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U.S. Inks Deal for Selling Missiles to Turkey, Blocks Missile Deal for Israel
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Commentary

Israel Prepares for Clash with Turkey

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always had it in for Israel and frequently gives his antipathy expression, albeit more in word than in deed.
His landmark election as Turkish president on August 10 has clearly encouraged him to give his hates free rein.
Israel’s military planners are therefore taking no chances and getting ready to stand up to Turkish air and naval forces in case he decides to send them into action to cut the Jewish state down to size, military sources report exclusively to DEBKA Weekly. They draw their assessment of a likely clash from information received from Ankara that Erdogan himself had raised the idea with his advisers more than once.
Counting on his 52 percent election win fortifying his 12-year grip on power as prime minister, President Erdogan has been urging his military chiefs to go for another victory in a limited skirmish, like the encounter he claims Turkey won in May 2010, when a flotilla led by the Turkish Mavi Marmara was forcibly prevented from breaking the Israel embargo on the Gaza Strip by an Israeli naval commando raid on the ship.
Nine Turkish citizens were killed and 20 Israeli soldiers injured in the encounter, which became the pretext for a bitter diplomatic crisis between Ankara and Jerusalem.

US halts Israel arms, sells missiles to Turkey

Our Jerusalem sources point to the timing of a Wall Street Journal piece Thursday August 14 under the headline: “Israel Outflanks White House in Pressing Gaza Strategy-White House Now Scrutinizing Israeli Requests for Ammunition."
Its report that US President Barack Obama had prevented the transfer of Hellfire missiles to the Israeli air force during its operations in Gaza appeared just before Washington announced it had cleared the sale of up to $320 million in advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) to Turkey.
The White House, according to the article, judged “Binyamin Netanyahu and his national security team … reckless and untrustworthy,” and a senior Obama administration official, in a remarkably harsh swipe at an Israeli leader, was quoted as saying that “they (Netanyahu and his team) are playing the United States, or that they're manipulating us publicly, completely miscalculates their place in the world."
For months, DEBKA Weekly has reported on the widening fault line between Obama and Netanyahu, but our sources say its cause is not as presented by the White House to the WSJ. Israel has not tried to manipulate the Obama administration, as US officials would have it, but rather made a strategic choice to take a different path from the one chosen by the Obama administration.

Obama circles back to Erdogan

This path came from the emergence of a military and diplomatic strategic alliance forged between Israel Riyadh and Cairo ahead of the Gaza campaign against Hamas, on the strength of their shared interests.
(See a separate item in this issue and the opening article in DEBKA Weekly 644 of July 25: “The Gaza War: The Regional Dimension-The Gaza War against Hamas is Managed by a Troika: Abdullah, Sisi and Netanyahu”).
The ill will between the Israeli and US presidents has been escalating since Obama took office in 2009. It was exacerbated by Obama’s outreach to Iran. But the US president’s willingness to give Turkey missiles while withholding them from Israel goes far beyond personal rancor. It is the American president’s payback for the united front Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Netanyahu have presented against his Mid East policy.
Faced with this new alliance, Obama has fallen back into the arms of his old ally, Erdogan.
Obama once perceived the Turkish leader as a moderate Muslim politician and an example which the rest of the Muslim world would be well advised to follow. But, by 2012, their relationship had seriously soured in the light of his non-acceptance in the Arab arena following in one diplomatic fiasco after another, his combative personality and his imperial pretensions.
The revival of the US-Turkey friendship, coupled with Erdogan's anti-Semitic campaign rhetoric – he and his cohorts dubbed Israel a Nazi state that exists to slaughter Muslims – have led Israel’s military thinkers to posit that a violent clash of some sorts is on the horizon.

The Deadly Disease of Anti - Semitism Proliferates in Europe
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

A dangerous and deadly disease is resurfacing in Europe. Since its last and worst outbreak, in the 1940’s this malady has been somewhat contained, and loss of life associated with the disease has been very limited. Until now.

Anti-Semitism, the hatred of Jews because they are Jews, is the deadly and dangerous disease making a lethal comeback across Europe today. The disease smoldered under the surface for decades with occasional exacerbations, but nothing like the death toll the disease wrought in the 1940’s. 

The current Palestinian- Israeli conflict is serving to rekindle anti-Semitism in countries like France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Chants like “Death to the Jews” and the horrendous “Gas the Jews” are being heard more frequently on the streets of these European countries! But this wave of anti-Semitism seems to be growing in response to more than just Israeli politics.

Reportedly, eight synagogues were torched in a one week period last month. One such synagogue was fire-bombed by a mob of 4oo. In addition to these crimes, kosher supermarkets and pharmacies have been smashed and looted by angry mobs, and stone throwing protesters have burned Israeli flags in French streets! 

In Germany, destructive riots, reminiscent of Kristallnacht, the wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938 throughout Germany have damaged synagogues, namely Berigische synagogue in Wuppertal previously destroyed on the “Night of Crystal”. Additionally, calls for a second holocaust against Jews are being chanted on the streets of German cities!

"These are the worst times since the Nazi era," states Dieter Graumann, president of Germany's Central Council of Jews. "On the streets, you hear things like 'the Jews should be gassed', 'the Jews should be burned' – we haven't had that in Germany for decades. Anyone saying those slogans isn't criticizing Israeli politics; it's just pure hatred against Jews: nothing else. And it's not just a German phenomenon. It's an outbreak of hatred against Jews so intense that it's very clear indeed."

The prime Ministers of both Germany and France have denounced the attacks as attacks on democracy and nationalism, and characterize the anti-Semitism as intolerable in a free society.

In the Netherlands more than 70 calls from alarmed Jewish citizens were received in one week last month; the average is normally three to five. A rabbi’s front door was stoned, and two Jewish women were attacked after hanging Israeli flags from their balconies. A shop in Belgium reportedly refused to sell to a Jewish woman stating: "We don't currently sell to Jews."

Jewish shops in Rome, Italy are finding swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans painted on shutters and windows. One slogan reading: "Jews, your end is near." In the town of San Donà di Piave, an imam called for the extermination of the Jews. He has since been deported.

Previously, Prophecy News Watch, reported on a recent Jewish Anti- Defamation League study which found that roughly 25% of Europeans admit to feelings of anti-Semitism. A 2012 survey by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency revealed that 66% of Jewish respondents believed anti-Semitism in Europe was on the rise. In 2013, the same surveyed group, 50% expressed anxiety about possible verbal attacks or assaults being perpetrated against them. 

Sadly, recent cases of anti-Semitism also include kidnappings and murders! "In May 2012, Mohamed Merah, shot dead seven people, including three children and a young Rabbi outside their Jewish school in Toulouse, France. And in May this year Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, possibly a radical Islamists who had spent a year fighting in Syria, was charged with shooting four people at the Jewish museum in Brussels.

What is the motivation behind this reemerging disorder of anti-Semitism? According to the experts, there are many causes; the rise of radical Islam, ongoing hostilities between Palestinians and Israeli’s, alienation of young Muslims from society at large, and interestingly, the power of social media to inflame hatred through visual images!

A normalization of anti-Semitism, or a “simmering” hatred of all things Jewish is seen as an additional facet of the upsurge in violence against Jews. Jews are blamed for all the woes” of a lot of angry people,” according to the Guardian article.

Alarmingly, anti-Semitism is becoming acceptable among not just angry immigrant youths, but among the educated middle class as well. According to a 2013 study by the Technical University of Berlin, in 14,000 hate-mail letters sent over 10 years to the Israeli embassy in Berlin and the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Professor Monika Schwarz-Friesel found that 60% were written by educated, middle-class Germans, including professors, lawyers, priests and university and secondary school students

The result; a chilling effect on Jews in Europe and an uneasy awareness that the deadly disease of anti-Semitism, is spreading, once again across the European landscape.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/August22/225.html#A6IbGqe3L3Tq0Mpy.99

Robin Williams: the Sad Truth the Media Won't Tell You
Aug 22nd, 2014
CommentaryBy Joe Schimmel Good Fight Ministries
Categories: Warning

Everybody is currently talking about Robin Williams and his tragic suicide. Many are puzzled as to how a man, who made so many people laugh, could be so depressed that he would violently end his life. What people are not learning is the deeper truth about the insidious forces that tormented Robin Williams and drove him to suicide.

Robin Williams acknowledged that he had opened himself up to transformative demonic powers that aided him on stage. Without the aid of such demonic powers, it is likely that you would have never have heard of Robin Williams and many other famous celebrities. Williams also recognized that these powers had manifested a very evil influence on stage and that there could be a hefty price to pay for their assistance. Williams told James Kaplan of US Weekly:

“Yeah! Literally, it's like possession ‑ all of a sudden you're in, and because it's in front of a live audience, you just get this energy that just starts going…But there's also that thing ‑ it is possession. In the old days you'd be burned for it…But there is something empowering about it. I mean, it is a place where you are totally ‑ it is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where you really can become this other force. Maybe that's why I don't need to play evil characters [in movies], 'cause sometimes onstage you can cross that line and come back. Clubs are a weird kind of petri dish environment. I mean, that's where people can get as dark as they can in comedy ‑ in the name of comedy, be talking about outrageous stuff and somehow come out the other side. I mean, that's one place where you really want to push it” (Robin Williams, "Robin Williams,” by James Kaplan, US Weekly, January, 1999, p. 53).

Williams’ last statement quoted above answers the question as to why the demonic powers use entertainers. Their goal is to promote evil and darkness and increase mankind’s rebellion against God.

Williams went on to say on the heels of that admission:

“The people I've ad­mired ‑ Jonathan [Winters], in his best days, was out. Gone. But the price he paid for it was deep” (Ibid).

Sadly, it seems that the price Robin Williams has now paid is just as deep as that of his idol, Jonathan Winters. In fact, in the same US Weekly Interview, James Kaplan says:

“With a gift for mimicry and improvisation that verged on demonic possession, Williams could even approach the artistry of his idol Jonathan Winters—a man whose genius took him, once or twice, over the edge into mental illness. Williams' own version of hell has been extensively chronicled” (Ibid).

 

Like Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters had to contend with the tormenting demonic powers he utilized for fame and fortune. “These voices are always screaming to get out,” Winters told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, further admitting “They follow me around pretty much all day and night.”

At the height of Winter’s success, he voluntarily committed himself to a psychiatric hospital for eight months. Winters would later claim that if he were not careful, the authorities would put him back in the  “zoo,” an obvious reference to the mental institution. Winters, like Williams, often fell into deep depression and struggled with heavy drinking.

While many only knew Robin Williams to be what they considered a somewhat "family friendly" actor, he was one of the most successful crude stand-up comics who ever lived. It was during his standup where he was most able to tap into what he calls “possession…Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde… that's where people can get as dark as they can in comedy ‑ in the name of comedy” (Ibid).

It was in Williams’ stand-up where he would go into his manic, stream-of-consciousness rants filled with vulgar language, perverse sexuality and the glorification of illicit drugs and drunkenness. Many people express shock after seeing Williams' stand-up, not knowing his act was so perverse.
 
Comedians, like many famous musicians, pay the price for their fame by becoming enslaved to the demonic forces that possess and torment them. Jim Morrison, the frontman of America’s most successful band in the 60’s, admitted that he had to drink “to silence the constant voices of the demons” (James Riordin, “Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison,” p. 23). The Door's photographer, Frank Lisciandro, stated that, “Jim drank to quiet the ceaseless clamor of the demons, ghosts and spirits. He drank because there were demons and voices and spirits shouting inside of his head and he found that one of the ways to quell them was with alcohol” (Ibid., p. 28).

Brian Wilson, considered the musical genius of the Beach Boys, claimed that he has been harassed by several different demonic spirit entities that so tormented him that he was bed ridden for years. Rolling Stone describes Wilson's possession-like experience in ways that are reminiscent of scenes of Linda Blair from The Exorcist:

“Brian Wilson hears voices. They talk to him. They frighten him, distract him, confuse him...the voices are calling. His eyes roll toward the ceiling; they've gone blank. His brow is furrowed with thick worry lines. He is silent. Gone. He looks up, jerks his head back and forth for a few seconds, as if physically shaking away the voices” Former Warner Brother Records President, Larry Waronker, claims to have met at least five different entities possessing Brian Wilson's body (Rolling Stone, August, 1988, p. 51-52).

Ozzy Osborne admitted, “I've got many, many demons that affect me on many, many levels” (Harry Shaw, “Ozzy Talking,” p. 126). Ozzie further admitted, “I remember sitting through the Exorcist a dozen times, saying to myself, 'Yeah, I can relate to that” (Hit Parader, Nov. 1984, p. 49).

Most people are blind to this diabolical pattern of celebrities giving themselves over to satanic power for fame and fortune, only to be exploited, used and abused, and then spit out after Satan is done with them.

Report: New UN Resolution Demands Talks Based on 1949 Lines
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

A new UN Security Council resolution proposed by Germany, Britain and France calling for an end to violence in Gaza contains some significant caveats that are reportedly garnering opposition from Israel.

A senior European diplomat told Walla! on Thursday that the resolution proposal includes the removal of the blockade on Gaza, transferring control of the Hamas stronghold to the Palestinian Authority (PA), and a return to peace talks based on the 1949 Armistice lines.

The specific imposition of pre-defined conditions in peace talks through a UN resolution, namely that they would be on the basis of the 1949 lines, is something that the US has been opposing for years. 

On the other hand, the US proposed the 1949 lines as a basis in framework proposals submitted earlier in the year, before the nine-month long negotiations with the PA failed in April as the PA signed a unity treaty with Hamas.

Many have noted that the recent escalation in Hamas's terror war against Israel from Gaza is a prologue to what can be expected from Judea and Samaria if Israel would vacate the region. Adding irrefutable support to this appraisal is the fact that Hamas recently attempted a coup against the PA in Judea and Samaria, which the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA) foiled.

It is also worth pointing out that a senior PA official last Wednesday said his organization has made a "political decision" to support "slaughtering settlers," the latest in a string of calls for "open war" and a return to terrorism against the Jewish state.

Europe can't "separate Gaza and peace talks"

According to the European diplomat who spoke on Thursday, the European proposal would have both sides stop attacking and define detailed security arrangements for removing the blockade while preventing an influx of weapons to Hamas.

"As far as Europe is concerned, it's impossible to separate the issue of Gaza from the general Palestinian issue. Only a sustainable diplomatic solution will bring a long quiet for the two peoples," said the European source. 

He added that France put pressure on the US through diplomatic channels to publish US Secretary of State John Kerry's framework plan after the Israel-PA negotiations collapsed, so as to turn it into a program for the international community to pursue.

For it's part, Israel reportedly is distancing itself from the European proposal, primarily due to the call for 1949 Armistice lines as a basis for talks.

An Israeli diplomatic source said Thursday that Israel has not ruled out renewed truce talks in Cairo, but expects Hamas to completely end its rocket barrage first. Hamas has broken numerous ceasefires through the course of Operation Protective Edge, most recently this Tuesday.

Randomness and Life
Aug 22nd, 2014
Commentarycreationmoments.com
Categories: Creation - Evolution;Exhortation

"And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind" (Genesis 1:12).

Charles Darwin knew nothing about genetics. In his day the cell was thought to be filled with nothing more than a watery jell. Darwin also thought that characteristics picked up during life could be passed on to the next generation.

After over a century of genetic studies, including the discovery and growing understanding of DNA, evolution looks more impossible than ever. For example, cystic fibrosis is caused by a random mutation at three small points in one protein. This means that one random change in one ten-millionth of the entire human genome is fatal. There are 4,000 known mutations in the human genome, and none of them are beneficial. One so-called good mutation that has been cited is sickle cell anemia since it gives some protection against malaria. However, without medical intervention, even this mutation is fatal.   

After studying mutation rates among humans, scientists have concluded that if an unlikely good mutation were to happen, there would be 10,000 fatal mutations before another good mutation would happen. By this math, if life began over 3 billion evolutionary years ago, it would have all died off by now from bad mutations. Random mutations are not the way to turn paramecia into people!

That there is nothing about life or its preservation that is random shows God's love in preserving life.

Obama Again Backpedals on Military Option for Iran
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Commentary

Sounding strikingly like US President Barack Obama’s Republican detractors, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week knocked American foreign policy as overly cautious, and expressed concern about the threat posed by the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).
“The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad… left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton told The Atlantic in an interview published Sunday, August 10.
“Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle," she noted.
“One of the reasons why I worry about what’s happening in the Middle East right now is because of the breakout capacity of jihadist groups that can affect Europe, can affect the United States,” she said of IS’ drive through Syria and Iraq.
“Jihadist groups are governing territory. They will never stay there, though. They are driven to expand. Their raison d’etre is to be against the West, against the Crusaders, against the fill-in-the-blank—and we all fit into one of these categories. How do we try to contain that? I’m thinking a lot about containment, deterrence, and defeat.”

Obama assigns Iran to fill the “big vacuum” in Syria and Iraq

Clinton has fallen into the same fallacy as the other critics of Washington’s Iraq policy. Whereas she is concerned about the “big vacuum” being filled by IS and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, there is no void in Syria or Iraq as far as President Barack Obama is concerned. It is filled by Iran.
As seen by DEBKA Weekly’s intelligence sources in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, Iran by performing this function leaves Obama free to pursue his primary goals of political change in Iraq, while avoiding direct military action in Kurdistan.
Obama’s rationale is simplistic and easily explained to US and Mid East audiences: The ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his replacement by the moderate fellow-Shiite Haider al-Abadi paved the way to national unity and the certain defeat of Al Qaeda’s Islamic State.
Never mind that Maliki, as Tehran’s servant, fought Iraq’s Sunnis and Kurds for years. He has become a disposable resource, because the same Sunni and Kurdish leaders which he persecuted are now needed for a unity government. By joining up with Abadi, moderate Sunnis would return to mainstream politics, withdraw their support from IS, and pull the rug from under al-Baghdadi.
It is Obama’s belief that with this scenario in place, the IS advance through Iraq would meet less and less Sunni support.

Kurds are abandoned by Washington

Our sources say the US president’s strategy might have a good chance of working were it not for his blatant collaboration with Tehran. Iraqi Sunni leaders’ backs were put up by the sight of Americans in Baghdad working closely with Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council, former Defense Minister and ex-chief of the Revolutionary Guards Navy.
On August 11, the day he was nominated prime minister, Abadi found Shamkhani in his face, when they met in the office of the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad. This told him plainly who sat in the driver’s seat in Baghdad.
While Iraq’s power players appreciate that the Washington-Tehran grip on Baghdad is too strong for them to take on, it is worth noting that Baghdad is far from ruling the roost in the Sunni areas of Iraq – certainly not in the semiautonomous Kurdish region, where KRG President Massoud Barzani is fully alert to Tehran’s covetousness of Kirkuk’s oil fields.
Our intelligence sources say Saudi intelligence agents operating in the Iraqi Sunni areas will likely keep the Sunnis abreast of any developments in the US-Iranian alliance.
The Kurds are even more leery of this alliance. This week, they began to suspect that the Obama administration was acting to frustrate their progress toward independence in the service of Tehran, which strongly objects to Kurdish aspirations lest they infect its own and Syria’s Kurdish minorities.
As a favor to Tehran, the Obama administration, while claiming to directly arm the Kurds’ Peshmerga army against the IS threat to Irbil, actually offered no more than small quantities of light firearms, which are no match for the Islamists and their heavy American weapons.

IS unfazed by US-Iran alliance

The Kurdish army is therefore in no shape to stand up to the IS onslaught.
Furthermore, Washington was found to be secretly undermining KRG oil exports via Turkey and Israel, by sending agents to persuade its oil clients to renege on their signed purchasing contracts. This was a blow to the KRG economy.
The paradoxical outcome of the logic behind Obama’s cozying up to Tehran via Baghdad is that the Al Qaeda Islamists, who were supposed to be most worried, appear unconcerned.
It may be recalled that their commander Baghdadi demonstrated, in two years of facing Iranian war tactics in Syria, that his own tactical flexibility was proof against them. It brought his jihadis such major scoops as near-total control of Syria’s gas and oil fields and victories in military clashes with the Iraqi Shiite militias, which Tehran imported to back its ally, Bashar Assad’s army.
For its part, Tehran has in recent months pulled some of its troops back from Syria for the defense of Baghdad.
Kurdish sources told DEBKA Weekly that US air strikes this week on IS targets were too sparse to have much effect.
Obama had been banking for some time on offering Iran an easy ride on its nuclear program as a lure for turning Tehran into a powerful helping hand to iron out US security difficulties in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
But neither IS, nor Middle East Sunnis, appear to be fazed by the Iranian menace. And so Obama’s outreach to Iran has brought America scant relief from its global headaches.

Non - Kosher Islamists and Kosher Ones
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Wednesday felt uncomfortably a lot like those first early days of Operation Protective Edge.

Hamas fired rockets, we attacked targets from the air; they fired more rockets, we hit more targets from the air. And in the meantime, the airwaves were full of speculation about whether Israel should commit ground forces into Gaza, and if so how far they should go.

Related: Obama calls Islamic State a 'cancer' after graphic threatNetanyahu: Hamas leaders are legitimate targets, no one is invincibleDidn’t we just have that debate? Forty-four days after the start of the Gaza operation, we seem to be back at the very beginning. But don’t be fooled, or, rather, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should not be fooled, because the ground has shifted – it has shifted internationally, and it has shifted domestically.

As we stand poised on the brink of what seems like the second half of this bloody round, the international leeway and legitimacy that Israel enjoyed at the beginning – largely because it restrained itself for days while rockets were fired from Gaza – has been largely depleted.

The accumulated impact of the images of the dead and dying in Gaza has taken its toll. If Jerusalem launches another ground incursion – this time with the aim of toppling Hamas – it is unlikely to merit the same degree of understanding, or be given the same amount of time to try and achieve its objectives, as at the beginning of the campaign.

Certainly not from the US, where last week’s decision to put arms sales to Israel under White House supervision was a clear indication of US annoyance and impatience.

While some might think that the sudden surge of Islamic State will give Israel a greater degree of understanding in the world – it was indeed telling to hear French President François Hollande on Wednesday talk about convening an international conference to fight the Islamic extremists – this should not be overstated.

In the fight against the Islamic extremists, there will be those in the international community who will want to signal to the world’s Muslims that they have nothing against them. One way to do this might be to differentiate between the bad evil folks, such as Islamic State – which beheads American journalists in front of video cameras – and the good evil folks: Hamas, which “only” executes kidnapped Jewish youth, something some out there find possible to “understand,” because those youths wore kippot and were hitchhiking near a “settlement.”

All those who think that as a result of the Islamic extremists’ killing of Yezidis, and the gruesome beheading of US journalist James Foley, the West will now take a more understanding view of Israel’s battle with Islamic extremist Hamas, should think again. Hamas will always be given leeway by some of the world’s “progressives” because – after all – they are fighting the “Zionist occupation.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is one of those European leaders who “gets” Israel’s battle against Hamas, penned an op-ed in the Sunday Telegraph under the headline: “ISIL poses a direct and deadly threat to Europe.”

His theme was simple: the Sunni radicals are at Europe’s gates, and the world needs to act.

“These extremists,” Cameron wrote, “often funded by fanatics living far away from the battlefields, pervert the Islamic faith as a way of justifying their warped and barbaric ideology – and they do so not just in Iraq and Syria but right across the world, from Boko Haram and al-Shabaab to the Taliban and al-Qaida.”

Not a word, interestingly, about Hamas, though how natural – considering the current news cycle – it would have been for that brutal terrorist organization to have been included in this group. That’s a sign – and Cameron is a friend.

So much for the shifting international ground.

The domestic grounds have also shifted. On Sunday and Monday, in a sign that Netanyahu had an inkling the cease-fire was going to collapse, he urged the nation to have patience over the long haul.

His words should have been directed to his inner cabinet ministers, as much as to the public. If when the military operation was launched six weeks ago, there was a degree of unity from the ministers in his security cabinet – or at least a wartime attempt to radiate a perception of unity – that has now disappeared.

Two key voices in the cabinet over the last two days have trashed the way Netanyahu is managing the operation. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said she never had any faith in the Cairo process, and it was not too late to try something different – enlisting the international community to create a whole new reality in Gaza.

And Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman – who already said “I told you so” last week – repeated that message again on Wednesday, saying that the only thing that would work would be to pound Hamas into submission, something he has advocated from the very beginning.

Two of the other eight ministers in the security cabinet have voiced sharp criticisms of Netanyahu’s policies – with Finance Minister Yair Lapid jumping on the Netanyahu-is-damaging- the-ties-with-Washington bandwagon, and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett continuously repeating Liberman’s refrain: that Hamas must be pummeled.

Netanyahu has only one real ally inside the security cabinet right now: Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Among the two other ministers, Communications Minister Gilad Erdan is unlikely to vote against Netanyahu, but likely to criticize him publicly to gain points inside the Likud; while Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch is seemingly close to Netanyahu philosophically on Gaza, but completely dependent for his political future on Liberman.

If Wednesday does indeed mark the beginning of the second half of the current round of fighting, Netanyahu’s position both internationally and in his own cabinet is not as strong as it was when it all first started six weeks ago. His consolation: Hamas’s problems are even worse.

NGO Asks U.S. to Demand Extradition of Hamas Leader
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

After the Hamas terrorist organization finally admitted that it was indeed responsible for the June 12 abduction and murder of Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frenkel (16) and Gilad Sha'ar (16) hy''d, Shurat Hadin (Israel Law Center) is pushing to ensure justice is served.

In a letter appeal to US Attorney General Eric Holder, Shurat Hadin is requesting that America demand the extradition of senior Hamas leader Salah Al-Aruri who took responsibility for the murder, given that Frenkel held American citizenship.

Al-Aruri was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal, which saw 1,027 terrorists go free and many of them return to the acts of murder that had them behind bars in the first place. He currently lives in Turkey, the country that in 2012 overtook Iran as Hamas's main sponsor.

The Hamas leader is the one who let slip about the three Israeli teens, boasting at a conference of Muslim clerics in Turkey that his group's Al-Qassam Brigades was responsible for "the abduction of three settlers in Hevron."

According to Shurat Hadin, an earnest demand by the US through its ties with Turkey, resting on the fact that he was connected to the terrorist act of murdering a US citizen, will bring about Al-Aruri's extradition.

The US and Turkey have an extradition agreement for wanted criminals and terrorists, which along with the fact that Al-Aruri took responsibility for the murder on Turkish soil should obligate the country to honor an American request to have Al-Aruri in its custody.

Shurat Hadin director Nitzana Darshan-Leitner remarked in the letter "it cannot be that the Turkish regime will give a platform to an announcement of the murder of innocent 16-year-old youths on Israeli soil, and will appear as if it's concerned with issues of morality."

"Turkey is providing cover for a terrorist released in one abduction deal and proudly announcing his personal involvement in the abduction and murder of additional innocents," added the attorney.

Darshan-Leitner concluded by noting that the window of opportunity for a true investigation is closing.

While numerous examples of evidence and testimony can be gathered about Al-Aruri's activities supporting terrorism against Israel from Turkey, she argued that the chance of bagging conclusive proof will be harmed, the longer the investigation dawdles.

Hamas's headquarters in Turkey have in fact been very active in acting to influence the goings-on in Israel; just recently the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA) foiled a Hamas coup attempt orchestrated from Turkey to overthrow the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Judea and Samaria.

New IDF Report Details Hamas Use of Civilians
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The IDF has declassified a new special report detailing Hamas's "illegal use of civilian infrastructure" throughout the course of Operation Protective Edge, which began July 8.

The report was released on Tuesday, the same day that Hamas breached a ceasefire, and presents an irrefutable case against the terror organization utilizing intelligence maps, photographic and video evidence.

According to the report, during the course of its recent terror war on Israel, Hamas has fired over 1,600 rockets from civilian sites, cynically using UN facilities, schools, graveyards, mosques and power plants, among others.

The IDF has already documented Hamas's rampant usage of human shields, a phenomenon that has also been caught on film by foreign journalists.

An Indian TV report during the operation exposed terrorists setting up and launching a rocket just meters away from a Gaza hotel where members of the international media were staying, in the middle of a crowded residential area.

A France 24 TV journalist - who famously ducked for cover during a live interview when a Hamas rocket was fired right next to him - has also gone on the record to report how the rocket which caught him off guard was launched in a crowded civilian area and right in front of a UN building.

Netanyahu: Hamas will Pay a Heavy Price
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday evening warned Hamas that it would “pay a heavy price” after a four-year-old boy was killed in a mortar attack on southern Israel.

"On behalf of the citizens of Israel, I express my deep sorrow and send condolences to the family of the child. At this difficult moment I wish to strengthen the citizens of Israel,"  Netanyahu added.

"The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) will intensify the operations against Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza until the goals of Operation Protective Edge are achieved,” he declared.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, condemned the incident as well.

“I've just heard the terrible news that a 4-year-old child was killed by a mortar strike in the south. I condemn in the strongest terms this outrageous terrorist attack and offer condolences to the boy's family. Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself, which the United States supports,” wrote Shapiro on his Facebook page.

Friday’s incident occurred in a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council. According to Channel 2 News, terrorists in Gaza fired a barrage of mortars at the kibbutz, one of which exploded in a location near where the boy was standing.

The boy sustained critical injuries, and rescue services rushed him to hospital. A short time later, he was pronounced dead.

Gaza terrorists fired more than 90 rockets at Israel on Friday, and the attacks continued throughout the evening.

At least eight rockets and mortars exploded in the Eshkol region shortly after 8:00 p.m. No one was physically injured and there was no damage, as the rockets exploded in open areas.

One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome system over Be’er Sheva, and two more exploded in open regions. There were no injuries or damages.

A rocket from Gaza also exploded in an open area in the Gush Dan region of central Israel. Sirens were heard in Holon, Bat Yam, Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion before the explosion.

No physical injuries or damages were reported.

More British Muslims Fight for Islamic State Than Britain
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

It is likely that there are now more British Muslims fighting for the Islamic State than for Britain's military.

Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed to USA TODAY that there are approximately 600 British Muslim servicemembers in its armed forces of almost 200,000 people. Official government estimates put the number of British Islamic State fighters operating in Syria and Iraq at up to 800. The Foreign Office cautioned Thursday that it is difficult to provide precise numbers.

The militant who beheaded American journalist James Foley in a horrifying video released this week spoke with a British accent. United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond acknowledged that the militant in the video could be a British national. And he knows the problem of British jihadists is not a new one.

"This is something we have been tracking and dealing with for many, many months and I don't think this video changes anything," he said. "It just heightens awareness of a situation which is very grave."

Khalid Mahmood, a member of Parliament from an area with a high proportion of Muslim residents, said government estimates of the number of British Islamic State fighters currently in the Mideast is far too conservative. He told Newsweek magazine this week that at least 1,500 extremists are likely to have been recruited to fight in Iraq and Syria over the last three years.

"There are an unacceptable number of Britons fighting for jihadist forces," he said.

Experts say the number of Americans fighting for the Islamic State is much lower. Joseph Young, a criminology professor at American University and expert on political violence, said simple geography and the complex cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe are primary reasons why.

Young, who said common estimates put the number of American fighters for IS at 100 to 150, said just getting to Syria or Iraq is extremely complicated from North America. However, the Islamic State's home region is practically next door for Europeans.

"We also do a better job of integrating our minority communities," Young said. "Isolation of minority groups is a much bigger problem in Europe."

Raffaello Pantucci, a researcher at Royal United Services Institute in London, said many young men facing poor job prospects in the U.K. find the IS narrative of defending Islam hard to resist. He agrees with Young -- Syria and Iraq are relatively accessible from England.

"These people can go look online and just decide to participate," he said. "With its proximity to Europe it's just so easy to do."

Ghaffar Hussain, of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank in Britain, said the lure could be empowerment for many British Muslims with grievances over their treatment in a predominantly non-Muslim society.

"It makes them feel like they are part of something that is important to the world," he said. "If you feel like you don't really fit in or if Muslims are being attacked and a narrative comes along that explains all that away in a simple way, that is attractive."

Hussain said a task force was set up – called Channel – to identify people who have been flagged in schools and institutions as being at risk of being drawn into extremism. Channel then pairs them with a mentor who assesses their needs and tries to offer support. But, he said, a major failing of the program is that it only works if individuals are flagged by the system.

"When it comes to the hard-edge, counterterrorism stuff, a lot of good work has been done by the government in terms of thwarting a hell of a lot of plots in recent years, but there are a lot of gaps outside of Channel," Hussain said. "Taking it seriously is one thing, knowing what to do is another."

Hussain said that extremism of the kind that is leading British nationals to Iraq and Syria is not limited to Britain but is a western European phenomenon seen in Holland, France, Denmark and other places. He said would-be fighters probably enter Syria through Turkey, though it's not exactly clear how.

Christopher Davidson, a Mideast expert at Durham University, said there's been a massive lack of attention to the flow of Westerners headed to the region. "As long as they have been supposedly fighting the (Syrian President Bashar) Assad regime, authorities have turned a blind eye to it. Now that they are going to Iraq we are starting to experience the blow back," he said.

Young noted that completely stopping the flow of Westerners is probably asking too much.

"Young men throughout time and space have done these kinds of things," he said.

Malaysia Cracks Down on Teen for Liking Israel
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Antisemitism

A Malaysian teenager is being investigated by police for sedition after "liking" a pro-Israel Facebook posting, sparking outrage over perceived growing intolerance in the Muslim-majority country.

The 17-year-old student in the northern state of Penang had "liked" a post that declared "I love Israel" and featured a picture of the Jewish state's flag, Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi was quoted as saying Wednesday by Malaysian media.

Abdul Rahim reportedly said a sedition probe was under way and that the student claimed to have accidentally clicked "like". Police also are investigating death threats against the student.

Sedition can result in three years in jail in Malaysia. The student, who has been questioned by police, has deactivated his Facebook account. He has not been publicly identified.

Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. The Jewish state's policies toward the Palestinians are fiercely criticised by Malaysian Muslims, sentiments that have been inflamed by the ongoing deadly conflict in Gaza.

The episode is the latest in a series of incidents to stoke public fears in multi-ethnic, multi-faith Malaysia of mounting intolerance under the decades-old regime dominated by majority Muslim Malays.

In the most high-profile example, minority Malaysian Christians are under pressure from the government and Muslim groups to cease using the Arabic word "Allah" to refer to the Christian God in the Malay language, which Christians say they have done for centuries.

Muslims assert "Allah" is a sacred word for Islam only.

Communication Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek also triggered harsh online criticism recently when he said authorities would "study" whether to block Facebook after a posting appeared that was deemed insulting to Malaysia's Islamic royalty.

Osman Hussain, Penang's state director of education, told AFP on Thursday he would seek to resolve the incident without police involvement.

"He is just a student. I will try to solve the issue peacefully," he said.

The affair has triggered harsh criticism online.

"Using the same twisted logic, all Malaysians using Facebook are also committing sedition as Facebook is founded by a Jew," said one reader posting on popular online news portal Malaysiakini, denouncing such "extremism".

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Kurdish gun bazaars, where an AK-47 costs $700 unless you’re Arab
“I wouldn’t sell a gun to an Arab if you gave me $1 million,” one operator of a shop in of Sulemaniyah told FoxNews.com.  

3.0 Magnitude Earthquake Recorded Near Cherokee
CHEROKEE, Oklahoma - A 3.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded near Cherokee, Oklahoma, Friday afternoon. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, this earthquake was recorded at 2:23 p.m. Its epicenter was located eight miles northeast of Cherokee and 35 miles north, northwest of Enid.  

Earthquake off Molokai shakes Hawaii
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake woke some residents up early Friday morning. No tsunami was generated. The earthquake, in the ocean about 38 miles south of Waimanlo and 34 miles southwest of Maunaloa, Molokai, was about 4 miles deep and struck at 2:37 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Hamas executes 18 for 'collaboration' with Israel
Hamas killed seven Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel in a public execution, after 11 others executed by gunmen at an abandoned police station earlier Friday; deaths linked to Israeli attacks on top officials.  

SOLAR ACTIVITY PICKS UP
A new sunspot emerging over the sun's NE limb is bringing an uptick in solar activity. AR2149 announced itself on August 21st with an impulsive M3-class solar flare.  

MYSTERY IN THE OZONE LAYER
More than 27 years after the Montreal Protocol regulated chemicals that destroy ozone, a damaging compound named carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is still surprisingly abundant in the ozone layer. "We are not supposed to be seeing this at all," says NASA atmospheric scientist Qing Liang. Countries around the world report zero emissions of CCl4, yet the amount actually in the ozone layer corresponds to 39 kilotons per year.  

NSA Whistle-Blower: Obama’s Authority To Label ‘Terrorists’ Is The Same Rule The Nazis Issued In 1933
“Look at the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] Section 1021, that gave President Obama the ability to define someone as a terrorist threat and have the military incarcerate them indefinitely without due process,” Binney said in a recent interview with DW. “That’s the same as the special order 48 issued in 1933 by the Nazis [the so-called Reichstag Fire Decree]. Read that — it says exactly the same thing.”  

I Increasingly Find Conflict Between My Faith and Some Conservative Discourse
I’m a conservative before I’m a Republican. I was once even an elected Republican. But before I’m a father or husband, I am a Christian. My politics have to be balanced by my faith. That faith requires me to put faith, hope, mercy, and grace ahead of much, including a lot of short term political gain. And sometimes that requires me to rely on Christ for justice, not the government.  

5.1 Earthquake Hits Greek Chalkidiki Peninsula
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale was registered in the southern part of the Greek Kassandra peninsula, Chalkidiki at 8.29 am EEST.  

Earthquake experts keeping a close eye on Northwest Nevada swarm
Nevada Seismological Laboratory Director Graham Kent said the latest quakes are similar to some you might remember. "For those of you who remember Mogul in 2008, it's a lot like the Mogul sequence. That finally ended with a magnitude five."  

Early morning earthquake rattles Gauteng
JOHANNESBURG - Another earthquake has struck South Africa, this one measuring 4.6 on the Richter Scale, as reported by the US Geological Survey (USGS). The quake struck around 12km (7.5 miles) west of Orange Farm (south of Johannesburg) in Gauteng, around 01:14 CAT early Friday morning.  

No injuries after Gauteng quake
No injuries were reported when an earthquake hit Johannesburg in the early hours of Friday morning, paramedics said. The US Geological Survey said on its website that a 4.6 magnitude earthquake occurred 12 kilometres west of Orange Farm, a township south of Johannesburg.  

UN: Death toll from Syrian civil war tops 191,000
The death toll from three years of Syria's civil war has risen to more than 191,000 people, the United Nations reported Friday. The figure, covering the period from March 2011 to April 2014, is the first issued by the UN's human rights office since July 2013, when it documented more than 100,000 killed.  

Ukraine accuses Russia of "direct invasion" as aid convoy crosses border
Ukraine declared on Friday that Russia had launched a "direct invasion" of its territory after Moscow sent a convoy of aid trucks across the border into eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian rebels are fighting government forces. Moscow, which has thousands of troops close on the Russian side of the border, warned against any attempt to "disrupt" the convoy but did not specify what action it was prepared to take if Kiev's forces intervened.  

Ebola crisis: Senegal closes Guinea border
Senegal has closed its border with Guinea because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, despite warnings that such measures are counterproductive. Senegal also banned flights and ships from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the three worst-hit countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) says travel bans do not work, especially if they stop doctors going to help tackle the crisis.  

Gaza mortar explodes near preschool in Eshkol, 1 wounded in Beersheba
A mortar shell landed near a preschool in southern Israel's Eshkol Regional Council on Friday morning during continued barrages of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. In Beersheba two rockets were intercepted over the city while a third exploded in a residential parking lot, wounding one person, police reported.

Hamas admits kidnapping Israeli teens
A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June — the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip.  

The Fed's Track Record: $389,863 Spent For Every Job Created… AT BEST
The Fed likes to claim that its policies are aimed at helping Main Street. Ben Bernanke began this argument when he was still Fed Chairman. Janet Yellen has since taken it a step further claiming that she comes from an “intellectual tradition” that it is important to use “public policy” to “make the world a better place.”  

Trouble In Socialist Paradise: Maduro Rating Plummets As Shoppers Prepare To Be Fingerprinted
It appears Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has run out of other people's money. Just 8 months after his exuberant 60% approval rating at the end of last year after local elections (appealing to the ever-more-impoverished ultra-poor who remain entirely dependent on his 'fairness'), the socialist leader's popularity has plunged. As Bloomberg reports, Hinterlaces polling shows only a 39% approval rating (oddly similar to President Obama's). There are numerous reasons of course, but we suspect the news that Maduro has announced a mandatory grocery fingerprinting system to combat food shortages, will not exactly endear him to his 'followers'.  

Islamic State threat 'beyond anything we've seen': Pentagon
The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday. "They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it's in Iraq or anywhere else," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.  

Two American Ebola patients leave hospital
Two American missionaries who were sickened with Ebola while working in Liberia and were treated with an experimental drug are doing better and have left the hospital, doctors said Thursday.  

The 'Unbelievable' Way the US Misinterpreted Iran's Remarks Today
A defiant statement by the Iranian Foreign Minister linking cooperation against ISIS in Iraq to sanctions relief might actually be a giant, lost-in-translation misunderstanding, the State Department said today.  

Israel Focus on Tactical Intel Leaves Hamas With the Strategic Intel Edge in Gaza Conflict
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: The Nation Of Israel;Commentary

Tactical Intelligence Is No Game Changer in War

When Israeli troops entered Gaza in July, 2014, they were armed with superb tactical intelligence as well as superior weaponry and training. The soldiers on the ground were supplied at every level with astonishing detail which saved lives.
But thanks to the radical shift in Israel’s intelligence focus, initiated 10 years ago and followed through since, those calling the shots in the IDF’s war on Hamas were short of a deeper picture and insights into the enemy’s mindset and guiding motives and data that should transcend purely tactical knowledge
This revision of Israel’s operational intelligence orientation began in 2003. It was the brainchild of Meir Dagan, Israel’s longest-running Mossad chief (2002-2010). The process he set in motion refocused the work of Israel’s clandestine agencies on collecting tactical intelligence, rather than digging for overarching strategic data for the study and analysis of regional and international dynamics and for bolstering understanding of the key players.
This revolution, approved by the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, affected the work in the short and long term of Israel’s external and internal security and counterterrorism arms, the Mossad and Shin Bet, as well as military intelligence AMAN.

Israel scores tactical wins in a strategic black hole

The Mossad set about shutting down its stations world wide and sacking or sidelining agents who disputed the Dagan overhaul. The organization was restructured on new lines. The desks specializing in the strategic research of international events were streamlined out of the organization. The new entity assumed a form that was akin to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s Special Operations Division (SAD), a covert paramilitary unit that focuses on gathering tactical intelligence for the use of operatives serving on foreign soil, especially in the Mid East.
During this evolution, the Mossad scored some major coups. One was the targeted assassination in 2008 of the lethal Imad Mughniyeh, who for two decades, in the service of Hizballah and Iran, secretly masterminded large-scale terrorist and kidnapping atrocities against Israel and the US.
Another was the Stuxnet malworm invasion of the computer systems of Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities which slowed Iran’s nuclear program.
A series of assassinations inside Iran targeted key figures of this program; and, in 2007, an Israeli special force raided and destroyed a plutonium reactor, which Iran and North Korea were building in Syria, shortly before it went on line.
But despite these coups, Israeli intelligence was left short of important tools for fighting terrorism and fundamentalist Islam on the march. Dagan was wont to remark: Let’s leave that to the Americans.

Hamas remains an unknown quantity

New personnel were hired on the strength of their ability to think tactically. They, in turn, sought the same qualities in the next generation of agents and staff. By perpetuating this trend, and dropping their strategic evaluation and research departments, Mossad, Shin Bet and AMAN ended up short of the tools for supplying Israel’s diplomats and security leaders with professional analyses of the bigger picture.
This deficiency was conspicuous in Israel’s failure to evaluate the US-Iranian détente and its import for the Jewish state; in its error in forecasting Bashar Assad's early downfall in the Syrian war – and, more immediately, in failing to second guess Hamas in Operation Protective Edge.
DEBKA Weekly’s military and intelligence sources award top marks for the quality of tactical intelligence provided Israeli troops during the month of hostilities in Gaza. It was outstanding by any standards of modern warfare. The troops were constantly updated, even when engaged in the smallest, most localized field operations, on such details as the layout of buildings before going in, the placement of windows and likely enemy hidey holes.
Tank commanders were warned as they advanced what lay beyond the next corner.
Much valuable information was extracted from Hamas prisoners captured by advance intelligence units who went into enemy terrain ahead of the armored corps. Such instantaneous data feeds in a steady stream were worth their weight in gold.
But tactical intelligence could only take the IDF so far in Gaza - as in other hostile arenas.

Hamas takes opposite tack, focuses on strategy

Detailed rundowns of the movements of Iranian nuclear scientists were tactically priceless, but they were not much use for predicting when and how Iran would intervene in the Syrian conflict, or enlist Hizballah in support of Assad’s army.
In the Gaza conflict, Israel’s war planners determined that Hamas leaders were desperate for a ceasefire – and proved wrong. This fallacy arose from a lack of strategic intelligence on the enemy’s mind processes, personal predilections’ and Achilles heels. They were short of the tools for outguessing Hamas when it counted most.
As for Egypt’s role, Israel’s leaders relied too heavily on President Abdel-Fattah Sisi strong-muscling Hamas into submission at the Cairo negotiations. He obviously had his own fish to fry as well.
Lacking this type of strategic intelligence, Israel was driving blind. No wonder, its leaders were on tenterhooks for four hours Wednesday, because of an inability to read Hamas’ intentions and where it was headed when the three-day ceasefire expired at midnight.
It is this extra strategic dimension that has given Hamas the advantage of surprise to offset its deficit in numbers and arms. Tactical intelligence comes into play later as back-up.

Israel Considering a Truce With Hamas to 'Strengthen' Egypt
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The US has joined the European push for a UN resolution to end the fighting in Gaza, Channel 10 reports Friday - and Israel might be considering accepting the terms of a potential proposal. 

Political sources in Jerusalem, who asked to remain anonymous, told the news outlet that officials prefer to end fighting using Egyptian mediation - despite the fact that both the Israeli and Palestinian Arab delegations pulled out of Cairo talks after Hamas breached the ceasefire on Tuesday.

Israel is keen to advance the standing of current Egyptian president Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, due to his fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot Hamas, officials said. 

Israel's interests are allegedly to see Egypt emerge again as a strong and influential power in the Middle East; therefore, talks are still on the agenda, despite a "significant decrease" in the chance of their success. 

Meanwhile, the sources added, the possibility of Israel accepting the UN Security Council's new resolution being drafted on Gaza has not been entirely rejected, and diplomatic efforts are currently being conducted to influence the text of the resolution according to Israel's security needs.

A workable proposal?

According to AFP, the initial stages of the UN resolution call for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire that would put an end to the firing of rockets and military operations in Gaza.

It also calls for a lifting of the Israeli blockade and the institution of a monitoring mechanism to report on ceasefire violations and verify the flow of goods into Gaza.

Likewise, it reportedly specifies giving control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority (PA), and most significantly, a resumption of peace talks based on the 1949 Armistice lines.

Diplomats said the measure was aimed at advancing efforts to reach agreement within the 15-member Security Council on a resolution after Jordan's draft met with resistance, notably from the United States.

The new resolution draft instructs UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to immediately come up with proposals to "implement the relevant provisions of this resolution" in a move that could jump start the peace negotiations, with pre-defined borders as noted above.

Security crisis

The main issue, however, is the fact that "no effective party exists" to deter Hamas from using humanitarian aid to build terror tunnels and other weapons - even the UN, the official said. 

The backlash indicated by the official's cryptic remarks corroborates with earlier responses from Israeli politicians several weeks ago, after Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) suggested that Gaza be handed over to the UN to appease the international community. 

This is the third time in a two-week period that the idea has been raised; earlier this week, UN envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry suggested that the UN 'monitor' imports into Gaza, despite ample evidence that the same humanitarian aid materials are used to manufacture weapons and terror tunnels. 

To illustrate this, the IDF revealed during the course of Operation Protective Edge last month that 4,680 trucks carrying 181 thousand tons of gravel, iron, cement, wood and other supplies have passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza since January 2014 - much of it directly from Israel to fund civilian projects. 

Instead, however, a network of over 30 tunnels was found during the ground offensive - with each tunnel costing roughly $3 million to build. For every Hamas terror tunnel, the IDF stated, there was enough building materials to build either 86 homes, seven mosques, six schools, or 19 medical clinics. 

The statistics beg the question of why Hamas needs over ten times the building materials required for the buildings above, as Gaza is not big enough to house an additional 190 medical clinics, for example.

Hamas Refuses Future Truces Until Demands are Met
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Moshir al-Masri, a senior Hamas figure, spoke on Tuesday about the tripartite meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, and Qatar Amir Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al-Khamis in Qatar.

According to al-Masri, the talk "focused on Palestinian demands" regarding possible a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. 

Speaking to the Palestinian Arab Safa news agency, al-Masri noted that the three men repeatedly stressed the importance of addressing "humanitarian needs," lifting of the blockade and the Palestinian position in general.

"Israel will pave the way for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip," al-Masri insisted, saying Israel's and Gaza's future depends on "the just demands and humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people." 

Apparently the need for "humanitarian aid" did not surpass the need for the leaders to make their unprecedented set of demands on Israel, including lifting all transport and import restrictions and building a seaport and airport. Both demands are seen as a security threat that would allow Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists to re-arm. 

"There will not be open negotiations with the Israeli enemy, and there will not be a deviation from the just demands of the Palestinian people," said Al-Masri, saying that if Israel did not accept Palestinian demands to "expect a long and well-prepared fight" from Palestinian Arab terror groups.

Israel and Hamas officially cancelled talks on Wednesday, after Hamas breached a days-long ceasefire by firing dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians. 

The tripartite meeting follows reports that Qatar orchestrated the ceasefire breach, after ordering Mashaal to pull out of the Cairo truce talks after Cairo refused to let Doha intervene.

Hamas Goes on An 'Israel Collaborator' Killing Spree
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Hamas regime in Gaza continues to execute its own civilians, even while engaged in a terror war against Israel.

In a central venue in Gaza City on Friday morning, 11 local Arab residents who were charged with "collaborating with Israel" were publicly executed, according to the Arabic-language Al-Rai news agency as cited by Walla!.

The public killing, conducted by terrorists evidently associated with Hamas, comes in the midst of a rising wave of "collaborator" executions in the terrorist stronghold of Gaza.

Majd, a website close to Hamas, just on Thursday reported that Hamas's "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades, executed three Gaza residents and arrested seven others for "collaborating" with Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

No date was given for the executions or arrests, but the Hamas security official quoted in the report said the three were killed after "revolutionary procedures" were completed against them.

The same website reported on August 6 that "a number" of Arab collaborators had been killed, again without giving a date.

In the last week of July, Palestinian sources reported that over 30 Gazans were executed by Hamas, most of them in the Shejaiya neighborhood. In that case too, Hamas claimed that they were collaborators with Israel.

Better to be a "Hamas collaborator"?

Hamas's cynical disregard for its own citizens, openly displayed by fighting while embedded in civilian infrastructure and using human shields, has not spared "Hamas collaborators" either.

A Hamas spokesperson recently told Al Jazeera that since Operation Pillar of Defense ended in 2012, "hundreds of our men were martyred digging the tunnels during the previous lull period."

Many of those who survived digging the terror tunnels did not meet a better end than their "martyred" companions; according to reports, in recent weeks Hamas has executed dozens of the diggers to make absolutely certain they would not reveal information about the locations in which they were digging.

Of the hundreds who died in the digging, "at least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels" according to the Journal of Palestine Studies in 2012, indicating how Hamas had no qualms about lethally manipulating child labor.

Double Standard? Syria Death Toll 100 Times Higher Than Gaza
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Outgoing UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay on Thursday condemned the UN Security Council for failing in Syria, as a UN report indicated the death toll there has reached over 191,369 people, spurred by horrific war crimes.

"I firmly believe that greater responsiveness by this council would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Pillay told the council in the final briefing of her six-year term, reports Reuters. She will be replaced by Jordan's Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein.

Through April just shy of 200,000 people have been killed in Syria's four-year bloody conflict, according to a UN report released Friday by Pillay's office. That figure is more than double the death toll of a year ago, and likely still falls short of the actual toll according to Pillay, as an extra 51,953 killings were left out due to insufficient data.

Syria's civil war has "dropped off the international radar," lamented Pillay, noting "the killers, destroyers and torturers in Syria have been empowered and emboldened by the international paralysis."

Ironically the UN has been very not paralyzed when it comes to Israel's defensive Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, now in its sixth week, despite that Hamas claimed Monday the death toll there is just over 2,000 - a full 100 times less than the Syrian casualty count.

In fact, 2,000 Syrians, the same number as those killed in Gaza, were killed in the first five months of 2014 by indiscriminate "barrel bombings" on Aleppo, in which cheaply improvised explosives were randomly tossed on civilian centers by the Syrian army.

The UN has been very unconcerned about accuracy in the Gaza death toll, although Israeli reports show that despite Hamas's manipulation of figures and inflation of civilian counts, there is a roughly 1:1 death toll of combatants to civilians, which would be an almost unprecedented achievement in urban warfare. 

Nevertheless, Pillay has herself led the charge against Israel, even slamming the Jewish state for not sharing its anti-missile Iron Dome technology with the terrorist organization peppering its civilians with rockets.

Already European nations are pushing for a UN Security Council resolution to stop the fighting in Gaza, and force Israel back into peace talks on the basis of the 1949 Armistice lines.

Likewise, UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has tasked an investigative committee to look into "war crimes" allegations against Israel, headed by anti-Israel Canadian law Professor William Schabas who last Wednesday admitted the UN has "double standards" against Israel.

UN "losing credibility"

Speaking on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon claimed that his organization could have an "important" impact if it had full support from the Security Council.

"However, when there is limited consensus - when our actions come late and address only the lowest common denominator - the consequences can be measured in terrible loss of life, grave human suffering and tremendous loss of credibility for this council and our institution," Ban complained.

The question of credibility has indeed been raised recently, after rockets were found in at least three UN schools in Gaza and promptly returned to Hamas terrorists.

A UN clinic was also found to have been booby-trapped in an explosion that killed three IDF soldiers and wounded seven others. The clinic was located on top of several terror tunnels as well, showing the active participation between UN workers and terrorists.

The UN's actions have led Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor to quip recently "to establish an investigative committee headed by Schabas is like inviting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) to arrange the religious tolerance week at the UN."

Nobel laureate Professor Yisrael (Robert) Aumann added that the UNHRC probe against Israel was a simple manifestation of anti-Semitism.

Denmark: Jewish School Targeted in Anti - Semitic Attack
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A Jewish school in Copenhagen had its windows smashed and anti-Semitic graffiti referring to the conflict in Gaza spray-painted on its walls, the school said on Friday.

"We know that a political message has been written on the walls but we don't know who is responsible," Jan Hansen, headmaster of Carolineskolen, told AFP.

Messages daubed on the school walls included "No peace in Gaza" and "No peace to you Zionist pigs."  

"There have been parents who didn't want to send their children to school today and there have been some children who were sad and a bit afraid who we had to send home," Hansen said.

Founded in 1805, the school, which includes a nursery, describes itself as the world's second oldest still functioning Jewish school.

A rise in the number of reported anti-Semitic crimes in Denmark last week prompted local politicians to organize a "kippah march" in central Copenhagen in support of Jewish people's right to display their religion openly.

Europe has seen an alarming rise in anti-Semitism since the start of the latest escalation between Israel and terrorists in Gaza.

Most attacks have been carried out by Muslim extremists, but elements of both the hard-left and far-right have also used Israel's Operation Protective Edge as a pretext to attack Jewish communities throughout Europe.

Synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions have been particularly targeted, and anti-Israel rallies have increasingly featured openly anti-Semitic banners and slogans. A growing number of violent assaults have also been reported.

Commander: Aborted Airstrikes 'Sabotage' IDF Operation
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Senior members of the IAF special reconnaissance Flying Camel Squadron discussed their role in gathering intelligence from the air during Operation Protective Edge, and noted frustration at having to abort airstrikes due to Hamas's use of civilian cover.

"We don’t have bombs on our planes; we have cameras that do intelligence work, and our job is to make sure that the bombs hit the right targets and only the right targets," said Lt. Col. Y, commander of the squadron, as reported by the IDF Blog this Monday.

The commander admitted "sometimes it’s very frustrating because you actually see rockets being launched from mosques, schoolyards - from places you can’t attack. And a lot of the time, it’s from the vicinity of these facilities. When it’s nearby, we try to clear the place."

"If the situation is unclear, the attack will be aborted. Maybe we would return to strike the target at a different time, or maybe not hit the site at all," added Lt. Col. Y, noting how Hamas's callous use of the Gaza populace is harming the IDF's ability to defend Israel.

Noting on the effect of the strike abortions, Lt. Col. Y added "it's not easy during battle, because you sabotage your operational achievement. Nevertheless, we do it because we believe its important."

MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) has blamed Israel's "misplaced pity" for Gaza residents as being responsible for the deaths of IDF soldiers. In one case, reports indicated that a strike was called off on a booby-trapped UN clinic, forcing soldiers to go in without air cover; three soldiers were killed as the building exploded, and seven more were wounded.

An example of an airstrike on July 10 aborted after the Flying Camel Squadron gathered real-time intelligence of children entering the terror target site can be seen here:

Speaking about the operation, Lt. Col. Y stated "a lot of Hamas infrastructure is underground. They fire from pits and tunnels. We know this because after we’d hit the coordinate, we would see the underground infrastructure; we saw the tunnels, we saw the openings, the hidden ammunition etc."

Conferring with his squadron commander, Cpt. O, an operations officer and pilot for the Flying Camels, said "we face an enemy who puts its civilians in the middle of the conflict. ...Hamas targets indiscriminately - they fire rockets wherever they can. We pinpoint targets as much as we can and we bomb areas where we know for a fact they are used to attack Israeli civilians."

Cpt. O added that "as a person, hearing about children being killed is heartbreaking and that’s understandable for everyone. The IDF puts a lot of time, money and effort into training us to prevent civilian casualties.”

The Flying Camels Squadron, which has operated in all of Israel's wars, uses only Israeli optical equipment consisting of the most advanced cutting edge technology.

The capabilities are needed because sometimes terror targets "can be very close to a house, so the attack needs to be very accurate," noted Lt. Col. Y.

An example of a pinpoint strike on a weapons cache and terrorist gathering point within the house of a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander in Khan Yunis on July 9 can been seen below.

It is worth noting that the home, located as close as 18 meters from an adjacent civilian home, is described by the IDF video as a gathering point for "militants," using a term popular in the international media to sanitize terrorists. In this context, many have lamented Israel's shortcomings in the global PR war.

Chinese Jet Threatened U.S. Intelligence Aircraft
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Free Beacon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A Chinese jet fighter flew dangerously close to a U.S. Navy P-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft near Japan this week in an encounter that highlights China’s continued aggressiveness in the region.

The P-8, a new, militarized Boeing-737 anti-submarine warfare aircraft, was conducting routine surveillance of the Chinese coast over the East China Sea on Monday when the incident occurred, said U.S. defense officials familiar with reports of the encounter.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool had no immediate comment but said he would provide “an explanation of the event” on Friday.

The defense officials said the Chinese Su-27 interceptor jet flew within 50 feet of the P-8 and then carried out a barrel roll over the top of the aircraft—a move described by officials as dangerous and meant to threaten the surveillance aircraft.

It was the second threatening encounter of a U.S. surveillance aircraft this year. In April, a Russian Su-27 flew within 100 feet of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft during another dangerous intercept over waters north of Japan.

One defense official said the Pentagon’s failure to produce a tough response to the April event likely spurred the Chinese to conduct the similar threatening intercept on Monday.

Chinese military officials have said they oppose all U.S. electronic surveillance flights and described ship-based monitoring of their facilities and territory an encroachment of sovereignty. U.S. military officials have said the monitoring is carried within international airspace and thus does not violate international or Chinese law.

The Chinese attempt at aerial intimidation comes amid unprecedented Chinese military exercises held recently and currently underway in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea.

On Monday, Chinese air force and navy jets conducted combat simulation drills in the East China Sea—a possible target of the P-8’s monitoring.

China also is holding international military exercises in Inner Mongolia with Russia and several Central Asia states that are part of the Beijing-led anti-U.S. alliance known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The P-8 that was intercepted by the Su-27 is part of the Navy’s first squadron of new sub hunters deployed to Asia. Six P-8s, that can fire both missiles and torpedoes, are under the command Navy’s Seventh Fleet and are based at Okinawa’s Kadena Air Base. They support the fleet’s maritime surveillance operations as part of the U.S. pivot to Asia.

The P-8s were deployed in December—a month after China declared an air defense identification zone over the East China that encroaches on both Japanese and South Korean maritime zones. The U.S. government said it does not recognize the Chinese defense zone. China has threatened to use force to maintain its control over the area covering most of the East China Sea.

The Navy has described the P-8 as “the most advanced long range anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare aircraft in the world.” The jet also conducts maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

The U.S.-China close encounter also is a setback for Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, who has been leading Obama administration efforts to develop closer relations with the Chinese military.

Locklear has sought to play down the growing military threat from China as part of efforts to develop closer cooperation with the Chinese military.

The commander’s dovish policies are being opposed by some in the Pentagon and Air Force who are concerned that the conciliatory approach will appease the Chinese at a time when Beijing has made aggressive territorial claims in the East China Sea and South China Seas.

Rick Fisher, a China military affairs analyst, said increased U.S. surveillance flights near China are part of the United States’ strategy of responding to China’s aggressive imposition of controls in disputed maritime regions.

“In response, China is applying the same aggressive flying intimidation tactics to U.S. surveillance aircraft that it is using on Japanese surveillance aircraft,” said Fisher, a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Chinese warplanes conducted similar close intercepts to Japanese P-3 aircraft in May and June, flying within 50 feet of the aircraft, Fisher said.

“The U.S. needs to consider a stronger response and make clear to China that unprovoked deadly aggression will result in an allied military response,” Fisher said.

The latest Chinese aerial assertiveness should prompt the United States to conduct mount joint fighter escorts with Japan’s military for surveillance aircraft, he said. Additionally, the Pentagon should increase the number of U.S. fighters deployed to Okinawa, and to request that the Philippines permit the stationing of a wing of fighters at Philippine air bases, as well as boost U.S. military assistance to the Manila government.

Fisher said the Chinese objective with the aggressive aerial encounters is to “make U.S. political leaders fear another ‘April 1’ incident.”

In April 2001, a Chinese F-8 interceptor crashed into a U.S. EP-3 surveillance aircraft off the southern China coast, causing the J-8 to crash and nearly causing the crash of the EP-3.

That encounter set off an international crisis after the propeller-driven U.S. aircraft made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island and the 24 crew members were imprisoned for 10 days.

“This kind of intimidation is intended to make White House officials fear a larger incident with China and to ‘stand down’ American surveillance flights,” Fisher said. “Beijing is hoping to take advantage of the distraction of these U.S. officials by multiple crises in Iraq and the Ukraine to push the Americans out of maritime regions in Asia that China is seeking to dominate.”

Until Monday’s encounter, China had been operating its intercepts in a more careful manner, defense officials said, describing most past encounters as “professional.”

The U.S. military has sought to engage China in talks on maritime rules of engagement and a code of conduct aimed at preventing such close encounters with limited success.

In the RC-135 encounter, the U.S. electronic surveillance aircraft was flying near the Russian Far East coast north of Japan on April 23 when an the Russian Su-27 intercepted the jet.

During that encounter, the Russian warplane rolled sideways to reveal its air-to-air missiles and then flew within 100 feet of the RC-135 cockpit. The incident was video recorded by the crew but the Pentagon declined to release the video.

The Pentagon protested the Russian encounter with officials in Moscow. However, no additional steps were taken to warn the Russians about further dangerous intercepts.

Fisher said U.S. P-8s have flown surveillance missions over the South China Sea, where China has been engaged in aggressive naval and coast guard tactics against Vietnam and Philippines over competing maritime claims.

“If such patrols are over shallower waters near to China, another ‘controlled crash’ into the P-8 could also be part of a Chinese intelligence operation to capture the latest U.S. Navy anti-submarine and patrol aircraft,” he said.

“China is just now testing its first long range anti-submarine aircraft based on the turboprop powered Y-9 transport,” he added. “Gaining insights into the twin-turbofan powered P-8 may accelerate a likely Chinese program to make an ASW/maritime patrol version of its twin-turbofan C-919 regional airliner.”

Can Children Understand the Gospel?
Aug 22nd, 2014
CommentaryDwight L. Moody
Categories: Bible Salvation;Exhortation

It is a masterpiece of the devil to make us believe that children cannot understand religion. Would Christ have made a child the standard of faith if He had known that it was not capable of understanding His words? 

British IS Woman Campaigns for 'Equal Right to Kill'
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A 22 year-old UK citizen campaigned for women's rights in Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in an odd way on Friday: by asking to have equal rights to murder as a terrorist herself. 

“Any links 4 da execution of da journalist plz. Allahu Akbar. UK must b shaking up haha," London native Khadijah Dare, who goes under the name Muhajirah fi Sham (‘Immigrant in Syria’) on Twitter, tweeted earlier this week.

The tweet was posted less than 24 hours after the horrific murder of British journalist James Foley went viral, and stated "I wna b da 1st UK woman 2 kill a UK or US terorrist!” 

Dare's tweet quickly went viral as well, after it was picked up by the Metro news outlet. Dare later protected her tweets from new followers, but the message - and its implications - still linger. 

Dare is believed to have moved to Syria sometime in 2012, after converting to Islam as a teenager, according to the news outlet. Her Twitter account features a picture of her toddler son holding an AK-47 assault rifle.

The incident has raised questions not only over Twitter's user policy - which bans direct threats of violence “on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, or disability" - but also over IS's chokehold on Britain, which has been the focus of Islamists' recruitment efforts for the past several years. 

British Islamism: an inevitable trend?

British Prime Minister David Cameron has estimated that at least 400 Britons are among the thousands of European nationals fighting in IS, although several estimates claim that the number could be far higher. 

The latest estimate, picked up by Newsweek, stems from Khalid Mahmood, a British MP based in Birmingham. Mahmood estimates that at least 1,500 young British Muslims have been recruited by extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria in the last three years.

The problem has become so well-known that, in June, the CIA sent a special contingent of agents to investigate the extent of Islamic extremism in the UK, in a snub to British intelligence agencies.

In practice, British extremists in Syria and Iraq seem to be taking the spotlight there for their cruelty.

Not only was Foley's killer equipped with a London accent - and has been dubbed "John" - but anecdotal evidence has suggested a trend of particular cruelty among British Islamists.

Three British IS terrorists in Syria, for example, have been dubbed "The Beatles," according to NBC News - for their harshness and British roots, not for their musical talents.  

"Whenever the Beatles showed up, there was some kind of physical beating or torture," a source told the daily.

Experts claim the problem may be sociocultural. 

“London historically has had Islamist ideology being taught openly without being challenged and there are many people who have grown up knowing and believing that the only way to be Muslims is to create this Islamic state," said Harris Rafiq, head of the anti-terrorist Quilliam Foundation think tank, stated to NBC.

"It's not surprising that jihadis have been able to cherry-pick these people."

Bric Nations Looks to Challenge U.S. Economic Power
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

United States and western economic domination via the G7 is now said to be under threat from a rise of another economic conglomerate: the BRICS countries. This economic bloc comprises 5 countries typically not considered ‘first world’ and comparatively considered to be among developing nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These countries are said to account for 42% of the global population and their GDP and trade volume each make up for about 20% of the world's total.

A recent report by WantChinaTimes.com says that the rise of the BRICS group and its increasing clout, may well challenge the world order and lead to the end of US domination. The five countries set up the New Development Bank during a recent summit in Brazil, which offers an alternative to the US-led International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The five countries participating in the economic cooperation forum are likely to deepen their cooperation in various fields, which may rival the dominance of the United States and G7 countries in the world. The United States has been dominant both due to its military might and the widespread use of the dollar, with the IMF and the World Bank playing an instrumental role in cementing the dollar's role in the global economy.

The report infers that the Development Bank alternative addresses the reflection of the BRICS countries’ shifting roles, and further states that the BRICS countries will contribute equally to the US$50 billion fund, enjoy the same voting powers and provide loans to other developing nations as a means for expansion.

A similar WashingtonTimes.com report discussing the subject,lists several complaints and issues raised by BRICS in relation to IMF and World Bank policies and operations. These encapsulate the core motivations for forming BRICs and challenging the long-standing US domination:

1.Restrictions on world trade imposed by the Bretton Woods (NH) Agreement of 1944, which established a new international monetary system dominated by the United States. 

2.Moral objections to U.S. perversion of its reserve currency status, namely that the U.S. has been printing money to fund its budget deficits for two generations. 

3.The threats of default on U.S. obligations to foreign holders of U.S. bonds — which would cause a collapse of the dollar and a worldwide depression.

4.BRICS has also bridled at the lack of developing nations’ influence on international trade and currency valuations. For example, the top five members of the IMF (USA, Japan, Germany, France and the UK control nearly 40 percent (39.4 percent) of all the voting rights of the 188 member organization. China has 4 percent. Perhaps even more significant is the fact that all the standards for lending, reporting, national solvency and balance of trade are set and enforced according to the American philosophy of taxation, government spending and rule of law.

Within the BRICS set up, China is however poised to take on the role of the ‘defacto’ group leader. In an interview with Latin American media during the summit, Chinese president Xi Jinping promised that China will play the role of a responsible major nation to contribute to the economic development and stability of BRICS nations. Indications are that independent international views would also agree with the high likelihood of this outcome, extending beyond BRICS to the global economic stage. A recent survey of people in 44 countries by the Pew Research Center showed that close to 50% of those polled believe that China will eventually replace the United States as the world leader.

The WashingtonTimes.com concurs, stating: “China is the primary mover of BRICS. 70 percent of BRICS’ combined GDP comes from China and 41 percent of the eventual $100 billion capitalization of the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) will come from China. From its rhetoric, it is clear that this alliance is intended to eventually construct an alternate world financial system dominated by China to supersede or replace the Bretton Woods international monetary system and the U.S. dollar. China has been scheming to have its currency, the Renminbi Yuan (called the Yuan), declared a reserve currency."

Additionally, based on independent research sources BRICS is said to represent over 25 percent of the world’s land, about 40 percent of the world’s population and about 17 percent of the world economy as well as 50 percent of the world’s growth in GDP over the past 10 years. BRICS’ combined 2014 GDP ($10,971.6 trillion) is nearly that of the US ($14,657.8 trillion) and the EU ($16,282.2 trillion) and is expected to surpass the combined US and EU GDP by 2020. Not good news for the US and EU from economic domination and policy control viewpoints. However, the US seems not be taking these challenges lying down, and is attempting to fight to retain its dominance and influence in the friendlier current IMF and World Bank set up over the longer term. 

The Washington Times report explains that the BRICS flagship New Development Bank is not in itself a serious threat to the dollar. In years to come, however, it could evolve into a game-changer for the U.S. Meanwhile, the nearer term threat of this BRICS activity stems not from the BRICS countries directly but as a sign of the gathering anti-Bretton Woods sentiment, even among US allies. 

Prominent in this arena is the outspoken IMF Managing Director Christine LaGarde, who apparently favors a new international monetary system based on the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to replace the dollar’s exclusive status as the world’s reserve currency. LaGarde’s idea is to add the Yuan to the “basket” and then treat any of these five currencies as legitimate reserve currencies for international transactions at the valuation determined by the IMF. This, of course, converts the dollar from “one of a kind” to “one of several” — with additional currencies to be added to the list as authorized by the IMF.

The Washington Times report concludes: “Needless to say, any hasty actions to replace or degrade the position of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency could be catastrophic for the USA. At the same time, the emergence of China and BRICS, with the overt support of many of the 188 countries of the IMF are clear signals that significant changes are inevitable and at hand. One must have confidence that the Americans will be successful in negotiating a soft landing for the dollar. Or the USA will be the next Greece.”

So how long will the US be able to maintain economic dominance over competitors, and keep the dollar as the global reserve currency of choice? That remains to be seen, but one unconventional, yet timeless and clearly overlooked source of advice for the US is not to be found in economics text books or forums, but in the God-inspired mind of the wisest man who ever lived:

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

Abbas Reportedly Forces Mashaal to Return to Truce Talks
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

After a reportedly heated meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, Qatar-based Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal has made an about-face, calling for the resurrection of truce talks in Cairo.

Mashaal said Hamas "must return to indirect talks" with Israel, according to the Arabic-language Palestine Today, as cited by Walla!.

"The resistance will ensure that Israel will fulfill the demands of the Palestinians, foremost among them the removal of the Gaza blockade," said Mashaal. Those demands have included terrorist releases, as well as a Gaza sea and airport.

The statement constitutes a reversal of positions for Mashaal, who according to security sources directly ordered the three-rocket salvo on Be'er Sheva Tuesday, bypassing Hamas's "military wing" and breaching the ceasefire because the Cairo talks were not going favorably.

A source in Abbas's Fatah faction backed that appraisal Wednesday, claiming that Qatar threatened to expel Mashaal if Hamas agreed to the Egyptian truce proposal in its current structure. The source noted that Qatar had been pushing for a role in the Cairo talks, which Egypt refused.

Speaking Friday, after the recent assassination of three senior Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades commanders, and the possible assassination of Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif, Mashaal claimed "the Palestinian people have been fighting for a hundred years already, and will not be tired out after a month."

In fact, reports indicate that Mashaal himself may have accidentally given away Deif's location to the IDF after calling him. The breaking of the rules of secrecy followed a meeting with Abbas; according to a senior Palestinian Arab source, Mashaal was under pressure to accept the Egyptian ceasefire proposal and wanted to consult with Deif.

As far as the pressure from Abbas goes, a senior Palestinian Arab source told Walla! on Friday that Abbas sharply berated Mashaal in the Thursday meeting, calling Hamas members "liars."

The fallout, despite the April unity pact between Fatah and Hamas, comes after a gag order was lifted on Monday exposing that Hamas from its Turkey headquarters tried to stage a coup against Abbas in Judea and Samaria, only to be foiled by the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA).

Abbas reportedly threatened Mashaal, saying Hamas must choose between "Palestinian unity" or permanent "divorce."

According to the source, PA security forces were already aware of part of the information released for publication on Monday by the ISA.

'The IDF Has Technology to End the Operation in Hours'
Aug 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Arutz Sheva spoke about Operation Protective Edge with Dr. Yehuda David, a key figure in exposing the libel against the IDF over false charges of killing 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura in Gaza during the 2000 Second Intifada.

David, who recently ran for Israeli president, took part in the ongoing Gaza operation. 

"I'm still recuperating and couldn't take part in the actual fighting, but I was in the Gaza Belt in the regimental medical operation," noted David, who in late 2012 underwent bone marrow transplants in Boston to treat his cancer, to Arutz Sheva on Friday.

"We have a nation of heroes and an army of lions, the soldiers and the commanders simply fought like lions. We saw a Nahal Infantry battalion fight a battalion of terrorists; unfortunately we lost a soldier, but their battalion was completely wiped out," said the doctor.

IDF soldiers are being hampered by an unwillingness to give orders for decisive action against Hamas, David told Arutz Sheva, referencing the previous Gaza operations: Pillar of Defense in 2012 and Cast Lead in 2008-2009.

"What happened here again is that the army was ready to go in to the end and bring a crushing victory against the enemy, and it was once again stopped by the political echelon," argued David. "Perhaps we don't see here what they (politicians) see there, but there's a feeling that the work isn't over - a feeling of missing an opportunity."

According to the doctor, Hamas can be completely liquidated - without endangering IDF soldiers in a complicated ground entry and close-quarters urban warfare.

"A repeat entry is on the one hand essential, but very problematic. In my estimation, the IDF has all the technological measures to end this campaign in several hours; I don't understand why the political echelon doesn't use those means," questioned David.

"If they conduct another ground entry it will endanger the lives of many soldiers," said David. "I don't want to go into the details, but I know things, and there are extraordinary means, technological measures that would not be accompanied by losses."

David's appraisal of the dangers of a ground entry come as the commander of the IAF special reconnaissance Flying Camel Squadron said this week that having to abort airstrikes due to civilian presence often "sabotaged" the operation. It has been argued that the hesitancy to wage all-out-war has caused IDF deaths.