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October 2015

Bloodshed by any other name by Ruthie Blum

There is a discussion going on in Israel about whether the current wave of terrorism can be called the “third intifada,” as the Palestinians are dubbing it. Not a TV panel goes by without this question being raised.
One analyst referred to it on Thursday evening, following a day of stabbing attacks in different locations across Israel, as the “lone-wolf intifada.” Though this was said tongue-in-cheek, the oxymoron best describes the current situation.
The reason the steep surge in up-close-and-personal Palestinian violence seems to require a definition by the political echelon and military brass is because if it is an actual intifada, there is a leader or entity behind it pulling the strings, planning the operations and supplying the weapons.
In this case, however, the “command center” is virtual; it is located in cyberspace, where social media rules, not in a specific compound in Gaza or Ramallah.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is right to blame Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the atmosphere of anti-Semitism created by the systematic incitement of his people against Israel and Jews. Indeed, even as Abbas says that he is not interested in an escalation of violence, he continues to accuse Israel of preventing Muslims and Christians from praying on the Temple Mount.
Using lies about Judaism’s holiest site as an excuse to kill Jews is not a novel idea. In fact, it is a tried and true method for uniting Arabs around the world against the Jewish state. It is among the very few issues on which the otherwise disparate groups vying for power agree.
The beauty of this particular propaganda tool is that it enables Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to experience unity of purpose and a brotherhood of blood. As such, it enables sympathizers or members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other factions to shed their internal strife and band together on Facebook and Twitter to schedule riots and give one another tips on effective “resistance” and “martyrdom.”
It is amazing how they grasp that their best ammunition — other than rocks, blocks and kitchen knives — is Israeli helplessness in the face of a pubescent enemy. They realize that dead Palestinian teenagers do more for their cause than tanks and machine guns. Not only do media outlets, such as the BBC and The New York Times, immediately turn the Arab perpetrators into victims, but the United Nations condemns Israel, Europe justifies its boycotting of Israeli products, and the White House darkens its already dim view of Jerusalem.
This is not new. As Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Chief of IDF General Staff Gadi Eizenkot and acting Police Commissioner Benzi Sau pointed out in a joint press conference on Thursday night, Israel has been confronting Arab terrorism since its establishment. Basically, they all agreed that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and the public has to be patient while the government and defense establishment emerge victorious from the current terror wave.

Column One: Abbas must be stopped By Caroline B. Glick

“The man who propagates this murderous lie and orchestrates the death and mayhem that is its bloody harvest is none other than the West’s favorite Palestinian moderate.”

All the Palestinian terrorist attacks that have been carried out in recent weeks share one common feature. All the terrorists believe that by attacking Jews they are protecting the Temple Mount from destruction.

And why shouldn’t they believe this obscenity? Everywhere they go, every time they turn on their televisions, read the paper, go to school or the mosque they are told that the Jews are destroying al-Aksa Mosque. Al-Aksa, they are told, is in danger. They must take up arms to defend it from the Jews, whatever the cost.

One man stands at the center of this blood libel. The man who propagates this murderous lie and orchestrates the death and mayhem that is its bloody harvest is none other than the West’s favorite Palestinian moderate: PLO chief and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

On September 16 Abbas gave a speech. It was broadcast on PA television and posted on his Facebook page. In it, he incited the Palestinians to kill Jews. In his words, “Al-Aksa Mosque is ours.

They [the Jews] have no right to desecrate it with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do everything in our power to defend Jerusalem.”

Gowdy: Sidney Blumenthal Sent Classified Info, Lobbied Clinton to Profit from Libya Intervention by Brendan Bordelon

House Benghazi committee chairman Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) has accused Hillary Clinton confidante Sid Blumenthal of outing a CIA source in Libya, and using his close ties to the then-secretary of state to profit from the 2011 American intervention that brought down Moammar Qaddafi.

Yesterday, Gowdy sent a fiery letter accusing Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Benghazi committee, of improperly politicizing the committee’s 17-month investigation by selectively leaking information. In the face of Democratic calls to disband the committee, Gowdy’s letter sought to justify the committee’s existence by highlighting some of its key findings.

In particular, Gowdy pointed to the committee’s substantial collection of e-mails between Secretary Clinton and Blumenthal, who had been specifically barred from working at the State Department by White House officials. Gowdy noted that approximately half of all of Clinton’s messages pertaining to Libya were between her and Blumenthal, prompting him to label the former journalist “Secretary Clinton’s primary advisor” on U.S. policy in the North-African country.

ISIS and Religious Genocide in the Mideast : Nina Shea

The Islamist genocide — and there can be no doubt that it is genocide, despite world silence – of the Christians, Yazidis, Mandeans, and other defenseless ethno-religious minorities of Syria and Iraq continues. The killing of these peoples is deliberate and brutal and is rooted in religious hatred of the “infidel.” It is meted out in sudden violent executions, mass deportations, and the gradual, methodical destruction of their civilizations.

Washington is blind to this genocide that occurs alongside, but is separate from, a sectarian Muslim power struggle. It has failed to defend them militarily. Now it is failing to provide humanitarian help in the only manner left: resettling the survivors out of harm’s way, in countries where they will be able to rebuild their families and preserve their unique ancient cultures without fear. Rescue is the very minimum we can do to help these victims of genocide.

Yesterday, we learned that three Christians captured from Assyrian villages in Syria last February were executed by ISIS on September 23 in a desert area, somewhere in the “Caliphate,” and that possibly hundreds of other murders will follow. After the jihadist’ demands for $10 million in ransom money were not met, the three Christian men was murdered with a single shot to the back of each head as they were lined up, on their knees, garbed in orange jumpsuits. In its video of this execution, ISIS threatens to kill the 202 remaining Christian hostages from the February raid. It is probably not a coincidence that September 23 was the Muslim commemoration of the “Feast of Sacrifice” (Eid al-Adha).

Donald Trump Gets Saddam Hussein — and the Mideast — Wrong by David French

Speaking Tuesday night to Brett Baier, Donald Trump sounded more like Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee and Dennis Kucinich than like the Republican front-runner for president. Asked whether he stood behind his 2008 interview where he said it would have been a “wonderful thing” if Nancy Pelosi had attempted to impeach President George W. Bush, Trump said this: “I think he was a disaster and I think it was one of the worst decisions ever made. [He] has totally destabilized the Middle East. If you had Saddam Hussein, you wouldn’t have the problems you have right now.”

I’m sorry, but this is nonsense. The Middle East was not stable with Saddam in power, and the present instability is far more related to the Arab Spring and the American pullout from post-Surge Iraq than it is to the initial decision to invade. In 2009, Barack Obama inherited a Middle East where American and Iraqi forces had crushed the al-Qaeda insurgency, Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi was effectively neutralized — agreeing months after Saddam fell to abandon his own WMD stockpiles — and Iran’s power was checked in part by the presence of American combat troops next door.

In the Face of a Massive Influx of Migrants, Austria Worries and Wonders By Jillian Kay Melchior

Vienna, Austria — Lucy Balmanian’s life straddles the crisis overtaking Europe today. Born in Syria, she’s an Armenian Christian who has lived in Vienna for years, speaking impeccable English. So when she watches Austria grapple with the massive influx of foreigners fleeing war and bad economies, she shares both Syria’s pain and Europe’s concerns.

Sitting in an upscale café in Vienna’s First District, Balmanian recalls the last time she visited Damascus, in 2010. “Nobody would imagine that their lives would change so much,” she says, describing how she then felt safe and optimistic about Syria’s future. “Now, Syria is back 100 years. It will be very hard to fix everything, because not only is Syria broken; Syrians’ spirits are broken. . . . Everyone there is faced with this decision: Do we leave, or do we stay and risk losing family members? It is a jump into the void.”

That jump has also left the European Union in a state of limbo. So far this year, more than 522,000 foreigners crossed into Europe by the Mediterranean Sea alone, the majority landing in Italy and Greece, according to the September 29 count by International Organization for Migration. An additional 2,892 perished attempting the voyage.

Flip-Flops Show Hillary’s Long on Ambition, Short on Principles By Jonah Goldberg

Hillary Clinton revealed on Wednesday that she opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, providing just the latest evidence that she is little more than political ambition wrapped in a pantsuit.

Pay attention to the press coverage, because it’s fascinating: Nobody takes Clinton at her word. I’m not just referring to her conservative critics.

Slate’s Jim Newell asks, “Will anyone find Clinton’s position convincing?” The question is purely rhetorical. The article is headlined “Hillary Clinton Comes Out Against TPP, at Least Until the Democratic Convention.”

In “First Read,” a newsletter put out by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd and his colleagues, the lead item on Thursday was titled “Why Clinton’s Trade Flip-Flop Is So Unbelievable.” They write:

Yes, Hillary Clinton’s new opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord cleans up something she needed to do before next week’s first Democratic debate. And, yes, it puts pressure on Vice President Joe Biden getting into the race (because he’d be the only major candidate in support of TPP). But make no mistake: This flip-flop isn’t believable at all.

Clinton had long touted TPP as “the gold standard” of trade deals. A tally by CNN in June found at least 45 instances where she had plumped, praised, pushed, or otherwise promoted the agreement. That, of course, would make sense given that she was secretary of state when it was being crafted and had a big role in selling it.

Syrian Child Brides Coming To Europe The clash of civilizations unveiled for all to see. Emerson Vermaat

Since January 2014 and early 2015 at least 34 Syrian child brides applied for asylum in the Netherlands, according to a leaked internal report from Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). And 22 are on their way to Holland. A law to ban such marriages is in the pipeline, but until this new law comes into force, Dutch immigration authorities and the police cannot do anything about such marriages. According to the IND, two of the girls are only thirteen years old. And a 38-year-old man in Holland claimed to be married to a 15-year-old Syrian girl. “These girls are still children,” Ineke van Winden from the Center Against Child and Human Trafficking (CKM) told the Dutch Radio and TV station “RTV Noord” which also leaked the alarming IND findings. “They are usually coming from refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey where they are forced into early marriages,” Ineke van Winden says. The Dutch newspaper Trouw reports that three Syrian child brides are applying for asylum in Holland every week.

Criminal migrant traffickers in Europe are extremely well organized and often more powerful than law enforcement agencies or even governments. Some very efficient crime networks consist of former asylum seekers from Africa (notably from Somalia and Eritrea) and the Muslim world (notably from Syria and Iraq) who have taken advantage of liberal and humane asylum laws in Holland, Germany and Sweden. These criminals often operate along ethnic lines.

In Holland, for example, a 35-year-old former Syrian asylum seeker was arrested in the city of Eindhoven last September. He and his younger nephew, also a former Syrian asylum seeker, ran an extensive migrant trafficking network smuggling hundreds, possibly even thousands of Syrian asylum seekers to the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. They also operated in Turkey, Greece, Italy, Austria and Hungary and were making huge profits.

The Muslim Madness of Merkel 7.36 million Muslims invade Germany. Daniel Greenfield

German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that refusing to take in Muslim migrants is a “danger for Europe.” Merkel as usual had it backward. It’s her program of taking in Muslim migrants that represents the gravest threat to the freedom and future of Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Merkel may have already doomed Germany. The Bild newspaper published a leaked secret government document estimating that the number of migrants invading Europe this year might reach 1.5 million.

And that bad news gets much worse because the document estimates that each migrant will bring in as many as eight family members once they’re settled in, bringing the year’s true total to 7.36 million.

That’s almost 10 percent of the population of Germany. In just one invasion.

The Million Man Fraud Comes To Washington Violence on the horizon? by Matthew Vadum

Rioting at this weekend’s Washington, D.C. gripe-fest celebrating the 20th anniversary of the endlessly hyped, misnamed Million Man March, seems like a definite possibility.

Just this week 12 people were arrested in Hartford, Conn., for disorderly conduct after blocking traffic and access to the University of Hartford as they chanted “Black Lives Matter!” After demonstrators refused to stop sitting and standing in the road, they were arrested.

While protest-related arrests aren’t necessarily cause for much concern, they are just the tip of the iceberg. As Breitbart News reports

Like many Democrat-run cities across the country, Hartford experienced a spike in murders this past summer following the “uprisings” in Ferguson [Missouri] and Baltimore [Maryland] and attacks of police officers by Black Lives Matter activists. As of August, Hartford had the highest homicide rate of any New England city.