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January 2016

The Terrorists Freed by Obama The president has misled the American people about the detainees released from Guantanamo: Dozens are jihadists ready to kill. By Stephen F. Hayes and Thomas Joscelyn

The Obama administration in recent days has proclaimed a “milestone” in its efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after achieving its long-held goal of reducing the remaining population to fewer than 100 detainees. With the expedited release this month of 14 detainees, the total now stands at 93.

This is nothing to celebrate.

In reducing these numbers, the White House has freed dangerous terrorists and set aside military and intelligence assessments warning about the risks of doing so. The Obama administration has deceived recipient countries about the threats posed by the jihadists they’ve accepted. And President Obama has repeatedly misled the American people about Guantanamo, the detainees held there, and the consequences of releasing them.

On Jan. 6, as part of the Obama administration’s accelerated Guantanamo process, Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef was transferred to Ghana, along with another detainee named Khalid Mohammed Salih al Dhuby. Ghana’s government portrayed the deal as an act of “humanitarian assistance,” likening the Yemeni men to nonthreatening refugees from Rwanda and Syria, noting that they “were detained in Guantanamo but have been cleared of any involvement in terrorist activities, and are being released.”

That description isn’t true for either of the men. Mr. Atef, in particular, is a cause for concern. Long before his transfer, the intelligence analysts at Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) assessed him as a “high risk” and “likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies.” (The JTF-GTMO threat assessments of 760 Guantanamo detainees, many written in 2008, were posted online in 2011 by WikiLeaks.) It is easy to understand the analysts’ worry about Mr. Atef. He was, they said, “a fighter in Usama bin Laden’s former 55th Arab Brigade and is an admitted member of the Taliban.” He trained at al Farouq, the infamous al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, “participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces, and continues to demonstrate his support of UBL and extremism.”

Muslim head of J Street U urges pro-Israel organizations to fight Israel’s “Occupation” in order to gain allies, in an op-ed at the JTA. By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Yes, it’s now gotten to the point where the Muslim student president of the self-described “pro-Israel” J Street U is given the forum of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to tell Jews to be better pro-Israel advocates by fighting Israel’s “Occupation.”

J Street U gave this University of Maryland student a megaphone which she’s using to attack Israel, and now she’s being given a “Jewish” media outlet to amplify her anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Arab message.

Amna Farooqi, the J Street U president, seized upon another editorial from another leader of a Jewish organization brought to you by the JTA, David Bernstein of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs.

Bernstein, in turn, was warning Jewish Americans that in order to defeat the BDS (Boycott of, Divestment from and Sanctions against Israel) Movement, Jews should start developing partnerships with various social justice groups “on the mainstream left.”

Bernstein wrote that the BDS movement is teaming up with other “social justice” organizations to together fight against Israel, and so he urged pro-Israel folks to ape this coalition building and thereby fight this “intersectionality” of “other oppressed groups” making alliances with anti-Israel groups.

Farooqi added the next step, which is that the best thing pro-Israel groups can do to defeat this intersectionality dilemma would be to join up with other groups opposing…what, other anti-Israel groups? Nope. Maybe pro-Israel groups should join together with organizations fighting against ISIS? Nope. How about suggesting pro-Israel groups create a coalition with organizations fighting for human rights for persecuted Christians in the Middle East? Nope.

Farooqi suggests the coalition pro-Israel groups should join are those progressives who are attacking Israel for engaging in the “Occupation” of Palestinian Arab land. No joke.

No more martyrs funerals A plan to stop Arab terrorism. Dr. Moshe Dann

According to a survey conducted for Walla by Prof. Camil Fuchs of “Panel Project Hamidgam” and the statistician Yosef Miklada of the STATNET research institute, releasedon Friday, 71% of Israelis believe the government has failed in its efforts to stop Arab terrorism; add the 9% who weren’t sure and it rises to 80%. That is a clear vote of no-confidence.

Moreover, Israeli government officials agree; they announced that they cannot stop Arab terrorism. We can expect, therefore, that more Jews will be murdered and maimed.

Excuses from politicians, police and IDF commanders are pathetic. Waiting for the next tragedy to happen is unacceptable. Neutralizing a terrorist after they have launched an attack is not sufficient. Putting barriers at bus stops offers barely minimal protection. Cameras on the street only help to identify terrorists after an attack. More police on the street is reassuring but doesn’t work.

The only way to stop homicidal jihadists is to create disincentives, making the price that they will pay – in their minds – unacceptable. If they are intent in becoming “holy martyrs,” however, dying in their attack serves their goal of killing “infidels.”

The Obama administration’s most covert war by Caroline Glick

Over the past several weeks, we have learned that the Obama administration believes it is at war with Israel. The war is not a shooting war, but a political war. Its goal is to bring the government to its knees to the point where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loses power or begs Obama and his advisers to shepherd Israel through a “peace process” in which Israel will renounce its rights to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

One component of this war is espionage. Last month The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel is a top target for American espionage.

The other component of the administration’s war against Israel is political subversion. Over the past week, the administration has campaigned against the NGO bill sponsored by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. If the bill, which was approved by the government, becomes law, it will require political NGOs that are principally financed by foreign governments to identify as foreign agents in their official communications and interactions.

Last week, State Department spokesman James Kirby lambasted the bill at an official briefing. Among other things, Kirby rejected Shaked’s claim that her bill is less restrictive than the US’s own Foreign Agents Registration Act. Kirby offered no substantiation of his claim.

America’s sorry state by Ruthie Blum

Ruthie Blum is the web editor of The Algemeiner (algemeiner.com).

A few hours before U.S. President Barack Obama delivered his last State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, American sailors were captured and detained at sea by the Iranian navy.

Literally forced to their knees, nine men and one woman were held until the following day, when Tehran decided to release them, after determining that their boats’ GPS had led them astray. Had the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reached a different conclusion, the U.S. “Marines,” as Iran referred to them, would have met a far more unpleasant fate.

While still under Islamic interrogation on the floor of an Iranian vessel, the 10 Americans were unable to listen to Obama’s speech to the nation from the podium of Congress.

This is just as well.

The last thing you’d want in such a situation is to hear the commander-in-chief of your armed forces not even mention it when the topic of Iran came up. Indeed, not even refer to it at all.

What rang loud and clear to the rest of the world who actually watched the speech on television — particularly the ayatollahs — was the president’s utter capitulation to the literal and figurative hostage-takers in the Middle East.

High return on US investment in Israel Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

The annual US investment in Israel – erroneously defined as “foreign aid” – has yielded one of the highest rates of return on US investments overseas. Israel is no longer a supplicant, transforming itself from a national security and economic consumer to a national security and economic producer, generating substantial dividends, which exceed the annual investment by its lead investor, the US.

US national and homeland security and commercial interests have derived significant benefits from the special US-Israel cooperative alliance, which has evolved into a unique, mutually-beneficial, two-way-street, win-win relationship, transcending the tension between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, rising above 68-year-old US-Israel disagreements over the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue.

A case in point is the intensified cooperation between the air forces of both countries, as institutionalized by an unprecedented June 2015 strategic agreement, which established twelve teams of officers, codifying a widening range of joint annual agenda: operations, battle tactics, training, maintenance, repairs, airborne medicine, flight safety, etc., in the face of mutual threats, joint interests and constrained budgets.

F or example, in 2016, US combat pilots benefit uniquely during joint drills with their Israeli colleagues. The latter always fly in a “do-or-die” state of mind – a result of Israel’s narrow geographic waistline in a violently unpredictable neighborhood – which generates more daring and innovative maneuvers, shared with their US colleagues. Recently, Israel’s air force developed a ground-breaking method of identifying, repairing and preempting cracks in old combat planes, such as the F-16, promptly shared with the US Air Force and manufacturer. Instead of grounding the planes for six months and preoccupying hundreds of mechanics, the Israeli-developed system – based on a baby-viewing ultrasound device – requires two weeks and only a few mechanics, yielding significant economic and national security benefits.

Series of bomb threats targets Boston-area schools – police

BOSTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Several Boston-area schools were evacuated following a series of telephone bomb threats, police and media said on Friday.
No injuries or explosions were reported.
Boston police were called to Boston College High School after school officials received a recorded threat and students were put on lockdown, according to a Boston Police Department spokeswoman.

St. Agnes School, a Roman Catholic elementary school in the Boston suburb of Arlington was also evacuated following a bomb threat, Arlington police said.

Two middle schools in Weymouth, a suburb south of Boston, were also evacuated following bomb threats, the Boston Globe reported, citing school officials.

At least 20 dead in siege by suspected Islamists at Burkina Faso hotel Mathieu Bonkoungou and Nadoun Coulibaly see note please

Burkina Faso, whose capital is Ouagadougou was an African colony of France named the Republic of Upper Volta. The name was changed with independence in 1960. rsk
At least 20 people died and others were taken hostage when Islamist gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital city of Burkina Faso on Friday, a hospital director said, an attack for which al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility.

Security forces began an assault to reclaim the Splendid Hotel in the early hours of Saturday and entered its lobby, part of which was on fire, a Reuters witness said. The hotel is frequented by Westerners, which may have made it a target for the militants.

About 30 hostages including the labor minister were freed from the hotel, said Minister of Communications Remis Dandjinou. No one has said publicly how many hostages might be in the hotel.

In this grab taken from video by Associate Press Television, the scene of an attack on a hotel, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Attackers struck an upscale hotel popular with Westerners in Burkina Faso’s capital late Friday, fueling the recent political turmoil in the West African country. Three hours later, gunfire could still be heard as soldiers in an armored vehicle finally approached the area.

It was the first time militants have carried out an assault in the capital of Burkina Faso and comes as a setback to efforts by African governments, France and the United States to prevent attacks that have destabilized the region.

It follows a raid on a luxury hotel in Mali last November in which two attackers killed 20 people, including citizens of Russia, China and the United States. There have been many attacks by militants in other countries in West Africa in recent years and the vast majority of those killed have been Africans.

“Every One Shall Sit in Safety Under His Own Vine and Fig Tree” by Elliott Abrams

In August, 1790 George Washington visited Newport, Rhode Island. That visit occasioned a famous exchange of letters between Washington and the “Hebrew Congregations of Newport,” in which the Jews of Newport addressed their president–and he replied.

Several sentences from Washington’s letter came to mind today:

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support….

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

MY SAY: DEBATE RASHOMON

The Rashomon effect is contradictory interpretations of the same event by different people. I had to tear myself away from the dazzling and brilliant Israeli TV series “Prisoners of War” now available with subtitles to watch the debate.

I have scoured the news and commentary and agree that the media is lame and the format is ridiculous. I also agree that Jeb, Carson, Kasich and Christie are gone.

However, I think that Marco Rubio was the clear winner. While Cruz, whom I like and Trump whom I loathe were in their spitting match, Rubio was articulate, on point, and right on all the issues. More important, I like his manner and his youth and his smile and his optimism and his staunch patriotism. And…..all the foregoing remind me of Ronald Reagan…..yup…Is he perfect? Does he pass every litmus test? No….but he is way ahead of the others.