday, a sign of hope emerged indicating that the conflict will soon come to a close. According to one unconfirmed report in the Arabic language Quds Press International News Agency, Hamas has consented to allow proxies to negotiate a long-term ceasefire agreement with Israel (translation of the text via Google):

Hamas and across the head of its political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, has given the green light to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate a long-term truce and discuss and amend the Egyptian initiative presented by President [Abdel Fattah] Sisi for both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, on the imposition of calm in the sector of the ceasefire by Israel and the resistance movements in the Gaza Strip.

There is plenty of reason to be skeptical of this latest report, the most glaring of which is the claim that Meshaal is amenable to a ceasefire negotiated by Egypt. While that Arab state enjoys a traditional role as a key negotiator in conflicts between Israel and the various Palestinian governing entities, Sisi has a cool relationship with Hamas.

As The New York Times reported Wednesday, the Arab states are leery of Hamas and view their rejection of a number of ceasefire proposals as irresponsible. The rejection of a ceasefire proposal submitted by Cairo, which The Times notes “met most of Israel’s demands and none from the Palestinian group,” has sapped the region of much of its goodwill toward Hamas.

“King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt the next day to commend it, Mr. Sisi’s office said, in a statement that cast no blame on Israel but referred only to ‘the bloodshed of innocent civilians who are paying the price for a military confrontation for which they are not responsible,’” The Times reported.

Egyptian officials have directly or implicitly blamed Hamas instead of Israel for Palestinian deaths in the fighting, even when, for example, United Nations schools have been hit by Israeli shells, something that occurred again on Wednesday.

Hamas is surely losing friends in the region, but they continue to be buoyed by the amount of support they have received in Western press outlets, on the streets of Europe, and in the United Nations. On Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, accused both Hamas and Israel of crimes of war. That alone may lead Hamas to believe they can negotiate more favorable ceasefire terms down the road.

The Quds report is an interesting development, but there are many reasons to take it with a grain of salt. For now.

Rouhani: ‘This Festering Zionist Tumor Has Opened Once Again’
BY: Adam Kredo
July 31, 2014 5:00 am

Hissssss…..-LS)

Iranian president adopts violent rhetoric towards Israel
(So what else is new??-LS)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at Israel in vitriolic terms on Wednesday, referring to Israel as a “festering Zionist tumor.”

Rouhani, who has been championed by Western media as a moderate reformer who could change Iran’s extremist ways, appears to be adopting a violent tone similar to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has advocated for the complete destruction of Israel in recent days.

“Today, this festering Zionist tumor has opened once again and has turned the land of olives into destruction and blood and littered the land with the body parts of Palestinian children,” Rouhani was quoted as saying in a statement that was translated by the Brookings Institution.

Rouhani’s comments have received little attention in the Western media, which rushed to congratulate the Iranian leader last year for sending a greeting to Jews during the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Rouhani went on to compare Israel to the jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), which Iran is fighting against in Iraq.

ISIL is “a second festering tumor that murders people in the name of Islam,” Rouhani said, adding that, “analysts say that both of these tumors derived from the same origin.”

Khamenei himself has called for the arming of all Palestinians so that they can combat Israel.

Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iranian dissident and cofounder of Iranian Liberal Students and Graduates, warned that Rouhani and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, the lead negotiator in talks with the West, are fooling the world by posing as moderates.

“Rouhani and Zarif to Khamenei are the same as Joachim von Ribbentrop was to Adolf Hitler,” Ghasseminejad said. “Both are loyal servants to a dangerous apartheid regime that wants to change the world order dramatically and is ready to use any means available to reach its deal. Like Ribbentrop, it is their job to fool the world, buy time for the regime, and sell a fake image to the world.”

Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser on Iran and Iraq, slammed U.S. media for perpetuating the myth that Rouhani is a Western-style moderate.

“The Iranian government counts on the fact that the American media will act as useful idiots,” Rubin said. “Some self-censor for access, others simply believe what they read in English—for example Rouhani’s Rosh Hashanah tweet—and ignore completely what the Iranian leadership says in Persian.”

“The fact of the matter is that Rouahni is part and parcel of the system, and embraces Khamenei’s ideology hook, line, and sinker,” Rubin added

Rubin noted that several years ago Rouhani boasted about his ability to appease the United States with promises of diplomacy.

“There should be some serious introspection about the cherry picking in which the media has engaged to promote a false narrative,” Rubin said. “Putting lipstick on Rouhani doesn’t make him Western; he remains just as much a devotee of an ideology seeking to defeat both Israel and the West.”

As Western leaders such as President Barack Obama seek to get closer to Rouhani, his regime has armed terror groups such as Hamas and sought to spread regional chaos.

“The reality is that under Rouhani, Iran has increased its support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah thanks to the sanctions relief” provided to Iran under the terms of the interim nuclear agreement, Ghasseminejad said.

“The mullahs in Tehran have significantly increased their influence as the United States wants to please Iran by recognizing what is being called Iran’s legitimate interests as a major power in the Middle East,” he said.

This entry was posted in National Security and tagged Hassan Rouhani, Iran.