These are Obama’s “peace partners” bragging about murdering Israelis. Fatah is under the control of the “moderate” Mahmud Abbas, the man to whom Obama wants Netanyahu to make concessions.
No amount of concessions will end the Palestinian jihad. Islamic Jew-hatred: it’s in the Quran.
Fatah brags it killed 11,000 Israelis”, by Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch, August 3, 2016:
Fatah yesterday posted a list of Fatah’s achievements on behalf of Palestinians. Significantly, Fatah did not cite even one peace-seeking or peace-promoting achievement, but only listed Fatah acts of violence and terror. Fatah even boasted that its attacks have killed 11,000 Israelis. While Fatah and the PLO have been killing Israelis since 1965, this number is a gross exaggeration.
One of the acts it bragged about was being the “first Palestinian faction to reach the [Israeli] nuclear reactor.” This is a reference to Fatah’s bus hijacking and murder of three Israeli civilians on their way to work at the Dimona nuclear plant in 1988.
Throughout the recent terror wave, Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah have promoted violence and terror against Israelis, both in Israel and in the West Bank.
The following is yesterday’s Fatah post celebrating and bragging about Fatah’s murder of Israeli civilians:
“To those who argue [with Fatah], to the boors, and to those who do not know history:
Fatah has killed 11,000 Israelis
Fatah has sacrificed 170,000 Martyrs (Shahids)…
Fatah was the first to carry out operations (i.e., terror attacks) during the first Intifada (i.e., Palestinian violence and terror against Israel, 1988-1993), and it was the first Palestinian faction to reach the nuclear reactor in Dimona (i.e., 1988 murder of 3 working mothers on way to the Dimona plant)
Fatah was the first to fight in the second Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005) (Baha Al-Sa’id, an officer in the Preventive Security Forces, infiltrated an Israeli settlement on the border with Gaza) [parenthesis in source]…
Fatah was the first to defeat the Zionist enemy (Battle of El-Karameh) [parenthesis in source]…
Fatah led the Palestinian attack on Israel in the UN.”
[Official Fatah Facebook, Aug. 2, 2016]
PMW reported that Fatah had posted a similar text on its official Facebook page in 2014…
Lebanese Olympics team stops Israelis from boarding shared bus Sailor Udi Gal, a member of Israel’s Olympics delegation, says members of the Lebanese delegation refused to let the Israelis ride the bus with them to the Maracana stadium, where the opening ceremony was to take place.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games began on a sour note for the Israeli delegation, but not one relating to the actual competition. When the delegation was ready to board the bus to the Maracana stadium in the Brazilian city, they were physically prevented from doing so by the Lebanese delegation, already aboard, according Israeli sailor Udi Gal.
“The 2016 Olympics – a disgrace!!” wrote Gal in a Facebook post. “(When) Israel’s Olympic delegation got ready to board the bus for the opening ceremony, it turned out the bus was shared with the Lebanese delegation. Once the members of the Lebanese delegation realized they were (sharing the bus) with the Israeli delegation, they asked the driver to close the door, with their delegation leader heading (the effort).”
The Israeli Olympic delegation. (Photo: AP)
Gal claimed that the organizers tried to calm things down. “The organizers tried to split us up to different buses, something which was not possible security and representation-wise,” he wrote, “I insisted and we insisted that we get on the intended bus, and if the Lebanese don’t want (to ride with us), they are welcome to get off (of it). The bus driver opened the door, but this time the head of the Lebanese delegation blocked the entrance with his body. The organizers tried to prevent an international incident and sent us aside to a special (vehicle).”
Gal was surprised the organizers gave in to the pressure, writing, “How is it that they let something like this happen, and on the opening night of the Olympic Games? Isn’t this the opposite of what the Olympics represent and (don’t the actions by the Lebanese delegation) work against it? I cannot describe the way I feel. I’m enraged and shocked by this event.”
Lebanese delegation head, Salim al-Haj Nakoula gave the Lebanese press his version of the story on Saturday. In an interview given to the An-Nahar newspaper, Nakoula claimed that each delegation was to have its own bus. “There are over 250 buses dedicated to transporting the delegations from the Olympic village to the opening ceremony. After we boarded Bus 22, which was dedicated to the Lebanese delegation, I was surprised by the Israeli delegation’s approaching and wanting to get on the bus with us,” he said.
Head of the Lebanese delegation Salim al-Haj Nakoula. “They have a bus of their own.”
“I asked the driver to shut the door, but the guide who was there with the Israeli delegation prevented him from doing so. I had to stand at the entrance to the bus to block it, and prevent the (Israeli) delegation from coming in,” Nakoula said. He claimed that the Israelis were trying to cause an incident on purpose. “They have a bus of their own like all delegations. Why did they want to get on the Lebanese delegation’s bus?” he asked.
Head of the Israeli delegation to the Rio 2016 games, Gili Lustig, responded to Nakoula by saying, “The organizing committee was the one that determined the travel arrangements, and which bus we would take to the ceremony. The organizing committee saw the rude behavior of the Lebanese delegation head and immediately provided an alternate bus. The behavior of the Lebanese delegation head is in conflict with the Olympic truce. As far as we are concerned, the whole thing is behind us and we’re ready for the competitions.”
Lusting mentioned that the organization committee apologized for the incident. “They pointed us at a bus with ten Lebanese people in it. It was an unwise decision from the start and it’s too bad they didn’t think of that before. This king of incident could have been prevented. We certainly don’t believe in boycotts. The committee’s people tried to talk to the Lebanese, who refused to accept us. It should be said that the busses were joint: They’d fill a bus, and move on. They asked that we not make a scene ahead of the opening ceremony.”
Head of the Israeli delegation Gili Lustig. “The behavior of the Lebanese delegation head is in conflict with the Olympic truce.” (Photo: Oren Aharoni)
Lebanese Minister of Youth and Sport Abdel Motaleb Hannawi told a Lebanese news site that this was not the first time Israel has attempted to embarrass a Lebanese delegation in this kind of circumstance. He praised the delegation’s behavior, Nakoula’s specifically. “His stance was principled and patriotic,” he said.
Nakoula became the hero of the day in Lebanon after the incident was publicized. The Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar news networks, both associated with Hezbollah, gave Nakoula praise, with the latter also interviewing him. Hezbollah supporters and officials praised him on social media, with one Al-Manar broadcaster tweeting, “The Israelis were sent away from the bus because normalization (with Israel) is not to be had in any form, and because the Lebanese identity (is that of) resistance. Be proud to be Lebanese.”
Nadav Zenziper, Oren Aharoni, and Roi Kais contributed to this report.
Netanyahu rejects Obama’s assertion that Israel now supports Iran accord PM says Israel’s position on nuke deal unchanged; Defense Ministry compares it to Munich Agreement with the Nazis
US President Barack Obama, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, November 9, 2015. AFP/ SAUL LOEB)
Israel on Friday firmly rejected US President Barack Obama’s claim that its officials now support last year’s nuclear deal with Iran. Far from accepting Obama’s assertion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s stance had not changed, while the Israeli Defense Ministry compared the accord to the Munich Agreement signed by the European powers with Nazi Germany in 1938.
Obama said Thursday that Israeli defense officials are now behind the deal signed by world powers and Iran, and that they recognize the efficacy of the accord. The “Israeli military and security community … acknowledges this has been a game changer,” Obama said. “The country that was most opposed to the deal.”
In a statement issued Friday by his office in response, Netanyahu stressed that Israel “has no greater ally than the United States” but made plain nonetheless that Israel’s position on the Iran nuclear deal “remains unchanged.”
What mattered most now, Netanyahu went on, however, was to ensure that supporters and opponents of the deal alike work together for three goals: “Keep Iran’s feet to the fire to ensure that it doesn’t violate the deal; confront Iran’s regional aggression; and dismantle Iran’s global terror network.”
Netanyahu said he “looks forward to translating those goals into a common policy, and to further strengthening the alliance between Israel and the United States, with President Obama, and with the next US administration.”
A top minister close to Netanyahu, meanwhile, directly contradicted Obama’s assertion that Israel now backs the accord. “I don’t know to which Israelis he (Obama) spoke recently. But I can promise you that the position of the prime minister, the defense minister and of most senior officials in the defense establishment has not changed,” Tzachi Hanegbi told The Times of Israel.
“The opposite is the case. The time that has elapsed since the deal was signed proved all our worries that, regrettably, we were justified before the deal was made,” said Hanegbi, a minister who works in the Prime Minister’s Office and who until recently chaired the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The Defense Ministry used more emotive language to contradict Obama.
“The Israeli defense establishment believes that agreements have value only if they are based on the existing reality, but they have no value if the facts on the ground are the complete opposite of those the deal is based upon,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) attends a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee alongside the committee’s chairman, MK Tzach Hanegbi, on Monday, October 26, 2015 (Knesset spokesman)
When the deal was signed last summer between Iran and world powers, Yisrael Beytenu party leader and current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman compared it to the 1938 Munich Agreement, calling the deal with Tehran “total capitulation to unrestrained terrorism and violence in the international arena.”
The Defense Ministry employed similar language in Friday’s rejection of Obama’s claim.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)
“The Munich Agreement didn’t prevent the Second World War and the Holocaust precisely because its basis, according to which Nazi Germany could be a partner for some sort of agreement, was flawed, and because the leaders of the world then ignored the explicit statements of [Adolf] Hitler and the rest of Nazi Germany’s leaders,” the ministry said.
“These things are also true about Iran, which also clearly states openly that its aim is to destroy the state of Israel,” it said, pointing to a recent State Department report that determined that Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism worldwide.
The Defense Ministry further said the deal reached “only damages the uncompromising struggle we must make against terrorist states like Iran.”
US President Barack Obama speaks to the media in Arlington, Virginia, on August 4, 2016. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)
Some high-level former and current Israeli defense figures have spoken out in sometimes conditional defense of the nuclear deal. Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said warily in January that it could present “opportunities” in the future but also raised concerns at the “challenges” it poses. But lawmakers from the ruling coalition have continued to criticize the agreement, citing continued ballistic missile tests banned under an attendant UN agreement, and pointing to Tehran’s continued anti-Israel rhetoric and support for terror groups.
Netanyahu remains openly critical of the agreement, which he says paves Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on July 31, 2016. (Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool/Flash90)
The nuclear agreement “removes the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program based on dates certain, rather than on changes in Iran’s aggressive behavior, including its support for terrorism around the world,” a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel two weeks ago. “The deal doesn’t solve the Iranian nuclear problem, but rather delays and intensifies it.”
The accord, which began its formal implementation in January, will expire in 15 years.
Obama also said Thursday that those who had been most critical of the deal should make mea culpas and admit they were wrong.
“What I’m interested in is if there’s some news to be made, why not have some of these folks who were predicting disaster come out and say, ‘This thing actually worked.’ Now that would be a shock,” he said.
“That would be impressive. If some of these folks who said the sky is falling suddenly said, ‘You know what? We were wrong and we are glad that Iran no longer has the capacity to break out in the short term and develop a nuclear weapon.’ But that wasn’t going to happen.”
Senior aid worker said to funnel ‘tens of millions’ to Hamas World Vision denies its Gaza chief diverted 60% of his budget to the terror group, which allegedly used the cash to finance weapons, tunnels
Over the course of several years, the Hamas terrorist organization siphoned off “tens of millions of dollars” from the US-based World Vision charity for its military wing, the Shin Bet security service said Thursday.
Muhammad Halabi, a Hamas member and manager of operations for World Vision in Gaza, was indicted in a Beersheba court on Thursday for his role in the alleged scheme. He was arrested in a joint Shin Bet-IDF-Israel Police operation at the Erez Crossing on June 15 as he tried to return to the Strip, the Shin Bet said.
Halabi, a member of Hamas from a young age, was handpicked to infiltrate the international charity in 2005 in order to steal money for the terrorist organization, according to the investigation.
“This was a meaningful and important investigation that showed — above all — the cynical and crude way in which Hamas takes advantage of funds and resources from international humanitarian aid organizations,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
Muhammad Halabi, a member of Hamas and manager of the World Vision charity’s operations in the Gaza Strip, was indicted on August 4, 2016, for diverting the charity’s funds to the terrorist organization. (Shin Bet)
In a statement released following the indictment, World Vision defended Halabi and denied the allegations against him.
“Based on the information available to us at this time, we have no reason to believe that the allegations are true. We will carefully review any evidence presented to us and will take appropriate actions based on that evidence,” the group wrote.
After rising through the ranks of World Vision, Halabi became the manager of World Vision’s activities in the Gaza Strip. “In that capacity he controlled the budget, equipment and humanitarian aid packages worth tens of millions of dollars,” the Shin Bet said.
There he was able to funnel approximately “60 percent of World Vision’s annual budget for the Gaza Strip to Hamas,” according to his testimony, which amounted to approximately $7.2 million every year.
This was mostly commonly done by Halabi offering fake tenders for work. “The ‘winning’ company was aware that 60% of the project’s funds were bound for Hamas,” the Shin Bet said.
Approximately 40 percent of World Vision’s funds for civilian projects — $1.5 million a year — was also given to Hamas battalions in cash, according to the Shin Bet, along with approximately $4 million a year that was designated for helping the needy.
A Palestinian boy looks from his family’s destroyed house at workers rebuilding a house which was destroyed during last summer’s war between Israel and Hamas, as the long-awaited reconstruction began in the Shejaiya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City on Thursday, July 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
According to investigators, some of those “fictitious” humanitarian projects included the construction of greenhouses, rejuvenation of agricultural fields, mental and physical health projects, an initiative to assist fishermen, a center for treating the mentally and physically handicapped, and the creation of agricultural organizations.
“These were all used as a pipeline to transfer money to Hamas,” the Shin Bet said.
In those fake programs, the terrorist organization was able to inflate the budgets, claim Hamas operatives as employees and launder money through World Vision, the security service added.
For instance, Halabi would list a parcel of land as costing $1,000 when it in fact cost $700 in order to pocket the extra funds and transfer them to the terrorist group, according to his testimony.
Still from an August 2015 Hamas video purporting to show a Gaza tunnel dug under the Israeli border. (Ynet screenshot)
According to Halabi’s testimony, the funds that were transferred to Hamas were “earmarked for building up the military wing [of Hamas],” including digging tunnels, purchasing weaponry and building defensive outposts.
Some of the stolen funds were also used to pay the salaries of Hamas operatives. In some cases large sums of money were taken by senior members of the terrorist organization for their “personal needs,” the Shin Bet said.
Through such initiatives, Hamas was also able to purchase otherwise forbidden gear and take advantage of the “logistical assistance” given to the organization.
A Border Crossing Authority inspector discovers a wet suit, believed to be en route to Hamas, hidden in a shipment of sporting goods to the Gaza Strip on June 20, 2016. (screen capture: Defense Ministry)
For instance, the greenhouse construction project allowed the group to scope out suitable digging sites for tunnels, while the nonexistent fishermen assistance program was used to purchase motorboats for smuggling and wetsuits that could be used by Hamas frogmen in attacks against Israel, the Shin Bet said.
In addition to funds and opportunities, Halabi also allegedly stole equipment that had been purchased by World Vision to assist farmers. Instead, the iron, digging tools, pipes and construction materials were used by Hamas for its own purposes.
Some 2,500 cartons of food and 3,300 cartons of cleaning supplies were also stolen from World Vision and given to Hamas fighters, according to the Shin Bet.
Money designated for children injured in conflicts with Israel was instead taken by families of Hamas members who falsely registered their children in the program, the security service said.
Palestinian workers rebuilding a house as reconstruction begins in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, July 23, 2015. (AP/Khalil Hamra)
According to Halabi’s testimony, the humanitarian aid reserved by World Vision for residents of the Gaza Strip was given “almost entirely” to Hamas operatives and their families.
“This, it must be said, is against the official regulations of humanitarian aid organizations operating in the Gaza Strip,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
Following the indictment, Israel’s Coordinator of the Government’s Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai released a statement in Arabic to the people of Gaza, telling them of Halabi’s actions.
“I’m speaking to you today about the Hamas terror organization, which is stealing your money to advance terror. Following a long investigation, we found that Hamas consistently uses funds that Western countries give to international organizations, like the World Vision organization in Gaza,” Mordechai said.
“Millions of dollars that were meant to build projects, support residents financially — even food packages for the needy — were given over to the military wing of Hamas for building bases, for salary bonuses and for digging death tunnels that will bring demolition and destruction upon you and the Gaza Strip,” he told residents of the coastal enclave.
While the general cast the blame on Hamas, Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, accused World Vision of being “negligent” in its indirect funding of terrorism.
“World vision int. financed ‘unwittingly’ Hamas terror tunnels. How negligent can you be?! Money for kids used for terror,” Nahshon tweeted after the case was revealed.
World vision int. financed “unwittingly ” Hamas terror tunnels . How negligent can you be?! Money for kids used for terror
Halabi supplied Israeli investigators with additional information about a large number of individuals in the Gaza Strip who take advantage of their work for aid organizations and the United Nations to assist Hamas, the Shin Bet said.
For example, Halabi’s father, Halil, served as head of the United Nation’s school system in the Gaza Strip for years. He too is a member of Hamas and, according to Halabi’s testimony, uses his position to help the terrorist organization.
Goods and medical supplies being transferred to the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing, July 19, 2014. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
World Vision is an Evangelical Christian charity created in 1950 that operates in nearly 100 countries worldwide. Today it is one of the largest relief organizations based in the United States, with a budget of approximately $2.6 billion and nearly 50,000 employees. It has operated in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza since the 1970s.
When Halabi was first arrested in June, before charges were brought against him, the charity defended him in a statement.
“[Halabi] is a widely respected and well regarded humanitarian, field manager and trusted colleague of over a decade. He has displayed compassionate leadership on behalf of the children and communities of Gaza through difficult and challenging times, and has always worked diligently and professionally in fulfilling his duties,” the organization said in June.
Gun license for soldiers – as soon as they’re released A new amendment will allow people of any age to get a gun license – provided that they finished military service first.
The Knesset has passed, for its second and third reading, an amendment to the Firearms Law which would allow all soldiers who finish their military service to get a gun license, even if they’re released before they turn 21, the minimum age for firearms licenses.
The amendment, initiated by MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid), would mostly affect women, as their standard draft of two years has them out of the army while they are still too young to apply for a gun license.
The previous legal situation blocked women from many professional fields that require gun licenses, such as security, where newly-released soldiers are in high demand.
After the amendment, newly released soldiers of any age will be immediately allowed to apply for a gun license.
MK Lavie commented, “We are correcting here more outdated legislation, which is appropriate only for the life-stories of men [according to their age of release]. The amendment will assist employment, answering the growing need for security workers, and will also increase equality in the workforce.
“Female employment and employment in general begins at this point: female soldiers are released from the IDF, and they must not be exposed to gender discrimination in their first steps into the world of the workforce.”
The amendment is expected to affect men soon as well, when changes are implemented which will have all soldiers in support positions serving only two years and three months.
The Palestinian lie
The following video is truly shocking and enraging!
An Arab father sends his three year old son to confront the Israeli border police, while shouting at the solders to “shoot the child”.
In addition, the Arab father urges his little son to throw rocks at the solders, but the youngster misunderstands and throws them sideways.
Now do you understand what we are dealing with?
The whole thing is being encouraged by radical left-wing protestors (you can hear them shouting through loudspeakers).
Hamas ready to pounce on weak Fatah in local elections, experts say Gaza-ruling terror group now says it will take part in vote set for October; after all, it has won the only two major elections in which it ever competed
The Hamas terror group in control of the Gaza Strip is poised to make a power play using one of its most potent weapons — the ballot box.
In 2012, the hardline Islamist group boycotted municipal elections over allegations of intimidation and corruption in the West Bank by its political rival Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority. Since then, the two major Palestinian parties have remained in a state of cold war.
Despite these ongoing tensions, Hamas surprised many by agreeing recently to participate in municipal elections across the Palestinian territories slated for October 8.
Experts told The Times of Israel that Hamas likely ended its boycott of the vote because the group sees an opportunity to gain legitimacy by beating a weak opponent — the aging and unpopular Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his divided Fatah party.
Hamas is also in a state of political isolation after losing the support of its important Sunni state backers, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and to some extent Turkey after Ankara and Jerusalem recently mended relations. The ballot box, one Israeli expert argued, is a way the group can take control of its own destiny, while a well-known Palestinian scholar hypothesized secret and unprecedented coordination between the Islamists and Fatah.
Palestinian security officers wait to cast their early votes during local elections at a polling station in the West Bank town of Jenin on Thursday. Members of Palestinian security forces cast an early vote ahead of local elections, which are taking place Saturday, in the first such polls since 2006. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)
Hamas has won the only two elections it ever ran in — the 2005 municipal elections and the 2006 legislative elections, which resulted in a war between Hamas and Fatah. But since Hamas’s last democratic victory, 10 years have passed.
“It’s almost obvious why Hamas decided to participate in the upcoming elections,” Prof. Shaul Mishal, head of the Middle East program at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC), told The Times of Israel.
“If you look back at what happened during the election in 2006, Hamas believes that’s the best way to gain status and strength within the Palestinian population of the West Bank. They want to extend their influence to where the heart of the Palestinian issue is,” he said.
In 2006, Hamas won nearly all the electoral districts in the West Bank and in Gaza.
Mishal believes Hamas sees an opportunity to take advantage of Abbas’s current weakness. The PA leader is 81-years-old and is reportedly not in good health. Polls show a majority of Palestinians want him to resign.
Prof. Shaul Mishal (Courtesy)
“This is Hamas’s opportunity to ensure they will be part and parcel of any future political process,” Mishal said.
He added that Hamas has reached such a point of political isolation that “the only way to strengthen their position with the public is to run in this election.” He argues Hamas’s success in the past and its likely success in the upcoming election has much to do with its nature as an Islamist movement.
“Hamas is a party of the people, putting its efforts into working with the communities on the ground… first and foremost, they are an Islamist social group: they focus on social services, social welfare and working with the needy, especially in places where the central government might not reach,” Mishal said.
In an indication of Hamas’s likely victory in the upcoming elections, the Islamist movement has for the past two years won the contest considered the best barometer of Palestinian public opinion — student elections at Birzeit University. Birzeit is the oldest Palestinian university, considered a liberal outpost and a historic stronghold for Fatah and the PA.
“The young generation is more pro-Hamas. From experience, the student elections tend to be quite accurate,” Mishal said.
Palestinian students who support the Hamas movement take part in an election campaign rally for the student council at Birzeit University, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 26, 2016 (AFP/Abbas Momani)
With the odds stacked against it, the Israeli professor believes Fatah may try to wiggle out of having the elections.
“It all depends on one man: Abu Mazen (Abbas). He can find ways to bypass the declaration. He may substitute it with something more dramatic, such as negotiations over the Arab Peace Initiative,” he said, referring to the 2002 offer to the Jewish state for full diplomatic ties with 57 Arab and Muslim countries after cementing a peace accord with the Palestinians.
The Arab Peace Initiative has come to the forefront in the past few months, with both Arab and Israeli statesmen discussing the plan.
Khalil Shikaki, the Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research at his office in Ramallah, June 14, 2011 (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)
“My guess,” said Dr. Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian political scientist and well-regarded pollster, “is that Hamas has agreed [to the elections] because Abbas, without publicly admitting it, has agreed that local elections in the Gaza Strip can take place fully under Hamas’s security and administrative control.”
Shikaki called the possible coordination “the most visible PA acknowledgment of the legitimacy of Hamas’s control in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s takeover in June 2007.”
“At this stage,” Shikaki continued, “Hamas seems to care more about maintaining control over the Strip than extending its influence into the West Bank.”
The Palestinian political scientist did, however, offer a second theory similar to Mishal’s.
“Hamas might think that given Fatah’s fragmentation, particularly in the Gaza Strip, the outcome of elections will demonstrate the Islamist group’s ascendance and popularity despite the blockade and siege imposed by Israel and Egypt, thus strengthening further its legitimacy,” Shikaki said.
Israel imposed a land and sea blockade on the Strip, designed to prevent the terror group from importing weapons, after Hamas seized power there in a bloody 2007 coup, which saw Abbas’s Fatah movement ousted from Gaza.
The upcoming elections are slated to be held in 416 townships and village councils; 25 are located in Gaza and the other 391 in the West Bank. If the election does take place, it will be the largest municipal elections held by the Palestinians in their history.
The Democrat party — home to Jew-hatred and jihad. Every Jew who associates with these haters are a pox on our people.
And it’s not just this vicious black antisemite. Clinton’s VP pick Tim Kaine is pro-terror, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish. The whole DNC platform is viciously anti-semitic.
As for the term “settler,” I refuse to accept the lexicon of the antisemite. A “settler” is a Jew living in the Jewish homeland.
Congressman: Jewish Settlers Are Like Termites,” By Adam Kredo, WFB, July 25, 2016:
Congressman: Jewish Settlers Are Like Termites
Slams Israeli Government, compares top official to Trump
PHILADELPHIA—A Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee compared Jewish Israeli settlers to termites on Monday while speaking at an event sponsored by an anti-Israel organization that supports boycotts of the Jewish state.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) launched into a tirade against Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians, comparing Jewish people who live in disputed territories to “termites” that destroy homes. Johnson also compared Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a remark that drew vocal agreement from those in the room.
“There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself, there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming,” Johnson said during an event sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, an anti-Israel organization that galvanizes supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS.
“It has come to the point that occupation, with highways that cut through Palestinian land, with walls that go up, with the inability or the restriction, with the illegality of Palestinians being able to travel on those roads and those roads cutting off Palestinian neighborhoods from each other,” Johnson continued. “And then with the building of walls and the building of check points that restrict movement of Palestinians. We’ve gotten to the point where the thought of a Palestinian homeland gets further and further removed from reality.”
Johnson, who in 2010 voiced his fears that Guam would tip over and capsize if too many people resided on the island, said that “Jewish people” routinely steal land and property from Palestinians.
“You see one home after another being appropriated by Jewish people who come in to claim that land just because somebody did not spend the night there,” he said, referring to claims that Israeli settlers plot to seize Palestinian land. ‘“The home their [Palestinian] ancestors lived in for generations becomes an Israeli home and a flag goes up,” he said, adding, “the Palestinians are barred from flying flags in their own neighborhoods.”
Johnson went on to compare Lieberman to Trump as he lashed out against the Israeli government.
“The fact is the Israeli government, which is the most right-wing government ever to exist in the state of Israel in its history, the most right wing government, you got a guy like Trump who is now the minister of defense in Israel calling the shots on defense,” he said, adding that he is not the only member of Congress who holds these views.
James Zogby, a member of the Democratic platform committee and president of the Arab American Institute, informed the crowd that efforts to make the Democratic platform more pro-Palestinian ran up against objections from those who are scared of casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson.
“I had no idea the [platform] fight would be over ‘occupation’ and ‘settlements,’” Zogby said, referring to efforts by more mainstream elements of the Democratic Party to ensure the platform language remained staunchly pro-Israel.
“
“Something happens in this game where they [Democratic Party members] take their policy brain out and put it somewhere and they substitute their politics brain, which they think is a smart brain,” Zogby said, summarizing this thought process as: “We can’t do it because Sheldon Adelson will come out against us.”
“Jesus,” Zogby said, “he’s gonna come out against you no matter what!”
London’s new and first Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan has refused to back a request for the terrorist outfit Hezbollah to be a proscribed organisation.
Following a question from UK Independence Party (UKIP) London Assembly member David Kurten, Mr. Khan said that he would not back a ban on the group which has recently had supporters and sympathisers protesting with its famous yellow jihadi flag at ‘Al Quds Day’ in London.
Mr. Kurten asked the question in the discussion following Assembly member Kemi Badenoch’s question: “What action is the Metropolitan Police Service taking against the use of flags representing designated terrorist organisations as seen during the recent al-Quds Day march in London on July 3rd?”
While Mr. Khan said he understood “the concerns of the Jewish community, and the distress these flags cause many Londoners”, he also said “It would not be appropriate… to comment on an ongoing police investigation” and that he would not commit to pushing for a ban on the “political wing” of Hezbollah.
A common misconception about the terror group which is deeply entrenched in both Europe and the Americas is that there is a tangible difference between a “military” or terrorist wing and the group’s political arm. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has 12 member of parliament and takes two seats in the cabinet of the government.
The group is designated as a terror group in its entirety by the Arab League, Bahrain, Canada, France, Israel, the Netherlands, and the United States.
But the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom maintain a difference between the group’s military and political wings, seeking only to proscribe the former.
The Hezbollah flags, which were flown at the Al Quds Day march, do not distinguish between two “wings” and the two “wings” both report to the same group leadership in terror chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Mr. Kurten made this point, and asked if this was the reason why the Metropolitan Police Service is not able to intervene when Hezbollah flags are flown. The Mayor admitted this was the case saying “…you’re right…”.
He then asked the Mayor if he would call for the political wing of Hezbollah to be proscribed to bring the UK into line with many other nations. The Mayor responded negatively saying: “That’s not what I’ve committed to…”
UKIP’s other London Assembly member Peter Whittle joined Mr. Kurten in calling on new Prime Minister Theresa May for Hezbollah to be proscribed in its entirety.
Mr Kurten added after the event: “The number one duty of the Mayor is to ensure that Londoners are safe. It is astonishing that in the current climate the Mayor did not call for a blanket ban of Hezbollah, and did not oppose this loophole which is both frightening to many Londoners and also potentially encourages violent hate crime. I hope that on reflection that he will change his mind.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video message Friday laying out steps toward peace to Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority.
“Every Israeli and Palestinian child deserves a life of hope, of tranquility and opportunity. I will continue to work tirelessly for peace. It’s time that you join this effort,” Netanyahu said.
The Palestinian Authority pays roughly 10 percent of its budget annually to terrorists who attack Israelis and financially rewards the killers of Jews. Netanyahu called for Abbas to allocate funding toward co-existence education, rather than violence.
In addition, he laid out examples of Palestinian authorities such as advisor Sultan Abu al Einein advocating and praising the slaughter of Israelis. As Netanyahu noted, one Palestinian terrorist “turned these words into action” and stabbed to death 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel as she slept.
“Advocating genocide is not consistent with peace,” Netanyahu said.
The full statement was as follows:
“President Abbas, since over the past several years, you refused to meet with me and sit down and negotiate peace, I hope you’ll hear this message.
“First, your advisor, Sultan Abu al Einein recently called to slit the throat of every Israeli.
“Three days later, a Palestinian terrorist turned these words into action when he slit the throat of a 13-year-old beautiful girl, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, as she slept. She was a little, innocent girl. She didn’t deserve this. I ask that you fire this advisor because advocating genocide is not consistent with peace.
“Second, your party recently praised a terrorist on Facebook who murdered 24 civilians, innocent Israelis in cold blood. I ask that you to pick up the phone and instruct your party’s social media manager to stop praising mass murderers. Impressionable children read these posts. They should be taught harmony, not hate. Such words seriously harm the chances of peace.
“Third, next week the Palestinian Authority will dedicate a monument to Abu Sukar. Abu Sukar murdered 15 people by detonating a refrigerator filled with explosives on a busy Jerusalem street.
“Rather than dedicate a statue to a mass murderer, I ask that you consider honoring a champion of co-existence. This will help educate future generations to love peace over war, compassion over violence. It will also help convince Israelis that they have a true partner for peace.
“Fourth, the PLO currently pays a monthly salary to anyone who murders Jews. This money provides direct incentive to commit terror. I ask that you stop paying murderers and instead use this money to fund co-existence education. Teach tolerance, not terror.
“Every Israeli and Palestinian child deserves a life of hope, of tranquility and opportunity. I will continue to work tirelessly for peace. It’s time that you join this effort.”
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