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Report: ‘Hundreds’ of Anti-Aircraft Weapons in Syrian Terrorist Hands

August 19, 2014

Syria has been a dangerous place for years; anti-aircraft weapons simply mean the sky is now the limit

By: Hana Levi Julian

Published: August 19th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » Report: ‘Hundreds’ of Anti-Aircraft Weapons in Syrian Terrorist Hands.

 

Gunfire in Syria seen from Israel on the Golan Heights border.
Photo Credit: Tazpit News Agency
 

A Swiss research group has published a report that explains why the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has banned U.S. flights through Syria air space.

The Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey research organization released a report Tuesday warning that armed terror groups in Syria possess portable anti-aircraft weapons.

The weapons present a risk to aircraft like Malaysia Airlines Flight #17, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, allegedly by pro-Russian separatist rebels.

The Swiss group analyzes the global flow of weapons. It estimated the terrorists have access to several hundred of the anti-aircraft missiles.

Its report focused on launchers and missiles known as “man-portable air defense systems,” or MANPADS, which are dangerous to aircraft upon takeoff and departure, and that fly at lower altitudes.

The weapons could also easily be smuggled to other terrorist organizations, the group noted.

The revelation raises red flags for neighboring Israel, already on alert due to incidents in which Syrian mortar and gunfire have been aimed at its northern region.

The Islamic State — formerly known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) or ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) — has been operating in Syria for some time. The group has conquered wide swathes of territory both there and in Iraq, including two border crossings between Iraq and Syria, and one border crossing between Iraq and Jordan.

It is alsos not clear which group has possession of the anti-aircraft weaponry.

The report was released just hours after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had banned all U.S. flights from flying in Syrian air space.

Armed extremists in Syria are “known to be equipped with a variety of anti-aircraft weapons which have the capability to threaten civilian aircraft,” the FAA stated in its notice. In previous alerts, the FAA had warned against flying over Syria but had not issued an outright ban.

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Update: Israel Denies It Agreed to Large-Scale Concessions

August 19, 2014

Israel waited 12 hours to deny an agreement.

Abbas talked with Mashaal while Shin Bet busted coup plot.

By: Tzvi Ben-GedalyahuPublished: August 19th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » Update: Israel Denies It Agreed to Large-Scale Concessions.

 

Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, the terrorist on the left.
Photo Credit: Mohammed al-Hums / Flash 90
 

Israel denied Tuesday morning that it has agreed to large-scale concession to Hamas and stated that no final agreement has been reached.

Egypt announced shortly before midnight Monday that the five-day cease-fire is being extended for another 24 hours.

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Qatar Monday to talk with Hamas’ top dog Khaled Mashaal at almost the same time Israeli security officials announced they busted a Hamas plot to carry out terrorist attacks from Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem and then stage a coup to oust Abbas from power in Ramallah.

Palestinian Authority and Egyptian sources managed to convince media Monday night that a final agreement was in the works. Shortly before the five-day cease-fire was to expire, Hamas, as usual, denied that there was an agreement and blamed Israel for the failure to come to terms for a longer-term truce.

The 24-hour extension indicates that all sides are close to agreeing to the main points of a longer-term truce.

One thing that is for sure is that the truce will be dangerous for all sides, including Abbas but except for Hamas.

Abbas wants to exploit the unity government with Hamas to promote his aim of peacefully doing away with Israel piece by piece. His problem is that Hamas wants to get rid of Abbas, not through peace and not piece by piece.

Israel wants peace and quiet for its citizens and has surrendered its previous condition for peace that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorists must surrender their weapons before any agreement can be made.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon Monday night again threatened to deliver another heavy blow to Hamas if attacks on Israel resume.

They apparently figure that the heavy bombing of terrorist targets in Gaza during the war was enough to keep Gaza terrorists in their place, even if they hold onto their rockets, anti-tank missiles and other advanced weapons that include anti-aircraft missiles that can take down a commercial airline.

Israel reportedly has promised Hamas that the permitted fishing zone will be doubled to six nautical miles and that border crossings on land will be opened. Contrary to the libel of the “siege,” Israel has operated the Kerem Shalom crossing on a daily basis except when Hamas rocket fire endangered security personnel and truck drivers.

Egypt also has agreed to keep open the crossing at the Rafah border.

Israel was said to have  nodded its head in approval to allow Hamas to build and operate a deep-sea port and to resume delivery of “dual-purpose” materials, such as cement, which was used to build tunnels for terror. International supervisors would make sure the dual-purpose materials are earmarked for peaceful purposes, but once Hamas gets its hands on the cement, or fertilizer that can be used for explosives, it is nearly impossible to keep track.

Israel’s denial on Tuesday of the concessions was not official and was attributed to “sources,” leaving open the possibility that negotiators from Jerusalem indeed agreed to concessions but then changed their minds after Hamas balked. Alternatively, Israel simply may have been holding its cards close to the chest to see if Hamas is willing to stop its usual game of agreeing in private and then undermining the agreement by going public with more demands.

Enter Mahmud Abbas, whose security forces are supposed to be deployed in Gaza to maintain peace, if Hamas agrees.

Qatar gave Hamas $100 million for terrorist activities, such as building tunnels, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor told the United Nations Monday.

Hamas is a threat to Abbas as well as it is to Egypt and Israel. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed on Monday that it busted a huge Hamas terrorist network that had been set up in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to stage terrorist attacks on Israelis and de-stabilize the Palestinian Authority to pave the way to oust Abbas and replace him with Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.

Abbas, in a gross understatement Tuesday, said that the plot is “serious.” He is learning, as Israel knows, that playing cards with Hamas is harmful to his life.

Everyone has a lot to lose with the truce agreement that is taking shape. Hamas would lose control of Gaza but regain a new lease on life. Egypt and Israel would lose the opportunity for the time being, to wipe Hamas off the face of the earth. Abbas would face the threat of a rejuvenated Hamas undermining his position of power.

They also have everything to lose if there is no agreement. Hamas would lose an opportunity to gain some respect in the international community, which it would exploit to undermine Abbas and crawl its way back into a position where it can attack Israel.

Egypt would lose its position of power and face the unwanted presence of European and American officials forcing themselves on the scene and taking charge of negotiations and even supervision of borders.

Israel would end up with having made concessions that would be the basis for further surrenders in the next round of negotiations

No one really know what pressures Netanyahu is facing from the Obama administration, but it is a fair presumption that Washington is buying off the Prime Minister with promises to make sure the Palestinian Authority does not go to the International Criminal Court with claims of war crimes against Israel.

If an agreement is not signed tonight, a cease-fire might continue on a de facto basis.

If a truce is signed, it will give U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry an opportunity to make things worse and try again to help Abbas create the Hamas-Fatah Palestinian Authority as a country.

Whether there is or is not an agreement, everyone has a rough ride ahead.

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Report: US exerting pressure on ICC not to open war crimes probe against Israel

August 18, 2014

Report: US exerting pressure on ICC not to open war crimes probe against Israel

By JPOST.COM STAFF08/18/2014 15:09

The Guardian’ quotes lawyers and former court officials as saying that western pressure has influenced decision not to open probe;

ICC probe reportedly among issues being discussed at Cairo cease-fire talks.

via Report: US exerting pressure on ICC not to open war crimes probe against Israel | JPost | Israel News.

 

International criminal court Photo: REUTERS
 

The US and other western powers have exerted pressure on the International Criminal Court at the Hague to prevent a war crimes probe of Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip, The Guardian reported on Monday, quoting former court officials.

During Operation Protective Edge, the Palestinian Authority has threatened to request that the court look into allegations that the civilian deaths in Gaza during the IDF’s operation constitute a war crime.

According to the report, the issue is among the matters being discussed at cease-fire talks in Cairo.

Palestinians requested that the court probe Israel for war crimes in 2009 , following Operation Cast Lead, however that request came before the Palestinians were recognized as a non-member observer state at the United Nations in 2012.

The ICC itself is divided on whether or not it has jurisdiction to probe the matter based on the 2009 request, or whether a new request would have to be submitted, according to The Guardian. The Palestinian factions would have to agree on submitting a new request, a difficult task, as Hamas would also be opening itself up to a war crimes inquiry.

The Guardian reported that western pressure has prevented the ICC from taking the view that the 2009 request gives the court jurisdiction to open a war crimes investigation into Israel’s actions.

Both current ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was prosecutor at the time of the 2009 Palestinian declaration, argue that a new Palestinian request would have to be made to allow the court to open an investigation. However, The Guardian quoted another former official of the court as saying, “They are trying to hide behind legal jargon to disguise what is a political decision, to rule out competence and not get involved.”

The French lawyer representing the Palestinians, Gilles Devers, was quoted by The Guardian as saying that “there is enormous pressure not to proceed with an investigation. This pressure has been exerted on Fatah and Hamas, but also on the office of the prosecutor.

“In both cases, it takes the form of threats to the financial subsidies, to Palestine and to the International Criminal Court,” he added.

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Iran tells UN nuclear chief no talks on missiles

August 17, 2014

Iran tells UN nuclear chief no talks on missiles

Head of IAEA meet with Iranian FM Zarif, President Rouhani to push for progress in a long-running investigation into suspected atomic bomb research

by Tehran.News Agencies Latest Update: 08.17.14, 16:19 / Israel News

via Iran tells UN nuclear chief no talks on missiles – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the visiting head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Sunday that Tehran will not discuss its long-range missile program as part of talks aimed at resolving a decade-long nuclear dispute, official media reported.

UN nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano said Sunday’s visit to Tehran was useful and that he was very glad to hear a firm commitment from Iran to resolve all outstanding issues through cooperation between the two sides.

Amano’s trip came ahead of an Aug. 25 deadline for Iran to provide information relevant to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inquiry into what it calls the possible military dimensions of the country’s disputed nuclear programme.

“Iran’s missile power is not negotiable in any level under any pretext,” Rouhani told Amano, the official IRNA news service reported.

The president added, however, that Iran is prepared to cooperate with the IAEA’s probe into whether its civilian nuclear program has a military component, “since there is no room for using a weapon of mass destruction in Iran’s defense doctrine.”

“This has been a short visit, but a useful one,” Amano said in Tehran after talks with President Hassan Rouhani and other senior Iranian officials, according to a statement issued by the IAEA in Vienna.

The state TV report Sunday said Amano landed in Tehran late Saturday. It said Amano also will visit with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the head of its own nuclear agency.

Amano’s visit comes as world powers continue to negotiate with the Islamic Republic for a permanent deal over its contested nuclear program. Those talks face a November deadline after an interim deal was struck last year.

The West fears Iran’s nuclear program could allow it to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

The visit – announced by the IAEA on Friday – will be Amano’s first to Iran this year and the third since 2012.

Western officials say Iranian clarifications of the IAEA’s concerns would also advance efforts by six world powers to negotiate an end to a decade-old standoff over Tehran’s atomic activities, suggesting some sanctions relief may depend on it.

With major gaps remaining over the permissible future scope of Iran’s uranium enrichment programme, the talks between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, China, Britain and Russia were in mid-July extended until Nov. 24.

Iran says it is enriching uranium to generate electricity, and not to accumulate fissile material for a potential atomic bomb, as the West suspects.

Tehran rejects such suspicions as based on false and fabricated information from its enemies but has promised, since pragmatist Hassan Rouhani became president in mid-2013, to work with the Vienna-based UN agency to clear them up.

Under a phased cooperation pact hammered out late last year, an attempt to jumpstart the long-stalled IAEA investigation, Iran agreed in May to implement five nuclear transparency measures by Aug. 25, two of which directly dealt with the nuclear bomb inquiry.

However, so far there have been no public indications of any movement by Iran on the agreed steps.

A brief statement issued by the U.N. agency on Friday said, without elaborating: “The director general of the IAEA … will visit Iran for meetings on Aug. 17 with Iranian leaders and senior officials. The visit is part of the efforts to advance dialogue and cooperation between the agency and Iran.”

Nuclear intelligence

Diplomatic sources told Reuters in late July that the IAEA – which is tasked with preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the world – was concerned about Iran’s lack of engagement with the investigation.

They said there was still time for Iran to meet its commitments, noting that Tehran had occasionally waited until the last minute to make concessions in the past.

But the slow pace of cooperation may reinforce an impression in the West about continuing Iranian reluctance to give the IAEA the information and access to sites and people that it says it needs for its investigation.

“Unless Iran addresses the IAEA’s concerns … the chance is reduced of successfully negotiating a long term nuclear agreement between the (six powers) and Iran,” the Institute for Science and International Security think-tank said this month.

After years of what the West saw as Iranian stonewalling, Iran as a first step in May gave the IAEA information it had requested about its reasons for developing Exploding Bridge Wire detonators. These can be used to set off an atomic explosive device but Iran says they are for civilian use.

Tehran agreed to clarify two other issues by late August – concerning alleged work on explosives and computer studies related to calculating nuclear explosive yields.

They were among 12 specific areas listed in an IAEA report issued in 2011 with a trove of intelligence indicating a concerted weapons programme that was halted in 2003 – when Iran came under increased international pressure. The intelligence also suggested some activities may later have resumed.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

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Netanyahu: Hamas Mistaken to Think Israel Lacks Unity, Determination or Fortitude

August 17, 2014

Netanyahu pointed out it’s a mistake to underestimate the unity of Israelis when faced with an external threat.

By: Hana Levi Julian

Published: August 17th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » Netanyahu: Hamas Mistaken to Think Israel Lacks Unity, Determination or Fortitude.

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting.
Photo Credit: Marc Israel Sellem / POOL / Flash 90
 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Hamas terrorists Sunday not to underestimate Israel’s ability to hold out under any ‘war of attrition’ the group might attempt.

“We are in the midst of a combined military and diplomatic campaign,” Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s government cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

“From the first day, the Israeli delegation to Cairo has worked under clear instructions: Insist on the security needs of the State of Israel. Only if there is a clear response to our security needs will we agree to reach understandings,” he said.

The comment came in response to the rejection by Hamas of an 11-point tentative plan reached Thursday in Cairo, in connection which Palestinian Arab representatives had expressed optimism.

That was before Hamas leaders had made the requisite pilgrimage to see politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, who is based comfortably in Qatar – not with his suffering brethren in Gaza – and who over the weekend with his Qatari handlers immediately nixed the deal.

Israeli officials had maintained silence about the plan throughout the weekend, other than to say that any deal must meet the security needs of the Jewish State.

On Saturday night, Hamas leaders returned to Gaza with bluster and brazen attitude, demanding the inclusion of two points that were turned down by Israel: construction of a seaport and airport in Gaza. Both would create an instant express route for the import of weaponry into the enclave, totally impractical from Israel’s security standpoint since Hamas has proved itself to be without honor and incapable of sticking to agreements or cease-fires for any length of time.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal revealed the White House placed a ‘hold’ on an imminent delivery of Hellfire missiles that was due to arrive in Israel and issued an order to the Pentagon that future military transactions must be scrutinized directly by the State Department and the Oval Office.

The move emboldened Hamas and its backers, who might otherwise have reached the point of understanding that it was in the best interest of Gazans for Hamas to reach an agreement for quiet, if not peace, with Israel. Instead, the terrorist group decided it would prefer to continue its campaign of terror.

Late Saturday night, Hamas officials announced that Israel should prepare for a “long war of attrition” if the Jewish State is not willing to “meet all our demands.”

But that’s a mistake, Netanyahu said, despite the sporadic demonstrations that terrorists have seen on television protesting against the government’s handling of the conflict.

“In the past month Hamas has taken a severe military blow. We destroyed its network of tunnels that it took years to dig. We intercepted the rockets that it had massed in order to carry out thousands of deadly strikes against the Israeli home front. And we foiled the terrorist attacks that it tried to perpetrate against Israeli civilians – by land, sea and air,” Netanyahu said.

“If Hamas thinks that it can cover up its military loss with a diplomatic achievement, it is mistaken,” he warned. “If Hamas thinks that continued sporadic firing will cause us to make concessions, it is mistaken.

“As long as quiet is not restored, Hamas will continue to take very harsh blows. If Hamas thinks that we cannot stand up to it over time, it is mistaken.

“In the stormy and unstable Middle East in which we live, it is not enough that there be more strength, determination and patience are also necessary. Hamas knows that we are very strong but maybe it thinks that we do not have enough determination and patience, and here it is making a big mistake.”

It is not wise, the prime minister pointed out, to underestimate the unity of the Jewish People when they come under attack from an external enemy. This was the same mistake Hamas made at the very start of Operation Protective Edge.

“We are a strong and determined people. We have seen this in the amazing revelations of strength and resilience in the past weeks on the part of both our soldiers and our civilians,” Netanyahu said.

“We will continue to be steadfast and united until we achieve the goals of the campaign – the restoration of quiet and security for all Israelis.”

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‘Moderate’ Palestinian Authority Claims U.S. Created ISIS To Divide Muslims

August 16, 2014

Moderate’ Palestinian Authority Claims U.S. Created ISIS To Divide Muslims

The US, whose most advanced pawns include Israel and its new creation, ISIS, whose goal is to destroy the Arab world and eliminate the Palestinian cause.”

8.15.2014Israel RevoltJeff Dunetz

via ‘Moderate’ Palestinian Authority Claims U.S. Created ISIS To Divide Muslims | Truth Revolt.

 

 

he supposedly “moderate” Palestinian Authority led by President Abbas is rewarding the billions of dollars provided by this country by inciting its citizens to hate the United States, claiming America has established the radical Islamic movement Islamic State (ISIS or IS) with the long-term goal of controlling the Arab-Muslim states by dividing them through conflict and wars.​

On August 7th, the official Palestinian Authority TV Station, the “Palestine News Network,” reported Fatah Central Committee Member Abbas Zaki made the claim:

Fatah Central Committee Member and Commissioner of Arab Relations and Relations with China Abbas Zaki said the Palestinian language and terminology [employed] with the Zionist enemy must be changed, as whoever has seen the extent of the destruction, the ruins and the limbs torn from the pure bodies of our people in Gaza understands the goals of the Zionist attack (i.e., Operation Protective Edge) – [namely,] to exploit the terrible situation in the Arab world that has resulted from the lack of bravery, enthusiasm and willpower among those [countries] who have made subjugation to the US their way [of life]… [The US,] whose most advanced pawns include Israel and its new creation, ISIS, whose goal is to destroy the Arab world and eliminate the Palestinian cause.

Additionally five times in the past six week the official Palestinian Authority Newspaper “Al-Hayat Al-Jadida” published an op-ed slandering America with the same claim. Below are three examples:

A July 10th Op-ed by Adli Sadeq, PLO Ambassador to India and regular columnist for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, said, in part:

It is Israel that, whenever it gets bored, returns to Gaza with military aircraft to destroy homes and facilities and kill children. Where is the help, you [Hezbollah] sectarian liars who collaborate with the Persian Ayatollahs… hostile [ones], and your ilk – the CIA’s collaborators from the ISIS -who destroy revolutions and give nations a bad name?

Palestinian Youth Union General Director Muharram Barghouti wrote on July 16th:

The ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq), Islamic Front, and Al-Nusra Front (i.e., all radical Islamists) are Muslims from various countries the US is using to fight in Iraq and Syria, in order to fragment the unity of these two Arab countries…

We are now more aware that the Americans – who want to fight for their own interests using Islamic, Jewish and Christian believers – are truly the head of the snake… ISIS’s declaration that it will fight Israel only after it has finished with the infidels merely proves that ISIS in Syria and Iraq will not fight the Jewish ISIS, because the plot is the same plot, the boss is the same boss, and the goal is the same goal: to tear [apart] the Arab homeland and gain control of its resources – through the blood of others.”

Palestinian Author Ibrahim Abd Al-Majid​’s op-ed on August 3rd:

This [ignorance] has peaked in [recent] years, with the radical terrorists of ISIS and those like them, who were created by Israel and the US, and are paving the way for Israel to act like them.”

These as well as the remaining examples were originally posted at Palwatch

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1st Cavalry soldiers headed to Poland, Baltics

August 15, 2014

1st Cavalry soldiers headed to Poland, Baltics

By Jon Harper

Stars and Stripes Published: August 13, 2014

via 1st Cavalry soldiers headed to Poland, Baltics – News – Stripes.

 

WASHINGTON — Approximately 600 soldiers from the Army’s 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division will deploy to Poland and the Baltic states to help reassure European allies who feel threatened by Russian military moves, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.

The troops and their equipment — which include M-1 Abrams tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers — will go to Europe in October for a three-month series of training exercises.

The soldiers, based at Fort Hood, Texas, are replacing about 600 paratroopers from the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is based in Vicenza, Italy. The “Sky Soldiers” have been conducting exercises with Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since April as part of ongoing Operation Atlantic Resolve.

“These land training exercises … help foster interoperability through small unit and leader training,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said.

In addition to ground forces, the U.S. has also sent F-16 combat aircraft to Poland and participated in NATO air policing missions over the Baltics.

The exercises came at the request of host nations that fear a resurgent Russia, which annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine earlier this year and continues to support a pro-Russia separatist movement in eastern Ukraine.

For months, the Russian military has massed forces along the border with Ukraine and provided advanced weaponry and other assistance to the rebels. In recent days, Moscow has announced its intention to send a convoy of trucks into Ukraine to deliver what it says is humanitarian aid to separatist-held areas under pressure from Ukrainian government forces.

Kiev has said it will allow Russian humanitarian aid into the affected region, but only if it is delivered by the International Red Cross. Russia wants to deliver the supplies directly.

Ukrainian and Western officials are concerned that the alleged humanitarian mission might be a ruse to enable Russia to provide more military help to the separatists.

On Tuesday, Warren warned that Russian aid convoys could be a “Trojan horse.”

harper.jon@stripes.com
Twitter: @JHarperStripes

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No change in policy on weapons deliveries to Israel, US says

August 14, 2014

No change in policy on weapons deliveries to Israel,US says

By MICHAEL WILNER, HERB KEINON 08/14/2014 21:46

Without issuing full denial of report that White House ordered halt of delivery of Hellfire missiles, administration officials say claims were a mischaracterization of inter-agency procedure, unchanged policy.

via No change in policy on weapons deliveries to Israel, US says | JPost | Israel News.

 

US President Barack Obama.
Photo: REUTERSWASHINGTON — The Obama administration denied on Thursday that it was surprised by the processing of a munitions delivery by the Pentagon to Israel during its operation in Gaza last month.
 

Without issuing a full-throated denial of a report that the White House issued a halt on the delivery of Hellfire missiles, administration officials said the claims, first surfacing in the Wall Street Journal, were a mischaracterization of inter-agency procedure, and of a policy unchanged.
Related:

Report: US halted weapons transfer to Israel during Gaza offensive
Politicians weigh in on ‘crisis in US-Israel relations’

“Let me be clear: there has been no change in policy, period,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said. “Given the crisis in Gaza, it is natural that agencies take additional care with deliveries as part of an inter-agency process.”

During Operation Protective Edge, the Pentagon said that the delivery was standard, and part of the United States’ commitment to Israel’s qualitative military edge, both through their maintaining broad defensive and offensive capabilities.

Harf said that the “additional care” taken by the administration does not represent a “permanent change in process.”

At the initial revelation of the July sales, media outlets in the Middle East slammed the administration for the timing of the deliveries, in the heat of the crisis.

But Harf also pushed back strongly at the notion that the US reviewed its process due to media pressures. “This has nothing to do with publicity,” she said.

Earlier Thursday, Israeli officials reaffirmed the oft-repeated mantra Thursday that under the Obama administration US-Israel security ties have never been better, even as the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House is holding up the sale of precision Hellfire missiles to Jerusalem.

According to the piece, the Obama administration has tightened its control of arms transfers to Israel, requiring White House and State Department approval for even routine munitions requests by Israel.

“Instead of being handled as a military-to-military matter, each case is now subject to review—slowing the approval process and signaling to Israel that military assistance once taken for granted is now under closer scrutiny,” the story said.

The report came out on the same day that the Hurriyet Daily News reported that the US cleared a potential $320 million advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) sale to Turkey “amid increasing security risks in the region.”

The decision for White House and State Department oversight over arms requests by Israel is the seeming culmination of a series of very public disagreements between the two allies over the Gaza conflict, with Israel unhappy with the way the US tried to bring Qatar and Turkey into cease-fire negotiations last month, and Washington upset at what it considered the often “heavy-handed” way Israel fought the war and caused civilian casualties.

The Wall Street Journal piece was just the latest in a series of stories over the last few weeks reporting of a “new low” in relations between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama.

Other incidents in recent weeks that added fuel to the sense of a crisis in the ties were the following

* Netanyahu allegedly telling US envoy Dan Shapiro earlier in the month, after Hamas violated a cease-fire and killed three IDF soldiers in Rafah, that the US should never “second guess” him on Hamas.

* The leak of an alleged transcript of an Obama-Netanyahu conversation where an angry Obama demanded that Israel agree to a cease-fire

* The White House calling the shelling of a UN facility that lead to innocent deaths as “disgraceful.”

* Israeli anger at a US cease-fire proposal that would have given an enhanced Turkish and Qatari role, followed by US anger that Israel allegedly leaked the draft proposal and was disrespectful in its criticism of US Secretary of State John Kerry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the phone conversation between Netanyahu and Obama on Wednesday was also “combative,” a characterization denied in Jerusalem.

The paper said that the Gaza conflict has convinced many administration officials that Netanyahu and his national security team were “both reckless and untrustworthy.” Israeli officials were quoted as saying that the Obama administration was weak and naive, and that they were trying to bypass the White House in favor of allies in Congress and elsewhere in the administration.

A senior Obama administration official was quoted as saying “We have many, many friends around the world. The United States is their strongest friend. The notion that they are playing the United States, or that they’re manipulating us publicly, completely miscalculates their place in the world.”

Israeli officials denied the allegations that it was going around the White House to secure arms deliveries. Regarding the Hellfires, the officials said that “we’ve made a request, and we believe the request will be fulfilled.”

At a press conference earlier this month with the foreign press, Netanyahu said that the US has been “terrific” during the current crisis.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s office, meanwhile, would not commenting on the report, saying only that there was a conversation on Wednesday between Ya’alon and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel that went well.

In a statement released on Thursday, Ya’alon’s office quoted him as saying “we very much appreciate our relations with the United States. The relations between our security establishments are very good.”

He said that relationships like that between the US and Israel are made even more important because of the challenges posed by extremists in the region, which he listed as Hamas, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Iran.

Obama and Netanayhu have worked together – some say have had to “deal with each other” – longer than any other US president and Israeli prime minister in history. Charges that the Netanyahu’s famously rocky relationship with Obama is harming the vital Israel-US relationship has been a common theme of his opponents and critics both in Israel and the US over the last six years.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid responded to the Wall Street Journal report by saying it represented a “worrisome trend, and we cannot let it continue.

“The relationship with the US,,” he said, was a “strategic asset that must not be harmed. Sometimes we simply have to know how to say thank you.”

Former president Shimon Peres, during a meeting with visiting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, also related to the report, saying that he was “full of thanks and appreciation to the US, as are all Israel’s citizens, for firmly standing beside Israel for the 66 years of its existence.”

Meanwhile, a Fox News poll on Wednesday found that 38% of the American public does not think Obama has been supportive enough of Israel. Another 33% think his support has been “about right,” and 18% believe he has been “too supportive.” Eleven percent said they did not know.

Ben Hartman contributed to this report

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History of Cease-Fires Shows Israel as the Big Loser

August 14, 2014

A course in Israeli cease-fire 101: Agree to UN and US promises and hold the bag when they are broken.

By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu

Published: August 14th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » History of Cease-Fires Shows Israel as the Big Loser.

 

Obama to the rescue – of himself.
Photo Credit: White House Photo/Pete Sousa
 

President Barack Obama’s direct contact with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to devise a long-term cease-fire plan follows a long history of American and U.N. ventures that have flopped, all of them at Israel’s expense.

Egypt has been the power broker in trying to maintain a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, and Obama is trying to put his foot in the Middle East door to reclaim American influence based by whittling down the popularity of Netanyahu.

His “poll numbers are a lot higher than mine” and “were greatly boosted by the war in Gaza,” Obama told Thomas Friedman of The New York Times last week. . “And so if he doesn’t feel some internal pressure, then it’s hard to see him being able to make some very difficult compromises, including taking on the settler movement.”

It’s always the fault of the settlers. If it rains on the picnic, it is because of the settlers. If Obama’s popularity drops, it is because of the settlers who are an obstacle to his illusions.

The war against terror n Gaza has made Netanyahu even more popular. A Knesset Channel poll released this week shows that the Likud party that he heads would win almost 50 percent more seats than it now has in the Knesset if elections were held today. That translated into 28 mandates compared with 19.

Obama must be politically jealous of Netanyahu, considering the president’s dismal ratings.

Jealous or not, Obama has the habit of most previous presidents to pressure Israel, often by blocking or threatening to block military aid. That is what happened during the war, when Obama stopped the United States from shipping missiles to Israel, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Obama’s phone conversation with Netanyahu was reported as “combative,” nothing new for the two leaders who have distrusted each other during the president’s two terms of office.

The American government’s one-track mind for the “peace process” blocks out all reality, which is a lot different in the Middle East than in the United States. The Jewish Home party’s Housing Minister Ur Ariel said it in a matter of fact way on Thursday – “Americans don’t understand what is happening in the region.”

But that doesn’t stop Obama from throwing his weight around and bullying himself into Iraq, Syria and Egypt only to look like a fish out of water.

Like Carter, Clinton and even Regan, Obama has the freedom to exploit Israel’s democracy and run roughshod over the government to “make peace” with cease-fires that make war.

That is what happened in 2012 to conclude the Pillar of Cloud campaign against Hamas terror, and that is what happened in 2009 to conclude the Operation Cast Lead campaign against terror.

That is what happened in 2006, when the United Nations and the United States brokered a cease-fire that ended the Second Lebanese War and promised the moon, whose location has not moved since. Hezbollah was supposed to be dis-armed under United Nations supervision, which is like Hamas agreeing to dis-arm under Mahmoud Abbas’ supervision.

“For proxies such as the Palestinian Sunni faction Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, the centuries old Islamic jurisprudence of Hudna (tactical truce) and Tahadiya (temporary calm) serve as a plausibly regrouping tactic that is continuously reshaped amid the changing face of modern warfare in the Middle East,” Israel Defense noted during the war.

Enter U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whose “peace process” and ceasefires self-destruct.

He and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon orchestrated a humanitarian cease-fire last month. It lasted for 90 minutes. At least five other cease-fires failed.

Israel Defense reported, “Following the inability to transmute any ceasefire, Hudna or Tahadiya over the last decade into encompassing political progress, the tone is that ceasefires only exasperate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the medium-to long-term. Paradoxically, it is the achievement of these bitesize ceasefires as a short term benefit that has trampled on the utility of ceasefire.”

And that is one of the reasons Netanyahu cannot stomach Obama, who in his words knows what is best for Israel, more than Israel knows, just as he and his foreign policy advisers knew what is best for Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

“How can you create a State of Israel that maintains its democratic and civic traditions.” He rhetorically asked Friedman in last week’s interview.

“How can you preserve a Jewish state that is also reflective of the best values of those who founded Israel? And, in order to do that, it has consistently been my belief that you have to find a way to live side by side in peace with Palestinians. … You have to recognize that they have legitimate claims, and this is their land and neighborhood as well.”

That is why Obama wants a cease-fire. He is not concerned about Hamas, he is not concerned about Israel

He is concerned about the “peace process,” which for years has proven to be the “war process.”

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FRIEDMAN: As The Middle East Burns, The UN Simply Blames Jews

August 14, 2014

FRIEDMAN: As The Middle East Burns, The UN Simply Blames JewsBoth the media and the United Nations are willing to legitimize Hamas while reprimanding Israel for defending herself against an existential threat

.8.14.2014 Israel Revolt Truth Revolt

via FRIEDMAN: As The Middle East Burns, The UN Simply Blames Jews | Truth Revolt.

 

Yesterday, Hamas broke yet another cease-fire, only hours after Israel had agreed to extend the lull in the fighting. On Monday, the United Nations announced the creation of a special three-person Human Rights Council panel that will review allegations of human rights and international law violations occurring in the current Israel-Gaza conflict. One of the members of this panel has openly stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be his favorite person to have tried in the International Criminal Court. This council is supposed to be unbiased and impartial. While the United Nations was busy focusing all its energy on these allegations, they forgot to discuss a few other crises occurring in the Middle East.

In Iraq:

Over the last year and a half, the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an Al-Qaeda splinter cell, has taken control of large swaths of territory via violent means. At a glance:

Over 13,300: is the number of civilians killed by ISIS since the beginning of 2013

6,000: is the number of Iraqi civilians butchered by ISIS this year

500: is the number of Yazidis (a Kurdish Iraqi minority) killed by ISIS, some of which were buried alive

0: is the number of practicing Christians left in Mosul, a city that is now controlled by ISIS; ISIS has made Christianity punishable by death, thus forcing all Christians to either convert or flee.

As ISIS is carrying out targeted killings against minority groups and Iraqi Christians, it is safe to say that they are successfully carrying out genocide in Iraq. Unlike the Israel-Gaza conflict, this crisis has gone almost unmentioned for the last year and a half, even though scores of more people have been killed in Iraq than in the current Israel-Gaza conflict.

In Syria:

More than 170,000: is the number of people killed since start of the civil war

More than 54,000: is a conservative estimate of the number of civilians killed in the Syrian Civil War

More than 14,100: is the number of women and children killed in the Syrian Civil War

More than 1800: is the number of Palestinian-Arabs killed in the Syrian Civil War

The media scarcely reports on the ongoing civil war that is still raging in Syria; this past July was one of the deadliest months of the conflict thus far. It is of note that the United Nations has stopped updating its count of the Syrian death toll; it claims it cannot verify the sources behind the numbers. Essentially, they refuse to take the time to verify the sources and keep track of the death toll.

Last but not least, for the sake of comparison, Israel:

Approximately 87,000: is the number of Palestinian-Arabs killed in the Israeli-Arab conflict since 1948. More people have died in the last three years alone in the Syrian Civil War, but these victims have largely been forgotten by the international community.

More than 3500: is the number of rockets launched at Israel since the start of Protective Edge, each one of which constitutes an attempt to murder Israeli civilians. This is a war crime.

Approximately 1900: is the number of Palestinian Arabs killed since the start of Protective Edge.

Approximately 900-1300: is the estimated number of Palestinian-Arabs civilians killed amongst the 1900 total. The lower number is that estimated by the IDF, while the higher number is that estimated by Palestinian sources, many of which are run by Hamas. There are varying other estimates that fall between these numbers.

Recently, reports have surfaced that disprove the claim that the majority of the people killed in this conflict have been Palestinian civilians. In fact, research done by both the BBC as well as an Israeli research group indicates that the numbers of civilians and militants killed may be closer to equal. This is not a means to justify the number of civilians killed, because loss of innocent life is terrible. However, it is unfair and unjust to inflate figures merely to claim that one party’s response is disproportionate to the other’s actions. If the validity of war were judged based on the number of casualties on each side, then the Allies would bear the blame for World War II.

As for the allegations Israel of committing war crimes, indiscriminately ordering strikes within Gaza and violating human rights:

4,762: is the number of terror targets the IDF struck between July 8 and August 5. Again, without trying to justify loss of civilian life and using the larger estimates for the number of civilian casualties, this works out to one civilian killed for every 3.6 strikes. If Israel were truly indiscriminately targeting Palestinian civilians, the number of civilians killed in each strike would be much higher.

Additionally, the mainstream media often states that the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, and Hamas only fires from civilian areas because of this fact. This is a distortion of the truth.

Here is the salient point:

Information recently released by the Gatestone Institute indicates that while the city centers of Gaza are very densely populated, there are many emptier areas of Gaza. Mainstream media outlets never show these areas because there is scarcely fighting there. Additionally, maps that show the origin of rocket attacks show that almost none of the attacks originate in these empty areas. This begs the question, if Hamas were concerned with Gaza’s civilians, why not fire rockets from these emptier areas? Why fire them from some of the most populated areas in the world? The answer is that as a terrorist organization, Hamas has no regard for civilians of any kind.

Up to this point I have refrained from addressing the claim that Hamas uses the civilians of Gaza as human shields. There is real and jarring evidence to support this claim. Hamas hides behind the civilians of Gaza by choosing to launch rocket attacks from densely populated areas and leaves the IDF no choice but to carry out strikes in these areas. Hamas does this knowing that images of deceased civilians will flood TV screens throughout the world, and that the international community will cry out in rage against Israel. Hamas has the option to set up their headquarters in empty areas of Gaza instead of in hospitals and homes, but has repeatedly choose the latter. By making this choice, Hamas bears the blame for the loss of civilian life and is committing war crimes.

Lastly, during Operation Protective Edge, Israel provided the following supplies to Gaza:

40,550: is the number of tons of supplies transferred to Gaza

37,178: is the number of tons of food transferred to Gaza

1,694: is the number of tons of humanitarian goods transferred to Gaza

1,029: is the number of tons of medicine and medical supplies transferred to Gaza

1,856: is the number of trucks needed to carry these supplies

Many of these supplies were delivered via the Kerem Shalom crossing, which has been repeatedly attacked with barrages of Hamas rockets in order to prevent these aid shipments from entering the Gaza Strip. So even though Israel has been more than willing to give assistance to the people of Gaza, Hamas will not allow them to have it.

Given the force with which the United States carried out its strikes against terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is no doubt that they would have responded in the same manner to a barrage of rockets raining down on the United States homeland. Additionally, the United States has renewed airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and is being credited not only with further securing the homeland, but with saving the lives of civilians in Northern Iraq. These airstrikes serve the same purpose to the people of the Iraq as Operation Protective Edge does to the people of Israel: to protect the lives of civilians against terrorist attacks. Throughout history, there have been numerous cases of countries striking back at terrorists in order to secure the safety of their people. In the larger majority of these instances, civilians have died, as war is mayhem. No other country in the world is forced to live under the constant fear that Israel lives with day in and day out, and yet no other country in the world has faced the amount of backlash that Israel continues to receive in the name of self-defense.

When the mainstream media reports on ISIS, they waste no time calling them a dangerous terrorist organization that must be stopped. ISIS and Hamas are incredibly similar; they are both extremist groups perverting the beliefs of a peace-loving religion to further their cause. It is truly mind-boggling that the mainstream media is willing to ignore this fact, as is the United Nations. Both the media and the United Nations are willing to legitimize Hamas while reprimanding Israel for defending herself against an existential threat. At the end of the day, all Israel wants is to live in peace with her neighbors; this operation must continue so that Israel is able to do just that.

Ashley Friedman is a 2014 graduate of the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She is a proud Zionist and dual Israeli-American citizen.

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