Syria's nuclear secrets at TNR:
Syria is getting a free ride. It has suffered no consequence for snubbing the IAEA. Already shaken by North Korea’s defection and Iran’s manipulation, the nonproliferation treaty now finds itself at a crossroads. If it cannot be enforced in Syria, a relatively weak country currently buffeted by its own Arab spring, the wounded agreement risks falling into irrelevance—and the region into a tense nuclear future. The treaty’s survival requires that the international community draw a line. It should start at the gates of Damascus.
GIYUS interviews Benny Begin:
Now we sum it up – look at the map, it's a new Muslim crescent. Five countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, comprise an Islamic radical block, with terrorism and instability emanating from two of them to the whole Middle East. That's even before Iran has acquired nuclear weapons ability.
The irony is that out of these 5 countries the majority are democracies. 3 out of 5 are democracies. Of course, the numbers are small so it's not a great sample, but to me these observations, that are factual, there is no assessment there, afford constraints on the possible positive outcome of the revolutions in the Middle East.
Fiamma Nirenstein on Arrigoni:
The crucial issue is this: When you go to Gaza or Afghanistan, it is important to realize that our concept of life is completely different from politically Islamic people's concept of life. To them, you can die because you are Jewish, because you are Italian, or Christian, because you are an apostate, or a corrupt Westerner... the extremist mentality, make no bones about it, cancels out friends and allies. No matter how much you have worked against the "Zionist power" or that you have called Zionists "rats," as Arrigoni did, nothing is of any worth if you break their rule -- a rule which will remain changing and unclear until the knife blade comes.
NGO Monitor on Sarah Leah Whitson:
An op-ed by Human Right Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Director Sarah Leah Whitson, “A Matter of Civil Rights” (Huffington Post, April 15, 2011), blatantly exploits the US Civil Rights Movement to vilify and demonize Israel.
Abusing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King: “In a week when the U.S. paused to recall the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, President Peres might have considered King's message -- an end to segregation -- and why such a system of racial inequality remains in place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
This op-ed contains 23 references that abuse civil rights rhetoric in this way, including accusations of “laws and policies [that] strictly segregate Jews from Palestinians,” “blatant racial inequality,” and “racial discrimination and segregation.” This is Whitson’s dominant theme.
From Ian:
Israel's surprising Hamas-Abbas dilemma
A correct reading of the political map indicates that the only option for ending the Hamas reign in Gaza is to let it collapse. Politically, Hamas is besieged and isolated. Egypt considers it a terrorist organization and has been blocking the Rafah crossing between the Strip and the Sinai, which is a vital lifeline for Gaza and its impoverished residents. Hamas is attempting to forge ties and obtain aid from other Arab countries, but the only country willing to do so is Qatar, and it is unclear how much longer that support will last. Turkey helps out a bit, but Hamas attempts to get assistance from Saudi Arabia and Iran have not been very successful. Ideologically, Hamas, as a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, is considered an enemy of both Tehran and Riyadh.
Hamas does not have the money to pay its 40,000 employees. This month, between 50 and 65 percent of their salaries were cut, with the minimum set at NIS1,000 (about $250). Hamas chiefs are accusing Ramallah of preventing the payment of salaries, and UN envoy Mladenov is continuing his efforts to guarantee payment for the civilian government clerks in Gaza, most of them employees of the education and health systems hired by Hamas in recent years. How long can Hamas hold on? Hard to say. What is clear for the time being is that Hamas is not angling for another war, not yet. Given the region’s instability, that, too, is a lot.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians Need Reforms, Not Elections
In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 TV station, Carter, possibly wishing to believe anything he was told, declared that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was a strong proponent of the peace process. Carter went on to claim that Mashaal has accepted the two-state solution and was in favor of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which recognizes Israel's right to exist in return for a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.
Carter's defense of Hamas comes even as Hamas and its leaders continue to talk about their plans and wishes to destroy Israel. It also coincides with Hamas's ongoing and intensive preparations for another war with Israel as they dig new tunnels and rebuild others that were destroyed in the Gaza Strip by Israel in the war less than a year ago .
Free and democratic elections are the last thing the Palestinians need now. Such elections would only pave the way for a Hamas takeover of the Palestinian Authority and plunge the region into chaos and violence. As long as Abbas's Fatah faction is not seen as a better alternative to Hamas, it would be too risky to ask Palestinians to head to the ballot boxes. Instead of pressuring the Palestinians to hold new elections, world leaders should be demanding accountability and transparency from the PA.
They should also be urging the Palestinian Authority to pave the way for the emergence of new leaders and get rid of all the corrupt old-guard representatives who have been in power for decades. Finally, the international community should be urging the PA to stop its campaign to delegitimize and isolate Israel, which drives more Palestinians into the open arms of Hamas and other radical groups, who assume that if the Israelis are as terrible as they are told, they might as well join the group dedicated to killing them rather than to discussing peace.
John Bolton: How to Stop Iran? Start Talking About North Korea
Besides being one of the planet’s poorest, most isolated, most repressed countries, the North has been under comprehensive American sanctions since the Korean War and extensive UN sanctions since 2006, when it resumed ballistic-missile launches and first tested a nuclear device.
None of this prevented Pyongyang from progressing to the threatening levels China now assesses.
This alone should warn us that the less-comprehensive, less well-enforced sanctions against Iran could never compel it to renounce its 30-year quest for deliverable nuclear weapons. If North Korea, perennially on the brink of starvation, can become a nuclear power, Iran can easily match its fellow rogue state.
China’s new estimates should thereby compel a critical re-evaluation of the talks among Iran and the Security Council’s permanent members (and Germany).
A deal blocking Iran from proceeding quickly to nuclear weapons, whatever its specific terms, rests on two critical assumptions:
First, the United States and others must have essentially full knowledge about the current status of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs.
Without such a “baseline” assessment, we cannot possibly judge the likely efficacy of a counter-proliferation agreement. If you don’t know where you start, you can hardly judge the sufficiency of the measures agreed to.
Second, following the baseline assessment, Iran must either be fully transparent about its nuclear and missile programs, or a combination of international inspectors and our intelligence agencies must be able to provide the facts necessary to detect and respond to Iranian violations.
Neither of these fundamental preconditions exists in the April 2 “framework.” This defect alone should be central to the debate if a “final” deal is ever reached.
AP Reporter to State Dept: If Iran ‘Routinely Screws’ Other Western Countries, Why is Nuke Deal Any Different
In a testy exchange on Friday between Associated Press reporter Matt Lee and the State Department’s Acting Deputy Spokesman, Jeff Rathke, Lee questioned whether the Iranian regime can be trusted to adhere to the nuclear deal with world powers now under discussion in New York.
If the Iranians “routinely…screw other countries in this hemisphere on agreements,” Lee asked, why does the State Department view the nuclear deal differently.
Lee said his question was prompted by recent remarks made by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, in which she said that, “the involvement of Iran in the Western Hemisphere is never benign.”
She said that Iran’s efforts to infiltrate the Western Hemisphere had been blunted not only by pressure from sanctions, but because many countries in the West had become distrustful of the Iranians because they have constantly failed to live up to the agreements they have negotiated with those countries.
Website with Ties to Iran’s Leadership Publishes Anti-Semitic Blood Libel
An article published in the influential Persian-language Iranian website Alef claimed that Jews are “human history’s most bloodthirsty people.” The article provided “evidence” based on “historical events” drawn from some of the most infamous blood libels in Europe, which were previously used to justify the mass killings of Jews. Alef is owned by Ahmad Tavakkoli, a member of Iran’s parliament and a cousin to Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council; Sadeq Larijani, the Chief Justice of Iran; and Ali Larijani, the powerful speaker of Iran’s parliament.
The article pushes the classic lie that Jews require human blood for the baking of matzahs for Passover, and acquire it by sacrificing the children of their enemies. More generally, the article repeats the libel that throughout history, Jews murdered Christian children during the celebration of their various holidays. It also claims that those performing ritual Jewish circumcision suck the blood of Jewish infants and cause them harm.
In his analysis of the article, Mehdi Khalaji, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, explained how anti-Semitism has become an influential ideology of revolutionary Iran.
State Dept Won’t Say Whether Obama Admin Has Asked Iran to Release Seized Cargo Ship
The State Department refused to say whether it has demanded that Iran release a Marshall Islands cargo vessel commandeered by the Islamic Republic.
“We continue to monitor the situation. We are in touch with the Marshall Islands,” said Jeff Rathke, a spokesman for the State Department, after being asked whether the United States has made any effort to retrieve the ship.
When asked again, Rathke said that he had nothing else to read out.
On Tuesday, Iranian ships forced the Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands cargo ship, further into Iranian waters by firing a warning shot across its bow. The cargo vessel was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz when it was confronted at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time.
The Embassy of the Marshall Islands in Washington, D.C., claimed that the United States is obligated by treaty to defend the Marshall Islands.
“The United States has the full security responsibility over the islands and for the defense of the islands, this is what our treaty says,” said Junior Aini, the chargé d’affaires for the embassy.
The Pentagon has denied that a U.S. military response was obligated by treaty.
Iran Claims New Oil Export Record of 7 Million Barrels in Single Day
Despite the continuation of economic sanctions against Iran, the country is claiming that it hit a new oil export record of 7 million barrels in one day, semi-official state news agency Mehr reported, citing Seyed Pirouz Mousavi, the CEO of Iranian Oil Terminals Company.
Mousavi noted that, “over the past few weeks, eight ports at Kharg oil terminal were simultaneously engaged, and after ten years the export of seven million barrels of oil in a day was made possible.”
The main reason for the dramatic increase, claims Iran, is a rise in its oil exports to Japan and India, despite exports to China slightly dropping.
Daniel Tragerman was killed by mortar fired from UN facility – ex-IDF chief
The mortar round that killed four-year-old Daniel Tragerman on the second to last day of the war in and around Gaza last summer was fired from a United Nations installation, Lt. Gen. (res) Benny Gantz, the commander of the army during the 50-day war, said on Monday.
“I will share with you my painful experience of visiting 75 [bereaved] families in the last four months of my service… I went to visit each and every family [bereaved by the Gaza war]. No media. Just them and me,” Gantz said, speaking in English at an Israel Law Center conference on the need to change the laws of war.
“I went and visited the civilians that were killed. That includes the family of Daniel Tragerman, four years old, that I was in the same kibbutz when they shot those mortars from a UN installation in Gaza.”
Gantz had happened to be visiting Kibbutz Nahal Oz — a community perched roughly one mile from the Gaza Strip — on August 22, 2014, when a mortar shell fired from Gaza landed outside the Tragerman family’s home, killing Daniel. The mortar shell landed outside and sent shrapnel smashing into the home. Daniel and his family had only a three-second warning between the sounding of the alarm and the impact of the mortar round that killed him.
Attempted stabbing attack at Jerusalem light rail station, no injuries
A 35-year-old Palestinian terrorist was shot by private security guards near a French Hill light rail stop after attempting to stab several pedestrians late Monday morning.
There were no injuries in the incident that occurred at the Givat Hamivtar station near the capital's French Hill neighborhood.
According to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, the attack took place shortly before noon.
"The suspect tried to stab a number of people and was shot by private security guards nearby," said Rosenfeld.
"No one was injured and the terrorist was taken to Hadassah Hospital in serious condition."
The suspect's identity and background remain unclear.
Two UN men wounded by Syrian fire on Golan Heights
Two UN peacekeepers were wounded on Monday when mortar rounds fired from Syria hit their base in the Israeli part of the Golan Heights, an army spokesman said.
“Mortar shells hit the Golan in Ein Zivan and in the Zivanit UNDOF base. Two UN peacekeeping soldiers were evacuated to Israel for medical care,” IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner wrote on his official Twitter account.
Israel public radio said the two were lightly wounded.
The army said the fire was not deliberately aimed at the Israeli side of the plateau, but was stray fire from the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Tensions high along Israel-Syria border but nobody wants war
Tensions have flared along Israel’s northern border for the second time this year, following a suspected Israeli Air Force attack on weapon deliveries to Hezbollah. Days later, when Hezbollah gunmen tried to plant an explosive device on the Israeli border, an Israeli air strike killed the four men.
Most Middle East analysts say that neither Israel nor Hezbollah wants a war.
“An escalation with Israel is the last thing that Hezbollah wants,” Mario Abou Zeid, from the Carnegie Middle East Center, based in Beirut told The Media Line. “It would mean being caught between two fronts.”
He said Hezbollah fighters have invested heavily in the Syrian conflict on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and hundreds have been killed. Abou Zeid said the Shi’ite militia were demanding that official security forces take on more roles in domestic Lebanese security – tasks that previously Hezbollah had overseen. That, he said, is proof that the fighters feel they are stretched too thin.
Rocket Materials Smuggled to Gaza Nabbed at Border
A gag order was lifted on Monday morning revealing that smuggling attempts on illegal goods such as parts needed in constructing rockets that originated from Egypt have been blocked at the Nitzana border crossing in the past two months.
The latest smuggling incident that was caught occurred two weeks ago, when inspectors located and seized 1,200 tubes of polyurethane hidden in a shipment of silicone.
Polyurethane has been forbidden from entry to Gaza given that it is used by terrorist organizations to produce rocket propulsion materials.
The latest incident is just the most recent in a string of attempts since the start of March, when two similar incidents occurred.
A shipment of paint cans arrived at the Nitzana crossing in early March, with inspectors discovering that a portion of the cans had a forbidden hardening material HARDNER professionally concealed within them. The material can be used to create rocket propellants.
A nearly identical attempt to smuggle HARDNER into Gaza via paint cans was also foiled in mid-February.
Another Blood Libel from "Peace-seeking" Palestinians at the UN
The UN held yet another Israel-bashing meeting, this time of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on May 1, 2015, at UN headquarters in New York.
And Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour made yet another of his blood libels. In his words: "Israeli occupying forces engage in a pattern of killing and maiming children... Israel, the occupying power, deliberately targets schools and hospitals."
Palestinian use of children as human shields, hospitals as terrorist command centers, and schools as weapons depots, somehow was omitted from his remarks.
Hamas Thanks Morocco for Disinviting Peres
The Hamas terrorist organization is delighted by the decision of the Moroccan government, which cancelled the invitation of former Prime Minister Shimon Peres to the Clinton Global Initiative conference to be held in Marrakesh from Tuesday to Thursday.
Mohammed Faraj al-Ghul, an MP and Hamas faction chairman at the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), welcomed the "courageous" uninvitation, calling for a continued struggle against normalization with "the Israeli occupation."
Speaking to Abdullah Boano, a leader in Morocco's ruling Justice and Development Party which is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood that Hamas is a Gaza-based offshoot of, al-Ghul called the cancellation a sign of the support for "Palestine" among Arab and Islamist leaders.
Boano said last Friday, "our government is innocent of all accusations regarding the invitation of this Zionist, Shimon Peres, to Morocco."
"There are attempts to make it look like the government invited this Zionist to Morocco," he added, blaming his political opposition of "seeking to undermine the government’s popularity."
Report: Explosion Rocks Hamas Security Headquarters
Residents of Gaza report that an explosion occurred on Monday at the Hamas general security headquarters.
According to the reports, which were cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, the blast was the work of Salafists who are demanding the release of several Salafist prisoners being held by Hamas.
The Salafist group Salafist Trend on Saturday accused Hamas of torturing the jailed Salafists, and of monitoring and cracking down on other members of the group, threatening Hamas that they must release the prisoners or face consequences.
"Once again we ask the wise people of Gaza to stop the ongoing Hamas criminality and abusive detention of our brothers before it's too late," read the Salafist statement.
According to the report Monday, a group of activists published an announcement before the blast, stating "we give Hamas 72 hours to release all the prisoners." It remains unclear if the group of activists referred to in the report is the same Salafist Trend group.
Salafist group in Gaza accuses Hamas of abuse, torture
A group calling itself The Salafist Trend is accusing Hamas of torturing its supporters in prisons, monitoring its activities in cities and tracking its movements across refugee camps throughout Gaza, according to Palestinian media.
Palestinian news agency Ma'an cited a press release issued by the group Saturday warning the terrorist organization of the consequences of continuing there activity against The Salafist Trend.
"Once again we ask the wise people of Gaza to stop the ongoing Hamas criminality and abusive detention of our brothers before it's too late," the statement read.
The Salafist group also claimed it possessed "details about what is going on inside the detention cells of the interior security service, including names of the criminal interrogators who torture and insult our people."
Hamas 'Nakba' Rally at Terror Base on Israeli Border
The "refugee" department of the Hamas terrorist movement will on Tuesday at 5 p.m. hold a massive rally marking 67 years to the "Nakba" - the "catastrophe" of the establishment of modern Israel, and the inability of the Arab countries to destroy the fledgling renascent Jewish state.
The massive rally is to be held at the "Palestine" terrorist training site located in Beit Lahiya adjacent to the border between Gaza and Israel in the northern part of Gaza.
Abdallah Hasuna, director of the "refugee" department which is tasked with handling descendants of the Arab residents of Israel who left during the 1948 War of Independence, noted this would be the first time a massive event was held at a base associated with Hamas's "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades.
Hasuna said by holding the mass rally at the terrorist base there was a message emphasizing the path of the "struggle of the Palestinian people."
Palestinian Preacher Issam Amira: We Should Launch a Decisive Storm to Topple Arab Regimes
In a sermon delivered in Jerusalem, Palestinian preacher Sheik Issam Amira said: "It is a duty incumbent upon us to lead a pure, loyal, honest, and serious Islamic decisive storm, which will blow away their false entities, topple their oppressive thrones, and finish off their tyrannical rule." The sermon was posted on the Internet on April 3, 2015.
Sinai Tribes Allying with Egyptian Army Against ISIS
Bedouin tribes in the Sinai Peninsula have recently begun to shed their long-maintained neutrality to partner with the Egyptian military in its fight against the Sinai branch of ISIS and other terror organizations.
In the past, Sinai residents have found themselves in a deadly dilemma. If they helped the government, they risked retaliation from terrorists. But refusing such to cooperate with the government could lead to charges of supporting terrorism.
Now, it seems, this dilemma has been resolved. Tribal groups in northern Sinai have clashed directly with terrorist organizations operating in their region. This began after the terror organizations killed some tribesmen and imposed restrictions on their traditions.
Report: Muslim Brotherhood plotted to kill Morsi in order to spark revolution
Egyptian authorities have uncovered a Muslim Brotherhood plot to assassinate the imprisoned former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in order to spark an Islamist revolution in the country which would overthrow the current regime, Jordanian daily Alarab Alyawm quoted an Egyptian security source as saying Sunday.
Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member himself, was ousted by the Egyptian army in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Morsi and 12 other Muslim Brotherhood members were convicted last month of violence, kidnapping and torture over the deaths of protesters in 2012. Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been marginalized in Egypt since Morsi's ouster and the subsequent rise to power of former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to the Egyptian security source quoted in Alarab Alyawm, the plan called for Morsi to be "sacrificed" in the assassination in order to rally Brotherhood supporters to revolt and retake power in Egypt.
Possible methods the Brotherhood considered employing in order to kill the imprisoned Morsi included shooting down the helicopter that led him to court discussions or poisoning his food, according to the report.
69 Egypt Islamists get life terms for torching church
Egypt jailed 69 Islamists for life Wednesday for torching a church near Cairo in August 2013 during a crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, a judicial official said.
The Coptic church was set on fire and a police station was attacked when violence erupted in the town of Kerdasa on August 14 that year, after hundreds of Morsi supporters died in a crackdown on two protest camps in the capital the same day.
The court also sentenced two minors to 10 years in jail in the same case.
Hundreds of Morsi supporters have been given death sentences or life in jail after often speedy mass trials which the United Nations has called “unprecedented in recent history.”
Assad Not Finished Yet
A number of reports have been published in recent days suggesting the tide of the war in Syria may finally have turned decisively against the Assad regime.
The reports cite a series of successes the Syrian rebels have achieved in recent weeks, and suggest the dictator and his allies will have difficulty reversing these setbacks. So is the game really finally up for the bloodstained regime of the Assads? A close examination of the evidence suggests that President Bashar Assad's eulogizers have once again spoken too soon.
To understand why, let's first of all look at the nature of the undoubted successes the various rebel coalitions have achieved.
Assad hanging on, suspicion surrounds report he told Alawites to flee capital
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime appears to be holding on amid contradictory Saudi reports over whether it told elite Alawite families to abandon Damascus.A report in the Saudi newspaper Okaz on Sunday quoted Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas denying an article in the same paper a day earlier quoting unnamed sources claiming that Syrian intelligence told the elite Alawite families to leave the capital within 48 hours for its coastal stronghold of Latakia.
"Reports of President Assad giving his top Alawites orders to flee Damascus are undoubtedly wishful thinking and activist fancy," Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
"The regime lost an important provincial capital that was surrounded by opposition militias," said Landis adding. "Morale has been damaged, but the regime is neither giving up the ghost nor preparing to abandon Damascus for some coastal Alawite enclave."
Analysts See Increasing Signs that Assad is Losing Control of Syria
The new campaign in northern Syria is intended to create a new balance on the ground that will weaken the Syrian regime and force it to sit down at the negotiating table. Some commentators say that the strategic goal of this campaign is the destruction of the Iranian “bridge” that links Baghdad to Beirut through Syria.
Robert Ford, the former American ambassador to Syria, wrote in an analysis for the Middle East Institute that despite Assad’s continued assistance from Iran and Russia, the latest developments in Syria point to the beginning of the end of his regime. Ford pointed to internal divisions within the inner circle of the regime, and mentions reports of the deaths (or disappearances) of former senior security personnel such as Rostam Ghazaleh, Rafiq Shehadeh, and Hafiz Makhluf, Assad’s cousin. All of them have disappeared in the past six months. Ford observed that no such dissension at the top of the regime was apparent during the first three and a half years of the rebellion.
The Syrian regime has indicated a growing desire to attend negotiations hosted by Russia, unlike its refusal to do so in Geneva last year. The step down from his previously defiant position shows Assad is not as strong as he once was.
Are Assad's military forces on the verge of collapse?
This shortage of homegrown fighters in Assad’s campaign against rebel forces has led the regime to prohibit military-age males from exiting the country and to force discharged soldiers back into service. This has fomented discontent and further eroded support among Assad’s base.
In another troubling sign for the state, fissures have erupted within the regime, highlighting how dysfunctional mechanisms within the government have become. The government recently dismissed the heads of two of its four main intelligence agencies after they quarreled over the role of foreign fighters, according the Times. One subsequently died; the other’s guards reportedly beat him to death.
Years of civil war have destroyed the economy, leaving the regime nearly destitute. At the beginning of the war, Syria held $30 billion in foreign exchange reserves. Four years later, that has dwindled to a mere $1b.
The Syrian pound has taken a huge hit, decreasing in value steadily as foreign capital continues to flee. This has increased discontent within the military, as personnel continue to receive the same salaries, but in an increasingly worthless currency.
Why Iran Spends $35 Billion a Year to Prop Up Assad
Experts and Syrian officials revealed why exactly Iran, which is financially saddled by international sanctions, continues to spend fortunes and deploy thousands of troops to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, even as the fight turns against him.
A detailed report in Christian Science Monitor revealed that the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura disclosed to a private meeting in Washington DC recently that Iran funnels no less than $35 billion annually to its Syrian ally, according to a source who was present at the meeting.
Despite the massive aid, Assad this past month has suffered major losses, putting him on the brink of losing the bloody civil war that has stretched over four years and cost over 220,000 lives, and leading Syria's Defense Minister General Fahd al-Freij to head for a visit to Iran on Tuesday.
Explaining why Iran is willing to invest such massive resources even while staggering under sanctions, Hezbollah expert and director at the Washington-based Middle East Institute Randa Slim told the paper how Iran's larger regional aspirations fuel the move.
"Iran has always considered Syria its gateway to the Arab region. I don’t think that assessment has changed," said Slim.
Monitor: ISIS has murdered over 2,000 off the battlefield in Syria
Ultra-radical Islamic State insurgents have killed at least 2,154 people off the battlefield in Syria since the end of June when the group declared a caliphate in the territory it controls, a Syrian human rights monitor said on Tuesday.
The killings of mostly Syrians included deaths by beheading, stoning or gunshots in non-combat situations, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, urging the United Nations Security Council to act.
"We continue in our calls to the UN Security Council for urgent action to stop the ongoing murder against the sons of the Syrian people despite the deafness of members to the screams of pain of the Syrian people," it said in a statement.
Islamic State, which also holds tracts of land in neighboring Iraq, is an offshoot of al-Qaida and has set up its own courts in towns and villages to administer what it describes as Islamic law before carrying out the killings.
Reports: ISIS Militants Mass-Murder 300 Yazidi Hostages
Hundreds of captive Yazidis have been shot and killed by Islamic State jihadis near Mosul, Iraq, according to sources from Yazidi and Iraqi officials, and local news outlets.
The Yazidi Progress Party announced Saturday that 300 Yazidi hostages were killed late Friday in Tal Afar, which is situated roughly 35 miles west of Mosul.
Osama al-Nujafi, Iraq’s Vice-President, said that the reports coming in of the mass slaughter are “horrific and barbaric,” the BBC reports.
Kurdish outlet Shafaq News also reported on the killings, describing the news as a “heinous crime.”
Islamic State Leader Reportedly Suffers Spinal Injuries From US Airstrike
The leader of the Islamic State terror group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, reportedly suffered severe spinal injuries as a result of a U.S. airstrike in mid-March.
Three sources confirmed to The Guardian that al-Baghdadi, who has proclaimed himself as caliph, has remained incapacitated since the airstrike and has been unable to leader the terrorist organization that has conquered large swaths of Syria and Iraq. A female radiologist and male surgeon have been treating al-Baghdadi, the sources indicated.
Born in Samarra, Iraq, in 1971, al-Baghdadi joined the Iraqi insurgency shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2003, and in 2010 he took over the organization that would eventually be called Islamic State.
Senior Islamic State official Abu Alaa al-Afri is now leading the terror group.
Allegations of corruption, bribery weigh on Ahmadinejad as jailed ex-deputy speaks out
In late January, a former deputy of conservative ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has been jailed for embezzlement raised explosive allegations which have now spurred speculation Ahmadinejad himself could face charges.
They were made in a private letter that was published by the Iranian Labor News Agency, giving a rare insight into splits at the top at a time when the former president, a fierce critic of the West, was showing signs of preparing a political comeback.
Ahmadinejad has denied the allegations, which linked him to the case, and his supporters say they are politically motivated.
Senior officials have since expressed concern public splits within Iran's factionalised elite might undermine negotiations with major world powers on its disputed nuclear program.
In a speech in late March for example, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged any critics of the government leading the negotiations, led by Ahmadinejad's successor, centrist Hassan Rouhani, not to use insults.
Ahmadinejad's former vice president Mohammed Reza Rahimi became the most senior official to be convicted of graft since the 1979 Islamic Revolution when he was sentenced to five years in jail and fined 38.5 billion rials (about $1.3 million).
From Ian:
Israel’s aid team to Nepal larger than any other country’s
Israel’s aid team to the earthquake-battered Himalayan nation of Nepal is the largest in manpower of any international aid mission.
Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that landed Tuesday in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated large swaths of the mountainous country, killing at least 5,000 and leaving some 8,000 wounded and tens of thousands seeking shelter and food.
The Israeli group set up a field hospital with 60 beds that began operations on Wednesday in coordination with the local army hospital.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and the Nepalese Army’s chief of staff visited the field hospital to attend its opening ceremony.
Nepal field hospital, Israel’s largest ever, set to open Wednesday
After a series of delays, the Israel Defense Forces field hospital in Kathmandu will start treating thousands of those injured in the weekend’s devastating earthquake Wednesday morning, kicking off Israel’s largest ever effort of its kind.
The hospital’s opening will come a day after Israeli teams began search and rescue operations, though they did not find any survivors.
An IDF spokesperson said the hospital, located next to the Nepali military hospital, will be operational by 8:30 a.m. local time and treat some of the thousands of injured Nepalis hurt in the 7.8 magnitude quake, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Nepalese officials expect the death toll to climb to as high as 10,000. Around 8,000 people have been injured while the United Nations estimated that eight million people had been affected.
The Israeli hospital and crew only landed in Kathmandu Tuesday morning, after a series of strong aftershocks delayed the flight by a day, and soldiers immediately began setting up, said Col. Yoram Laredo, who is heading up the army’s relief effort.
PMW: Palestinian Antisemitism: Jewish plan to conquer the world; Judaism permits killing Gentiles
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an Antisemitic forgery describing how Jews allegedly plan to subjugate the world under Jewish rule. It was published in Russia in 1903 and translated into multiple languages. In 1921, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was exposed as a false document. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Palestinians present The Protocols as a true manifestation of Jews' and Israelis' aspirations for the future.
PA TV also recently served as a platform for demonizing statements by a Gazan university professor. In an interview, Dr. Ibrahim Abrash, political science professor at the Al-Azhar University, explained that Judaism is based on extremism and that it permits stealing from and killing Gentiles:
Judaism permits stealing from and killing Gentiles, says Gaza university professor
Fatah official speaks about "Protocols of Elders of Zion" as true Jewish document
Fatah Spokesperson Osama al-Qawasmi: "According to Israel's ideology, strategy and policy from 1956 until now, Gaza is outside the Israeli ideological thinking. Even in their Protocols [of the Elders of Zion] and even in their Bible [it says]: 'Don't live in Gaza.'" [Official PA TV, April 5, 2015]
IDF Blog: An Inside Look at the IDF’s Unique Medical Technology in Nepal
As part of the IDF’s humanitarian mission to Nepal, a field hospital is being built near Kathmandu. In the next few hours, people affected by the earthquake will begin receiving the same treatment as offered in the most high-tech medical facility in Israel. Here’s an inside look at the advanced technology that will assist the medical teams on the ground.
The 260-member team includes 40 medical personnel on a mission to save lives. One of their priorities is to set up a field hospital near Kathmandu. “The team brought the most recent technology possible,” explains Lt. Col. Asi Hempel, a doctor in the IDF’s Medical Corps. “The field hospital will be equipped with everything: x-rays, operating rooms that will work 24/7, laboratories and more.”
The hospital will have the ability to receive and provide care for around 200 patients a day. “Israel’s top specialists for traumatic injuries are among the medical team in Nepal,” says Lt. Col. Hempel.
The IDF has gained much experience from past humanitarian missions, and as a result has developed unique technology for its field hospital. “We pioneered a state-of-the-art system with the IDF’s C4I Branch, that allows us to create an internal digital medical file for every patient.”
IDF Mission Commander in Nepal Motivates his Soldiers
IDF's Mission Field Hospital Preparation
Wounded IDF vet Israel’s last missing citizen in Nepal
All but one of Israel’s citizens located in Nepal at the time that a massive earthquake shook the nation have been accounted for, as dozens were still waiting to be evacuated on Wednesday.
Or Asraf, a 22-year-old freshly released from the IDF, was the only remaining Israeli who has not shown any signs of life since Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, which has so far claimed the lives of over 5,000 people.
Asraf’s parents remained hopeful on Wednesday, as a rescued Israeli traveler told them she had made contact with Asraf an hour after the earthquake, Channel 2 reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, ten more Israelis were rescued from the Himalayan country’s Langtang National Park north of Kathmandu on the border with Tibet, and taken to a local army base, from which they will be driven to Kathmandu.
Eight more backpackers who were threatened by Nepalese locals were retrieved by a private Israeli search and rescue squad, Ynet reported. There are still 30-40 Israeli backpackers awaiting rescue, according to Israeli officials.
Two Israelis skip rescue, stay in Nepal to help
The two were in Nepal for the traditional “gap year” trip many Israelis take after finishing military service and before beginning academic studies. When the time came and Israelis lined up for their place on the rescue helicopters, Rosen and Molcho refused.
Yaffa Rosen, mother of Aviv, told the Ynet news outlet they had stayed behind to help the area recover from the devastating Saturday earthquake, which killed at least 5,000 people and destroyed whole villages in Nepal.
“It is certainly not easy, but I understand he has values and thinks about others beside himself,” she said. “I am very proud of my son; I think the entire country should be proud of such a boy who doesn’t just up and leave but stays behind to help dozens of people. He stayed behind [and didn’t fly back home] because of his love for mankind, not in order receive anything.”
IsraellyCool: More Appalling Reactions To Israeli Nepal Action
We can also add the BBC to the hall of shame, which although does not criticize Israel, could not bring itself to mention her.
China, India, the UK and US are among those sending aid from abroad. Nepal says it needs everything from blankets and helicopters to doctors and drivers.
Dozens of people are also reported to have been killed by the earthquake in neighbouring China and India.
Both countries have sent emergency teams to Nepal, along with Pakistan, which said it was dispatching four C130 transport planes carrying a 30-bed hospital. Other countries, including Britain, Australia and New Zealand are also contributing aid, alongside international agencies.
Given the scope of Israel’s aid, the omission is telling.
Senate Rejects Toughening of Legislation on Iran Deal
The United States Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment toughening legislation that would require that any nuclear agreement with Iran be approved by Congress, hours after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid warned Republicans not to use the bill as a "platform for their political ambitions."
The amendment specified that a nuclear deal would have to be approved by a two thirds majority.
According to Reuters, the Senate voted 57-39 to reject the measure, which Republican Senator Ron Johnson offered as an amendment to the Iran Nuclear Review Act, a bill requiring an Iran nuclear deal to be reviewed by Congress.
The amendment's backing by 39 Republicans signaled that there could be intense debate in the coming days as the Senate hammers out its final version of the legislation.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Senate Republicans were among those voting for the amendment, despite an emotional appeal against it from Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the bill, noted Reuters.
Iran’s Rouhani Declares Sanctions Regime on Verge of Complete Collapse
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared on Tuesday that the sanctions regime against his country was on the verge of complete collapse and that no country would be able to continue exerting pressure on Iran, in a speech he delivered to 12,000 workers in Tehran.
Rouhani said those benefiting from the sanctions, established to combat his country’s nuclear program, should start looking for another way to benefit. He claimed that Iran would “continue the path of constructive interaction with the world under the guidance of the [Supreme] Leader and support of and support of our people, and no country in the world can continue exerting pressure and imposing sanctions against Iran in the future.”
During the speech, Rouhani stressed the importance of Iranian self-reliance, concentrating the country’s capital within its territory, and prioritizing what he called “the resistance economy,” according to semi-official state news agency Mehr.
Iranian 'Cultural Centers' Established to Promote Shiite Islam Blossom in Latin America
Iranian “cultural centers,” established across Latin America to enhance the Shiite country’s influence in the region, have proliferated in the last three years, while the Obama administration has been trying to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran.
“As the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, Iran’s involvement in the region and these cultural centers is a matter for concern, and its diplomatic, economic, and political engagement is closely monitored,” Gen. John Kelly, the commander of U.S. Southern Command (Southcom), told lawmakers last month, as the P5+1 powers approached a self-imposed deadline to draw up a framework for a nuclear deal with Iran.
Breitbart News found that the number of Iranian “cultural centers” in Latin America have more than doubled, from 36 in 2012 to more than 80 today.
That information was gleaned from Southcom’s posture statements—annual assessments of its challenges and programs. The various U.S. military commands submit posture statements to Congress on an annual basis.
Ayatollah Khamenei thinks you’re a racist monster, #BaltimoreRiots edition
Just as a point of reference, I’m 29. I grew up in the internet era, got my first e-mail address in the 7th grade (ish?) and was a Facebook pioneer during undergrad. I embrace Reddit and follow celebrities on Instagram and still, it will never ever ever stop being bizarre to see world leaders—especially world leaders who regularly mull over the destruction of an entire people—troll each other on Twitter.
Never.
The real takeaway here isn’t that the Ayatollah is an infamously, belligerently dangerous troll. The takeaway is that, over the course of the past year, the messaging coming out of Ferguson that wound its way through cases in New York, South Carolina, and now Baltimore, has become so pervasive and normal that the Ayatollah of Iran is using it as a weapon against the United States on the international stage.
He’s using our own insanity against us—and knowing the state of the world, it’s probably working.
Report: Kerry Told Iran He Wishes ‘U.S. Had a Leader like Iran’s Supreme Leader’
Secretary of State John Kerry told his Iranian counterpart that he wished the United States had a leader more like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, according to comments made by a senior Iranian cleric and repeated in the country’s state-run media.
Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda claimed during Friday prayer services in Iran that in negotiations over Tehran’s contested nuclear program, Kerry told the country’s foreign minister that he “wished the U.S. had a leader like Iran’s supreme leader,” according to a Persian-language report on the remarks published by the Asriran news site.
“In the negotiations Kerry told [Iranian Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif that he [Kerry] wished U.S. had a leader like Iran’s supreme leader,” according to Alam al-Hoda, who is a senior member of the Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts.
A senior administration official told the Washington Free Beacon that such a contention is patently absurd.
JCPA: Iran Keeps Defying the United States in the Persian Gulf – So Far with Impunity
Violent Seizure of a Commercial Vessel
In a defiant and belligerent move, the navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCN) seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship at the Strait of Hormuz after firing several warning shots at it on April 28, 2015.
Since the 1980’s, Iran has a history of threatening U.S. and allied shipping in the Persian Gulf. On April 24, Iranian warships harassed, but did not board, another large commercial ship, the U.S.-flagged Kensington.
IRGC Navy fighters boarded, took over the Marshall Islands ship and diverted it to Iranian territorial waters near the port of Bandar Abbas. Iranian authorities claimed that the cargo ship has entered Iranian territorial waters. The Pentagon spokesman confirmed that Iran had commandeered the Maersk Tigris M/V and that it was now in the “vicinity of Larak Island, in the Strait of Hormuz.” The ship had been on its way from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.
Iran’s Fars News Agency, which is associated with the IRGC, originally reported that the IRGC’s navy (IRGCN) had seized an “American commercial vessel” carrying 34 people. A knowledgeable source said the ship had been captured by the IRGCN, which is responsible for patrolling the sensitive Persian waters, at the request of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization. “The ship was seized after a relevant court order was issued for its confiscation,” it claimed.
Can Iran Do Whatever It Wants?
In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. commitment to that doctrine led President Reagan to order U.S. Navy ships to escort tankers and protect them from Iranian attacks, precipitating a short and sharp conflict (the Tanker War of 1987-88) between the U.S. and Iran. This was the last time, incidentally, that the U.S. used force to respond to Iranian attacks and it was an unqualified success—the Iranians lost some oil platforms and boats that they had been using to harass shipping. Finally the accidental shootdown of an Iranian airliner in 1988 by the USS Vincennes (an unintended and unfortunate consequence of these operations) helped convince the Iranian leadership to end their war with Iraq.
Today the U.S. still remains committed, at least on paper, to protecting freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf. In 2011, a 5th Fleet spokesman put it well: “The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity. Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated.”
Thus if the Obama administration were, in fact, to “tolerate” this disruption of the free flow of shipping it would send a dangerous signal, or to be more accurate, to reinforce a signal already sent: The U.S. lacks the will to stand up to predators in the international system, and in particular to Iran. Put another way, it would signal to the entire region that the president is so invested in reaching a deal with Iran that no Iranian misconduct—not the dropping of barrel bombs on Syrian civilians, not the takeover of Yemen, not the ethnic cleansing of Sunni communities in Iraq, and now not the seizure of a Western cargo ship—will be allowed to interfere with his objective.
The fate of the Maersk Tigris does not matter much in and of itself, but it will say much about this administration’s commitment to maintaining America’s traditional security responsibilities.
State Department Declines to Condemn Iran’s Cargo Ship Seizure in the Strait of Hormuz
The State Department refused to condemn the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ interception of a western commercial cargo vessel.
When asked to describe the attack or to forwardly condemn Iran’s aggression, spokesperson Jeff Rathke indicated he was unwilling to because the State Department was still collecting information.
“This is underway,” Rathke said. “I’m not going to apply an adjective to it right now.”
On Tuesday, Iranian ships forced a Marshall Islands cargo ship named the Maersk Tigris further into Iranian waters. The cargo vessel was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz when it was confronted at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time.
The Marshall Islands vessel’s captain initially refused Iranian patrol crafts call to divert course but acquiesced after a patrol craft fired a warning shot across the bow of the Maersk Tigris.
The United States is obligated by international treaty to treat any attack on the Marshall Islands as an attack on the U.S. itself and is sworn to defend the islands and their interests abroad.
Cargo ship crew ‘safe’ after boarding by Iranian forces
The MV Maersk Tigris was en route Wednesday to Bandar Abbas, the main port for Iran’s navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats, according to Maersk Line, the company that had chartered it.
Tehran has not offered any clarification on the incident, which comes at a critical time during Iran’s relations with the United States and the West.
Cor Radings, a spokesman for the ship’s operator, Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, said the company had been in touch by phone with the crew earlier in the day.
“We have had the confirmation that they are in relatively good condition and safe on board the ship,” he said.
US Sends Destroyer to Persian Gulf after Iran Boards Freighter
The U.S. Navy Farragut destroyer is speeding to the Persian Gulf Wednesday after Iran boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged freighter that the regime said had trespassed into its waters while sailing through the key oil and gas tanker route of the Straits of Hormuz, also known as the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy fired shots at the ship, which the Pentagon says was in international waters.
The United States also has ordered an aircraft carrier to remain on standby in another mini-crisis that Iran seems to have created to put pressure on the Obama administration during the new round of talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran on an agreement to allow Tehran to continue its nuclear development program.
The Marshall Islands, once an American territory, is independent of the United States but has a “free relationship” with Washington that includes a security pact.
Prosor Demands UN Condemn Attack on Golan Heights
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor sent a letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday demanding action, after four Arab terrorists from Syria breached Israeli territory on Sunday night and placed an explosive on the Golan Heights border before being eliminated by the IDF.
After briefly describing the incident, Prosor wrote, "Israel holds the Syrian government responsible for all attacks originating from its territory. In recent months, the Syrian government has allowed terrorists to use its territory as a launching base to plant roadside bombs, fire rockets into Israel, and open fire on IDF forces inside Israel."
A report on Monday revealed that two of the four Arab terrorists were the sons of an Israeli Druze, a man from the Golan Druze town of Majdal Shams which is loyal to Syria who fled to the country in the 1980s after having been jailed in Israel for terrorism.
"I have repeatedly warned about the growing threat in northern Israel. In my remarks last week to the Security Council, I described how Hezbollah, backed by Iran, is openly operating in the Golan Heights and preparing for a violent confrontation with Israel," Prosor added.
Mortar Rounds on Golan Heights Were Fired by ISIS
The two mortar rounds fired on Israel's Golan Heights from Syria on Tuesday in estimated "spillover" were launched by the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization, which is the closest it's ever been to the Israeli border with Syria.
The ISIS-linked Jaish al-Jihad has captured the border town of Qahtaniya in southern Quneitra province on the Syrian Golan, thereby taking up its closest position to Israel yet at a distance of just 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.5-1.8 miles), according to Walla!.
Qahtaniya had been in the hands of the Free Syrian Army and the Al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front which had kept the status quo vis-a-vis Israel, concentrating their efforts against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Now that the town has fallen to ISIS, it may turn into a base of attacks against the Jewish state.
On Tuesday morning Nusra Front launched an operation to try and recapture the town, with clashes between it and ISIS including machine gun fire, anti-tank missiles and mortar rounds. During the clash two mortar shells slammed into Israel near Kibbutz Ein Zivan.
Iran Tells Syria to Attack Israel on the Golan Heights
Syrian Defense Minister General Fahd al-Freij arrived in Iran on Tuesday for a rare two-day visit, the first since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, and was reportedly told by his Iranian backers to attack Israel.
As the Syrian regime continues to suffer key losses that have sharpened in the last month, Iran continues to exert ever-growing influence in the country which it is financially and militarily propping up.
Al-Freij was told by senior Iranian sources that Syria and Iran's terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, need to open a war front against Israel on the Golan Heights, according to the Hebrew-language Channel 10.
Iran told the Syrian defense minister to stir up conflict against Israel on the Golan, with the Islamic republic apparently unperturbed by the significant damage the move will cause to the Syrian regime, given that its goal is to expand its regional hegemony at all costs.
The Golan has been heating up with four terrorists eliminated on Sunday while placing an explosive on the Israeli border, and a day later stray mortar shells struck from Syria, as Al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front and Islamic State (ISIS) fight on the Syrian side, right on Israel's doorstep.
Iranian Analyst: Iran Will Respond to Israel’s Attacks in Syria and Open a Front in the Golan
An analyst with close ties to the Iranian defense ministry has said that Iranian, Syrian, and Hezbollah officials will meet shortly to discuss their combined response to recent attacks in Syria that have been attributed to Israel.
Amir Mousavi, director of the Center for Strategic and International Relations in Tehran and a former advisor to the Iranian Ministry of Defense, quoted a knowledgeable source saying that the recent attacks were “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” He said Iran would respond to the attacks in Syria:
I have emphasized, again and again, in many media outlets, that the Iranian leadership will not remain silent about the Israeli terrorist entity attacks which aimed to help its stepdaughters – the terrorist groups in Syria.
The term “terrorist groups” refers to the rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
IDF training to retake Gaza in any future round with Hamas
Assessing that Hamas will continue to rule the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future, the IDF is training for the possible reconquering of the entire coastal Palestinian territory in a future confrontation with the Islamic organization, the Times of Israel has learned.
Despite the harsh blow Hamas and Islamic Jihad sustained in Operation Protective Edge last July and August, Israel’s military command is convinced that another round of fighting between Israel and Gaza is only a matter of time.
The Israeli leadership sees no prospect of the Palestinian Authority gaining control of the Strip, as it continues to demand, and would prefer to face a weakened Hamas than the anarchy of unruly organizations, some of which harbor extremist Islamist ideologies.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad lost 1,000 combatants in the 50 days of fighting with Israel, including many low- and mid-ranking commanders. The remaining 1,100 Palestinian fatalities in the war are believed to be innocent civilians caught in the line of fire.
Israel Lets 14,000 Tons of Building Material into Gaza
Israel allowed 14,000 tons of building material into Gaza on Wednesday, the defense ministry said of the largest single shipment since last summer's Hamas terror war - despite the fact that Hamas is using such materials to rapidly rebuild its terror tunnels to attack Israel.
COGAT, the IDF Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, told AFP that some 354 trucks passed through the Kerem Shalom goods crossing in southern Gaza carrying "construction materials," without elaborating what goods were let in.
The news comes as Hamas is working to rebuild its tunnels into Israel that were used to attack Israelis in Operation Protective Edge to lethal effect.
Hamas is intensively rebuilding its terror tunnel infrastructure, with the digging reportedly taking place six days a week with three shifts each day.
Over 1,000 diggers are said to be employed by Hamas to construct the tunnels, and the current estimation is that the tunnels lead up to Israeli territory - Hamas will extend them beyond when it feels the time is right to strike.
Exiled Palestinian leader looks for regional allies in mediation of Nile dam deal
Exiled Palestinian politician and former leader of Fatah in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, mediated the signing of an agreement for the construction of a controversial River Nile dam project between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan last month, Newsweek can exclusively reveal.
Analysts believe that the move demonstrates Dahlan’s continuing efforts to increase his international influence, potentially setting up a push for the Palestinian leadership in the future.
The leaders of the three African countries convened in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, last month to sign an agreement which confirmed the principles on which Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam would be built after Cairo raised concerns that the project would hit their vital Nile water supply.
Hamas police beat, arrest protesters at Gaza rally
More than 400 demonstrators gathered in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City that was razed during a July-August war between the Hamas terrorist group and Israel, urging reconstruction and calling for an end to intra-Palestinian division.
Plainclothes police officers entered the crowd, beating a number of protesters without causing serious injury, the AFP correspondent said.
They then arrested at least seven people, according to witnesses.
The Hamas-run interior ministry said in a statement that the crowd had grown violent, forcing police to intervene “to protect the lives of those participating, after which calm prevailed.”
Report: Hamas recruiting Palestinians in Malaysia for attacks
According to a report in Haaretz Tuesday, the security service presented detailed allegations of Hamas’s operations in Malaysia in a recent indictment against a Hebron resident who was captured in February as he returned to the West Bank from Malaysia.
In the indictment filed to the Ofer Military Court in March, 24-year-old Hebron resident Waseem Qawasmeh was charged with belonging to and transferring funds for a banned organization.
Qawasmeh said he swore allegiance to the Islamist group while studying at the Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur where he was recruited by a top Hamas activist in the university’s student association, according to the report, which cited the indictment.
According to the report, the recruits were expected to return home to act as undercover operatives and messengers for already-established Hamas networks in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamas International Terror-Financing Smuggling Ring Nabbed
In the latest in a string of exposed smuggling operations by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, a gag order was lifted on Tuesday revealing that the Israel Security Agency (ISA), IDF and police in a joint operation thwarted a Hamas terror fund smuggling network.
The operation, which brought funds from Gaza to Judea and Samaria via Jordan, was conducted with the aid of Palestinian Arab lawyers, and three Arab suspects were arrested by the ISA as part of investigations.
The three consisted of Yakub Ashak Abd Alguwad Dais born in 1990, a Jordanian resident originally from Hevron in Judea; Yazan Abd Alrazak Abd Almati Shaur born in 1991, an attorney living in Hevron with connections to Hamas activists; and Yasser Mohammed Raduwan Kukas born in 1972, an attorney and Hamas activist originally from Beit Umar northwest of Hevron.
In the investigation it was discovered that the three worked to establish routes to transfer terrorist funds from senior Hamas leaders in Gaza to Dais in Jordan, and from there to transfer them to Shaur who would illicitly bring them into Judea and Samaria.
Haniyeh: Deif is proof of Israel's failure to reach senior Palestinians
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ deputy political bureau chief in Gaza, said on Wednesday that his organization was vindicated by Israel’s acknowledgment that its longtime target, military wing commander Mohammed Deif, was still alive and active.
“The fact that the occupation confirmed that the general commander of the Al-Kassam Brigades is alive and engaged in the missions of his command is proof of Israeli intelligence’s failure to reach senior Palestinians,” Haniyeh said.
The former Islamist prime minister of the Hamas-ruled regime in Gaza said that the news constituted “a victory for the Palestinian resistance over the occupation.”
Sources in Israel believe that Deif, who has survived numerous assassination attempts by the IDF, most recently during Operation Protective Edge nearly a year ago, is now trying to forge closer ties between the Palestinian Islamist group and Iran.
According to Israel Radio, Deif is seeking to procure more armaments and funding for Hamas.
'Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal vetoed large-scale terror attack against Israel'
Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal vetoed a plan by the Islamist group’s military wing to carry out a large-scale terrorist attack in an Israeli community near the Gaza border just after the outbreak of Operation Protective Edge, Army Radio is reporting on Wednesday.
Citing Israeli intelligence sources, Army Radio reported that Hamas was set to deploy dozens of armed terrorists poised to cross into Israeli territory from Gaza through one of the group’s underground tunnels just days after Israeli warplanes began pounding targets in the Strip.
The plan is believed to have centered around Kibbutz Kerem Shalom. The mastermind of the operation, Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, wanted to surprise Israel by carrying out an attack via the tunnels just as the Israeli air force was in the midst of its bombing campaign. This was also before the extensive network of tunnels became the focal point of Israeli military efforts.
According to Army Radio, dozens of Hamas gunmen trained for the operation in which they would infiltrate the kibbutz, slaughter a number of civilians, and take a number of others alive as hostages before returning through the tunnels to Gaza.
Hamas’ intention was to then use the hostages as bargaining chips to be exchanged for prisoners in Israeli jails.
One Year Since Fatah-Hamas Agreement, Unity Government Still Not Functioning
In April 2014, Fatah, the dominant faction in the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the terrorist organization Hamas announced the end of the longstanding and violent rift between them, which began in 2007 when Hamas staged a bloody coup to take over Gaza. Both movements announced a series of reconciliation measures. But the agreement, in addition to effectively ending American-sponsored peace negotiations, also failed to bring about a functioning government to serve Palestinian interests.
A year later, many major issues are still outstanding. Israel saw the reconciliation as antithetical to the peace process. While PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party states it supports the two-state solution, the Iran-backed terror organization Hamas is violently opposed to peace with Israel, as its stated goal is the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Measures agreed upon by the two parties, such as renewing the activities of the Palestinian Legislative Council and holding elections, never came close to fruition. The only achievement was the establishment of a national unity government, and analysts say even this government did not perform its duties and became “the Government of Abbas.”
PreOccupied Territory: Palestinians Puzzled Why Israeli Unity Gov’ts Not Violently Divided (satire)
Israeli politics continues to surprise Palestinian observers, researchers say, specifically the unfamiliar practice Israeli unity governments follow of not having its component factions oppose each other with protracted, deadly clashes.
Israeli leaders have formed national unity governments on a number of occasions, among them the early-to-mid-1980’s, when Menachem Begin of Likud and Shimon Peres of Labor rotated as Prime Minister. Currently, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud is attempting to assemble a coalition that does not include Labor, and Labor leaders have specifically spoken out against joining a unity government, but the prospect of such an alliance has been invoked by political figures across the spectrum ever since Likud won an unexpectedly strong electoral victory a month ago. Such discourse has sparked confusion among Palestinians, whose only experience of a unity government to date involves gunfire, bombs, arrests, trumped-up charges, and reciprocal accusations by rival factions of betraying the Palestinian people.
Hamas and Fatah, the two major political factions vying for leadership of the Palestinian Authority – and the Palestinian people as a whole – have repeatedly engaged in an on-again, off-again unity arrangement under which the disparate geographic territories of the Gaza Strip, under Hamas sway, and the autonomous areas of the West Bank, where Fatah reigns, are theoretically under one government. Despite brief periods of rapprochement and declarations of shared purpose, Fatah and Hamas remain at loggerheads over every major issue except adherence to the long-term goal of removing Israeli sovereignty from every inch of “Historic Palestine.” The tension is further exacerbated by the clan-based demographics of Palestinian political organizations, in which extended family loyalty trumps any larger political aims. In contrast, Israeli unity governments, even at their most troubled, have seldom, if ever, featured such deep and deadly divisions, leaving Palestinian observers to wonder whether Israel even knows what it is doing.
Last year, Egypt convicted 26 members of Hezbollah for espionage and planning terror attacks.
Earlier this year, many of these Hezbollah members managed to escape during Egypt's uprising.
Now, Egypt has released two of the remaining Hezbollah prisoners. One, Mohamad Ramadan, went back to his home - in Gaza.
After all, why should Egypt be concerned about a cell that planned to attack tourists? Chances are they will only go after the "Zionists" anyway.