Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Dear Family & Friends,
Officially, Sunday was only one of the 3 coldest April days in Israel’s recorded history. But, we survived & the weather, she is moderating. Cold but sunny.
OK, I’m using the exceptional weather to stall on what I really need to say:
Lots of interesting news today – mostly about the non-deal/framework the 6 Western countries have/don’t have with Iran.
However, the last 2 articles are the most revealing exposés: Today Hillary Clinton started her run for American President in 2016. But, this exposes the reasons for the Sept. 11, 2012 Muslim attack that killed 4 Americans in the American Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. What Amb. Chris Stevens was really doing under orders from President Obama & then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may, in fact, torpedo her chances for a successful presidential campaign. It sounds worse than Arms-for-Contras, Watergate & other scandals.
The last article here is worse. It describes ‘glowingly’ the gold ring that President Obama wears & has worn on his left hand since at least his Community College days – with Islamic inscriptions inscribed upon it. Specifically, the words are the beginning of the Shahada, the basic Muslim vow: “There is no god except Allah” (La Ilaha Illallah”. “By wearing the Shahada on jewelry, a person communicates that Allah is in control of all circumstances. Allah controls you; Allah is the one and only one.”
This declaration is scary but, not surprising. Obama’s career as the American President who seems to be denigrating America with his elevation of Islam & the Islamic countries – especially Iran – has been shocking. Maybe now we will know why.
Barack Hussein Obama was born a Muslim in Indonesia & educated as a Muslim as a child there. A Muslim is not allowed to leave Islam without being considered an apostate & there may be the death penalty considered in Islam as the proper punishment for apostasy.
I held this GW Diary back for 24 hours to consider whether or not it was, in fact, “dangerous” for me to send out – especially given the attack on writers & artists at Charlie Hebdo & others. But, Manny, z’l, & I have been doing this for more than 40 years. At ‘delicate’ times, we whispered to each other in our own dining room. “Honey”, I said, “Why are we whispering?” He said: “Ssh”. But, we always sent out the potentially dangerous statements, articles, opinions – ours (especially his) & other writers.
So, in Manny’s spirit for “True Freedom of Speech” – even today – I give you my all.
Just remember, all of this is from open sources – no secrets. I’m not afraid any more to send it. Don’t you ever be afraid to read it.
We do live in possibly, potentially dangerous times. But, they shall be less dangerous if we stand up to the possible dangers.
Remember old Willie Shakespeare: “Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?” Are “the slings” those slingshots that the Pals use to aim their deadly stones at our cars with our babies like Adelle Biton, z’l, in them? Are the “arrows” our Missile-Defense-System? Is the “Sea of Troubles” the Red Sea that Iran uses to smuggle dangerous missiles to Hamas & Hezb’Allah, Syria & Iraq, Yemen & Islamic Jihad, ISIS & ISIL? Sounds like Shakespeare saw our future clearly.
Be of good cheer. Have a soft night & a wonderful day.
All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba x 2/Mom
Enjoy our Website: WinstonIsraelInsight.com
1.LETTER TO Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from Shlomo Eitan
A1. Civil Admin. Demolished Hazon David Synagogue ‘Like Thieves in the Night’ MKs, organizations fume after Kiryat Arba synagogue demolished for the 36th time since 2001. By Tova Dvorin Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com First Publish: 4/14/2015, 8:41 AM / Last Update: 4/14, 9:19 AM
Destruction of Kiryat Arba Synagogue
Hazon David photo by Yehudit Katzover
Incoming Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich fumed Tuesday at the destruction of a Kiryat Arba synagogue on Tuesday morning, after the Civil Administration moved to demolish the structure overnight.
“The destruction of the Hazon David synagogue last night in Kiryat Arba is a serious incident,” Smotrich stated. “Again and again [the Civil Administration] bears the name of the rule of law in vain, against the Jews only.”
Smotrich further accused the upper echelons of the political system of orchestrating a de facto building freeze in Judea and Samaria.
“Throughout this period the Arabs build and take over the land in a systematic and organized manner in Area C, and law enforcement agencies do not speak up,” he continued. “Jewish Home cannot sit in a government that doesn’t change direction on this.”
“I support my heroes – Kiryat Arba residents who are proudly clinging soil of the Holy Land and are convinced that the synagogue will be rebuilt, simply because it’s the truth,” Smotrich added. “In the end they will win.”
The Women in Green (WiG) movement also released a harsh condemnation of its own Tuesday morning.
“The Hazon David synagogue has been destroyed for the 36th time,” according to the statement, penned by WiG founders Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover. “Like thieves in the night, armed with heavy equipment, the destruction contractor and a tight chain of policemen managed within two hours to leave the place as a heap of rubble.”
“The Holy Ark and Torah scroll were exiled,” they continued. “What a terrible sight.”
“The roar of bulldozers dug deeply into their hearts but the people’s spirit remains strong. As sure as the sun will shine tomorrow, we know that tomorrow, a synagogue will arise anew.”
Matar and Katsover called on the national leadership to intervene.
“The people’s spirit is indeed strong but where is the spirit of the leadership that was just elected by our own will?” they asked.
“We call on the nationalist representatives: Stop the destruction. Allow things to be sorted out. Allow for the time for the necessary arrangements to be made. Do not lend your hand to wanton destruction. You were elected in order to build. To develop. Do not betray the will of the people.”
Hazon David was built in 2001, in memory of David Hacohen and Chezi Muallem, who were killed by terrorists. Hacohen was killed when terrorists fired at his vehicle near the entrance to Kiryat Arba.
Yehudit Katsover is one of Hazon David’s founders and personally pushed for the synagogue’s reconstruction, Matar revealed to Arutz Sheva early Tuesday.
Responding to Monday night’s demolition, the Civil Administration said , “Today, April 14, 2015, security forces carried out the demolition of an illegal structure, which is used as a synagogue, and which was built without a permit in Hazon David. The building was destroyed after completion of the enforcement process and after a demolition order was issued.”
“It should be noted that over the past few months the Civil Administration turned to the Kiryat Arba Local Council and asked it to evacuate the building. When they did not do so, the building was demolished according to procedure,” added the Civil Administration.
Civil Admin. Demolished Hazon David Synagogue ‘Like Thieves in the Night’ MKs, organizations fume after Kiryat Arba synagogue demolished for the 36th time since 2001.
1.LETTER TO Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from Shlomo Eitan
Dear Mr. Netanyahu, Forgive me for humbly submitting to you my opinion that your public diplomacy MUST change. I strongly encourage you to stop speaking about “the deal.” Instead speak straight to the US and to the world. We don’t need their understanding…We need the world to recognize that the threat of a nuclear Iran is a direct threat (existential or not) to the people and State of Israel. No Prime Minister of the State of Israel after the Holocaust can do ANYTHING BUT PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. It would be nice if our closest allies could be “on-board” in this mission, but if they choose not to be, then their people and history will judge them. Please consider this novel approach – which I hope will bring Israel admiration. Sincerely, Shlomo Eitan, Hebrew Tutor [welovehebrew@gmail.com]
2.In Our Neck of the Woods, Actions Speak Louder than Words by Dr. Mordechai Kedar: Talk is cheap, but meaningless in the Middle East. Look at what they do, not at what they say. Published: Arutz Sheva – Thurs, April 02, 2015 7:50 AM
Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University. He served in IDF Military Intelligence for 25 years, specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena. Thoroughly familiar with Arab media in real time, he is frequently interviewed on the various news programs in Israel.
Analysis of the events that occurred over the last few years in the Middle East, shows that the most powerful, central and influential component of these events is not a verbal one – not speeches, promises, documents and agreements. What counts are actions on the ground and the accompanying threats of violence.
There is no dearth of examples that prove this rule:
Egypt is the most obvious. In June 2012, Mohamed Morsi was elected to the presidency, in the first ever democratic elections held in Egypt. A little over a year later, in July 2013, Defense Minister Abd el Fatah al-Sisi arose and deposed Morsi. The world erupted, Obama reached the boiling point, and the USA froze its military aid to Egypt. Everyone demanded that Sisi put Morsi back in office, but he refused. Then Sisi held democratic elections and won. This week – twenty months after Morsi was deposed – Obama finally realized that his dream of bringing about Muslim Brotherhood hegemony over the entire Middle East has to be put on hold. He phoned Sisi and told him that the US will renew military aid to Egypt. Sisi’s stubbornness paid off in a big way, and the Egyptian general succeeded in forcing his agenda on the President of the United States.
Israel must draw a clear and sharp conclusion: stop talking and start doing what should be done. It must put an end to the Palestinian Authority.
Another example is Assad, the mass-murdering despot who has killed tens of thousands of Syrian citizens over the past four years while the world observed the carnage and did nothing. When he crossed the most red of lines and used chemical weapons against his own people, the lines seemed to turn pink, then white and then became transparent before our very eyes.
The world condemns, the UN Security Council adopts meaningless decisions, but Assad’s continued bestial behavior is the only reason he still rules part of Syria. His actions speak louder than all the words uttered by the world and its leaders.
Hezb’Allah is a terrorist organization armed with tens of thousands of missiles, found guilty of the murder of Lebanon’s previous prime minister, Rafik al Hariri. The UN Security Council forbade the organization’s rearming after the Second Lebanon War, but these words did not stop it from rearming. Moreover, Europe has been cooperating with the “civilian arm” of this terrorist entity that also took over Lebanon. In other words, what the world says doesn’t matter, but what Hezb’Allah achieves, does. Does the fact that Hezb’Allah’s militants murder Syrian citizens bother anyone enough to do something? It seems the world realizes that words will not change this reality.
Iran has been moving towards acquiring nuclear weapons for years, a game changer for regional and world politics. The entire world is talking about it, speeches are made, documents are written, papers are published, agreements are signed – but all the billions of words spilled worldwide on the subject have not brought Iran to stop its nuclear plans for one minute.
Only the West’s 2003 invasion of Iraq resulted in Iran’s stopping the development of its nuclear project for a while. Iran went back to nuclear activity in 2006 when it realized that no one planned to invade its territory, despite all the evidence of Iranian involvement in the Iraqi uprising, and despite the incontrovertible fact that Iran – indirectly, but intentionally – caused the deaths of thousands of American and other soldiers in Iraq up to 2010. What affects Iranian behavior is not what is said about the country, but what is done – or not done – against the Iranian regime.
Economic sanctions can influence Iranian policy on nuclear power, because sanctions are a practical, and therefore effective, step, but someone in the White House and the US State Department has decided that it is better to substitute words for actions. In the Middle East, words are meaningless. The Iranians are ready to offer pleasant words, smiles and agreements, but their actions are the exact opposite of what they promise – and it is actions that count.
Iran is bound by the decision of the UN Security Council that forbids it from exporting weapons, but do these written words keep the Ayatollahs from exporting arms to Syria? to Hezb’Allah in Lebanon? to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza? to the Shiite militias in Iraq? to the Kurds in northern Iraq? to Assad’s regime in Syria? to the Houthis in Yemen? The words are on paper, but Iran’s actions are the reality.
Iran has been arming itself for years, it has been funding and training the Shiite Houthis in Yemen, whose battle for control of Yemen began with attacks on Sa’dah in northern Yemen back in 2004. The Houthis gained in strength until they took over the capital city of Sa’ana several months ago and turned Yemen into a bloodbath. All the talk in Yemen about national unity as well as all the talk about dividing the country into autonomous sectors were of no avail, as the Houthis continued their relentless advance.
Houthi actions are more significant than any decision and any document. This is what pushed Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Sunni states to prepare for a real war, not a war of words, against the Houthis, whom they rightly see as the Yemenite tentacle of the Iranian octopus.
Yemen is also a stage on which al Qaeda, the organization that the entire world is against, plays a role, growing, advancing and gaining control over more and more territory. It has reached the point where its offshoot, Islamic State, established as an al Qaeda branch in Iraq in 2004, has wrested control over a third of Syria, a third of Iraq – and has the whole world living in fear of its Jihadist knives and the possibility of its revolution being exported to Europe, America, Australia and who-knows-where else. Jihadist actions have much more effect than the condemnations voiced against them, much more than the decisions, articles and caricatures aimed at them.
In Gaza, the Palestinian Authority is officially in charge – on paper – but the real control is in the hands of the Islamic terrorist organization, Hamas. How many words have been wasted talking about this insane situation? How may agreements have been signed by both sides? Nothing can affect the reality in which Hamas rules by force in Gaza, effectively telling the PA to go to hell. Even Israel has not succeeded in changing the facts on the ground there.
Israel, too, is in possession of many promises on crucial issues from various American presidents. These include stopping the Iranian nuclear project, support for Israel’s suggestion to retain settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria, and for its opposition to the recognition of a Palestinian state in the Security Council. All these were simply words. What is happening to the assurances and all the words Israel has received? Iran continues its nuclear project – and will be doing so after signing any agreement – and America is establishing a Palestinian State in Judea and Samaria even though no one in Washington can be sure or can promise that it won’t turn into a Hamas state.
Israel must draw a clear and sharp conclusion: stop talking and start doing what should be done. It must put an end to the Palestinian Authority before it turns into another Hamas state and establish eight Emirates on its ruins: the one in Gaza has been in existence for eight years, but another seven must be established in Arab cities in Judea and Samaria – in Jenin, Shechem, Tulkarem, Kalkilya, Ramallah, Jericho, Arab areas of Hevron – ruled by local hamoulot (powerful, extended families), while Israel remains a force in the countryside with all its Jewish “settlements” intact.
Israel has to learn from Sisi, the man who succeeded in forcing the correct course of action on America, Europe and all those who opposed him. Only actions have an effect on reality in the Middle East, and for everyone who has a short memory: Israel, too, was established when the Jewish People got sick and tired of words and began to act.
In our neighborhood, we don’t talk. We act. Those who talk usually don’t do anything and have no desire to do anything, hoping that their words will cover up for their lack of action. Israel’s new government must work together on a practical plan, not one that is all verbiage and “agreements” – and start acting to put facts on the ground. In the long run, the world accepts Middle East reality, even unpleasant reality, because that is how this region operates.
Written for Arutz Sheva, translated from the Hebrew by Rochel Sylvetsky
In Our Neck of the Woods, Actions Speak Louder than Words by Dr. Mordechai Kedar
3.Do not trust the Iranians, Netanyahu warns |
Instead of making dangerous concessions to Iran, now is the time for the world to reassert and fortify its original demand for a better deal, prime minister says • Democratic Senator Bob Menendez: Congress has a duty to review any deal with Iran.
Shlomo Cesana, Eli Leon, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff and The Associated Press
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media on Iran, Sunday Photo credit: Kobi Gideon / GPO |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama are continuing to spar over the framework nuclear deal with Iran. After Obama asserted on Saturday that Netanyahu had failed to provide a viable alternative to the deal, the prime minister issued a statement on Sunday reiterating the details of his proposed alternative.
“In the last few days, Iran has shown again why it can’t be trusted,” Netanyahu said.
“Iran insists on maintaining its formidable nuclear capabilities with which it could produce nuclear bombs. Iran insists on removing all sanctions immediately. And Iran refuses to allow effective inspections of all its suspect facilities. At the same time, Iran continues its unbridled aggression in the region and its terrorism throughout the world.
“So let me reiterate again the two main components of the alternative to this bad deal: First, instead of allowing Iran to preserve and develop its nuclear capabilities, a better deal would significantly roll back these capabilities — for example, by shutting down the illicit underground facilities that Iran concealed for years from the international community. Second, instead of lifting the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear facilities and program at a fixed date, a better deal would link the lifting of these restrictions to an end of Iran’s aggression in the region, its worldwide terrorism and its threats to annihilate Israel.
“Iran needs a deal more than anyone. Instead of making dangerous concessions to Iran, now is the time for the international community to reassert and fortify its original demands for a better deal.
“We must not let Iran, the foremost sponsor of global terrorism, have an easy path to nuclear weapons which will threaten the entire world.”
At a press conference in Panama on Saturday, Obama said, “The prime minister of Israel is deeply opposed to it [the deal]. I think he’s made that very clear. I have repeatedly asked: What is the alternative that you present that you think makes it less likely for Iran to get a nuclear weapon? And I have yet to obtain a good answer on that.”
Responding to remarks by Iranian leaders asserting that any final deal would include an immediate lifting of sanctions, Obama said, “Iran has its own politics around this issue. They have their own hardliners. They have their own countervailing impulses in terms of whether or not to go forward with something, just as we have in our country. And so it’s not surprising to me that the supreme leader or a whole bunch of other people [WHICH other people? The Israelis?? GW] are going to try to characterize the deal in a way that protects their political position. But I know what was discussed at — in arriving at the political agreement.
“What I’ve always said, though, is that there’s the possibility of backsliding. There’s the possibility that it doesn’t get memorialized in a way that satisfies us that we’re able to verify that, in fact, Iran is not getting a nuclear weapon, and that we are preserving the capacity to snap back sanctions in the event that they are breaking any deal.”
Regarding critics of the deal with Iran, Obama said, “I don’t understand why it is that everybody’s working so hard to anticipate failure. My simple point is let’s wait and see what the deal is.
“We’ve got work until the end of June to make sure that we’ve got a document that works. If, in fact, we’re not satisfied that it cuts off the pathways for Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, then we won’t sign it.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected on Tuesday to begin debating a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the committee chairman, and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) that would give Congress a say on any deal.
Menendez told Fox News on Sunday that it’s a “congressional duty to review whatever agreement comes about.” Menendez had been the committee’s senior Democrat until he voluntarily stepped aside from the role after he was indicted on federal corruption charges on April 1.
Under the bill as it is currently worded, Obama could unilaterally lift or ease any sanctions imposed on Iran through presidential action, but Congress could block the president from providing Iran with relief from congressional sanctions.
Senators on both sides of the issue have introduced more than 50 amendments to the legislation.
Also on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged congressional opponents of a deal with Iran to “hold their fire” until they see a final agreement.
The administration should be free to negotiate without interference until the June 30 deadline for a final agreement, Kerry told CBS News.
“We’ve earned the right to be able to try and complete this without interference and certainly without partisan politics,” he said.
Do not trust the Iranians, Netanyahu warns
The Ayatollah has two ironclad requirements for a nuclear deal with the West, each of which contradicts American claims regarding the agreement The Jewish Press.com Published: April 10th, 2015
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khameini Photo Credit: IRNA
The man the Iranians refer to as their “Supreme Leader” told the world on Thursday, April 9, that whatever terms were discussed at Lausanne by negotiators from the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany, with Iran are “non-binding.”
Ayatollah Ali Khameini spoke on television as part of Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology. The two points Khameini addressed head-on and emphasized as essential from his perspective are ones on which the West cannot give ground over: first, the immediate lifting of international sanctions imposed because of Iran’s nuclear activity as soon as a deal is reached, and second, the barring of access by any international monitoring personnel to any Iranian military facilities.
Both of those points are flatly contradicted by what the U.S. has confirmed were agreements reached in the Lausanne parameters.
According to the ironclad U.S. position, sanctions on Iran will only be lifted when that country can prove it is in compliance with its nuclear commitments. Sanctions will not be lifted simply on the date an agreement is reached, which Khameini claims is an essential component of any deal.
The Iranian cleric described the U.S. description of agreements reached at Lausanne as “wrong on most of the issues,” and claimed it “distorted reality.”
“All sanctions should be removed just when the deal is reached. If sanctions removal depends on another process, then why did we start to talk?” he asked.
Khameini’s insistence was echoed by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president: “We will not sign any agreements unless, on the first day of the implementation of the deal, all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the same day,” he said.
The U.S. has said that under the framework understanding recently reached, the Iranians have to address the International Atomic Energy Agency’s concerns about possible military dimensions of its nuclear program.
But Khameini was adamant that international inspectors will not be permitted to inspect and monitor Iran’s military bases.
“Iran’s military sites cannot be inspected under the excuse of nuclear supervision,” Khameini said. The Ayatollah has been much more circumspect about the nuclear deal than have, for example, the Americans. The Obama administration has been lobbying Congress very hard about the importance of the deal, while the Iranians have been cautious in their descriptions.
Khameini has commandeered a refrain uttered repeatedly by U.S. President Barack Obama, mostly to quell the concerns of his harshest critics, “no deal is better than a bad deal.”
When the Iranian cleric says “no deal is better than a bad deal,” however, it sounds more like a warning that his team will walk away unless their demands are met.
“It is not even clear whether the talks will bear fruit and lead to an agreement … But I will welcome a deal that preserves the honour of the Iranian people and we always say that no deal is better than a bad deal.”
About the Author: Lori Lowenthal Marcus is the US correspondent for The Jewish Press. She is a recovered lawyer who previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools. You can reach her by email: Lori@JewishPressOnline.com
5.Persian Iran Abuses Shiite Beliefs to Kill Arabs by Mark Langfan
Iran abuses Shiite beliefs to divide, conquer, and murder Arabs. Next, the world.
Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com Published: Monday, April 13, 2015 10:21 AM
Mark Langfan
The writer, who specializes in security issues, has created an original educational 3d Topographic Map System of Israel to facilitate clear understanding of the dangers facing Israel and its water supply. It has been studied by US lawmakers and can be seen at www.marklangfan.com.
Archimedes, possibly the world’s greatest mathematician, once said, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever, I will move the whole world.” The Iranian Persia, certainly the world’s most evil country, has an analog statement, “Give me a place to stand next to a Shi’ite Arab, and with a Shi’ite anti-Sunni hate slogan, I will divide and conquer the entire Arab world.”
Iran is a non-Arab nation 75 million-people strong, almost all Shi’ite Muslims. So why are the Persian Iranians sending Arab Lebanese Shi’ite Hezb’Allah forces that total 7,000 at best to fight and die in Syria? Why send Arab Hezb’Allah east to fight and die in Iraq? Or Yemen?
This war isn’t a Shia-Sunni War; this is a Persian-Arab War. But, unfortunately, the Arabs are being played for fools by their Persian Iranian puppeteers.
The Persian Iranians are using the Shi’ite Islamic faith as a bull-fighter uses a red-flag in front of a bull—to enrage the Arab so that he tries to kill anything in his path. To the Iranians, Shi’ite Islam is the poison that has ignited the Arab world to consume and divide itself with self-hatred, so the Persians can march over the Sunni and Shi’ite Arab corpse.
Four months ago, on December 14, 2014, in Today Damascus, Soon, Khuzestan, I wrote:
“In this Arab Shi’ite-Sunni War, what is the Persian Iranians’ big-picture strategy? Do the Arab Sunnis really want to behead Arab Shi’ites, and vice versa? Some do, but most don’t. Shi’ite-colonizing Persian Iranians have purposefully instigated an Arab Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian holocaust. The Persian Iranian goal is not for all “the Shi’ites” to win, but for all the Arabs, all the Sunnis and Shi’ites alike, to kill one another and be so divided that the Arabs will have no energy left when the Persian Iranians come in for the kill, and take the entire Arab “Persian” Gulf containing 56% of the worlds oil supply.
“This war isn’t a Shia-Sunni War; this is a Persian-Arab War. But, unfortunately, the Arabs are being played for fools by their Persian Iranian puppeteers.”
Now thanks to a MEMRI translation, we can hear Shi’ite Lebanese cleric Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini, who heads the Arab Islamic Council in Lebanon, and is known for his opposition to Hezbollah, and who on March 10, 2015 told the Iraqi daily Al-Zaman:
“Q: Recently, we have witnessed the expansion of Hezbollah, Iran’s protégé, in Syria and Iraq. Is this part of an Iranian plan to establish a regional empire?”
“A: The plan of Iran’s rule of the jurisprudent to expand to our Arab countries is nothing new. It originates with [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini’s takeover of the Iranian regime and the so-called plan to export the [Islamic] Revolution to the world. This is under the banner of supporting the weak and defending Palestine, and on the false claim that the rule of the jurisprudent is the mother of mercy for oppressed Shi’ites in their countries, as well as the haven for Sunnis who are persecuted in their homelands.
“I can mention, for example, the naming of a street in Tehran after [Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassin] Khalid Al-Islambouli; [Iran’s] support for Sunni Islamists in Algeria and Egypt, and allowing Al-Qaeda leaders and bin Laden’s family into Tehran after they fled Afghanistan. Using this stratagem, the Iranian regime has managed to infiltrate Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other lands, in order to realize its ambitious plan to take over our Arab countries. This followed its recruitment of [local] agents in these countries to actualize its grand political plan – that is, to eat away at Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.”
What makes Iran’s plan even more dangerous to the world is that US President Obama is not leading Iran’s hegemony over the Sunni and Shi’ite Arabs “from behind.” Obama is Iran’s Co-Conspirator-in-Chief as Iran commits and instigates its, and Obama’s own, holocaust against all the Arabs-Sunni and Shi’ite. Obama is acting as Iran’s forward-deployed special forces, enabling Iran to lay waste to the entire Arab world.
Only by exposing these machinations will the Arabs, Israel, and the West save themselves from a nuclear-armed United Muslim States of Persia which will rule over the entire Arab, and North African landmasses with their vast wealth. In reality, the Arabs are Israel’s first, and last, line of defense against an Iranian tidal wave that will wash it away.
In his interview, the Shi’ite Cleric Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini had one, and only one, solution, “In my opinion [Al-Husseini’s opinion], in order to deal with these groups we must cut off the serpent’s head [Iran’s head]– that is, the rule of the jurisprudent [the Iranian Supreme Religious Council]– as opposed to its tail. This is because if we do not cut off its head [Iran’s head], it [Iran] will remain alive, and continue to pose the same danger by giving rise to more terrorism.”
Let’s all pray, the Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini’s of the world are heard by Shi’ite Arabs before all the Arabs will have murdered each other, egged on by the all-too-invisible evil hand of Iran’s cancerous and demonic exploitation of Shi’ite Islam.
Persian Iran Abuses Shiite Beliefs to Kill Arabs by Mark Langfan
From: 6.Arlene Kushner: “The PA and More” April 12, 2015
Pesach is over and it’s back to “normal,” such as that may be. Posting after posting, I have focused on Iran, and Obama. With good reason: It is a most critical issue. But I would like to at least begin with a look at the PA today. I feel I have been “neglecting” Abbas.
Credit: Reuters
Actually, Mahmoud Abbas has been playing the game every which way that he thinks might work. If you recall, about two weeks ago, the Israeli government announced that it would be releasing collected PA tax funds that had been withheld because of Abbas’s declared intentions of joining the ICC and bringing charges against Israel. This looked like a regrettable Israeli concession. But then, Abbas announced that because of the taxes that were to be released, no action against Israel would be pursued in the ICC. And, more than a concession, this began to look like an action against the PA that actually netted results.
What Israel said was that funds withheld through February would be released, and determination regarding release of taxes collected in March would depend on the PA.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/In-exchange-for-freed-tax-funds-PA-wont-pursue-Israel-over-settlements-at-ICC-395505
Ah, but this state of affairs did not last very long. For Abbas quickly learned that Israel was going to retain a percentage of the tax money to cover some part of funds owed to Israel by the PA for services provided to the Palestinian Arab population.
This is what Abbas said last week: ”The Israelis have begun punishing us by withholding the money they collect on our behalf. They told us they would release our funds and they did, but after deducting one-third of the sum. Why? Are these debts? Who decides? We told them this is our money and you are not doing us a favor. This is not a donation. We insist on receiving all that belongs to us.” (Emphasis added)
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Abbas-issues-warning-to-Israel-to-turn-over-funds-or-face-charges-at-the-ICC-396240
What we have here is a sterling example of Abbas’s total disregard for facts. As it happens, Israel turned over to the PA 1.37 billion shekels in withheld tax money. Only 160,000 shekels was held back against the gargantuan PA electric bill of over 2 billion shekels. Had we kept the entire sum of withheld tax funds it still would not have covered the outstanding PA debt to Israel. And he complains?
It is Israel that should be saying, “Our electrical services are not a donation – we insist on full payment that belongs to us.”
Abbas threatened to return the sum that was given to the PA, but I have no information that he has done so. The PA needs that money, and it is likely no more another threat.
But let us take a moment to examine WHY the PA so badly needs that money, according to the Palestinian Media Watch, as of October 2014 (emphasis added):
“The number [of public employees] currently registered in the [PA] General Workers’ Office comes to approximately 175,000. Yet the total number of recipients of government salaries exceeds 200,000 – if one includes the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and wounded, as well as the prisoners’ and released [prisoners’] pensions – [whose total stipends] constitute approximately 65% of the Palestinian government’s monthly expenditure.
“The tax money [the PA] gets back from Israel, which represents two thirds of the Palestinian monthly income…constitutes the basis for the government’s ability to continue paying the salaries…”
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=1005
Do the math: families of “martyrs,” prisoners, etc. receive stipends that are far more generous than what is paid to ordinary workers.
At the beginning of April, Othman Abu Gharbieh, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, declared that Oslo was dead and that there would be no more peace negotiations.
The PA, he declared, would be seeking Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state in the pre-1967 lines.
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Senior-Palestinian-official-Oslo-accords-are-dead-395735
Yes, that again…
However, last Thursday, according to AFP, announcement was made by Russian officials of a visit to Russia by Abbas that is expected to take place this week. He will be meeting with Putin, and on the agenda will be “ideas on the process of Israeli-Palestinian talks.”
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Abbas-to-meet-Putin-in-Moscow-on-Monday-396689
Israeli-Palestinian talks? These are the same talks that Abu Gharbieh recently said were dead, but never mind.
Abbas refers to the Russians as friends, and all together this is bad news. The Soviets had a long-standing relationship with the PLO, and Russia today would be glad for a more significant foothold in the Middle East.
Hamas-Fatah relations are growing increasingly tense (after a recent bid to try again to re-establish a unity government). Just two days ago, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar charged that Abbas has no legitimacy as president of the PA. I will skip over matters such as PA security cooperation with Israel, which Hamas considers “treachery,” and go to the heart of the matter.
Al-Zahar says that Abbas’s term expired years ago. And he is absolutely correct. Abbas’s term as president expired in January 2009. It is a mark of international hypocrisy that Abbas is treated as an official who represents the PA. Everyone just ignores the fact that new elections have not been held.
And now, before closing, just a brief overview of the latest with regard to the Iran nuclear issue. The situation has deteriorated into one of absolute farce, with the two major issues being the matter of sanctions relief and inspections/verification.
Last Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei gave a speech.
Credit: Reddit
The entire translation can be found here: http://defenddemocracy.org/iran-press-review-9-april Significant highlights shared by Omri Ceren of The Israel Project:
“Politically, the most damage will probably come from Khamenei’s declaration that nothing was agreed to at Lausanne, and that White House claims otherwise are ‘incorrect and contrary to the substance of the negotiations.’
Substantively, Khamenei’s new red lines – if US negotiators ultimately accept them – would detonate the possibility of a verifiable, enforceable deal…
“On verification, he blasted inspections of military sites and ruled out any ‘unconventional inspection or monitoring’ in general. The military sites demand would gut the IAEA’s ability to ensure the Iranians aren’t enriching at military bases like Fordow (which they’ve done) or developing nuclear warheads at military bases like Parchin (which they’ve also done). Administration officials have been talking about ‘managed access’ to such sites, which is less than what former IAEA officials say the agency needs and less than the ‘snap inspections’ lawmakers were told negotiators would bring home – but still more than Khamenei is willing to give. The ‘unconventional’ demand would prohibit the unprecedented inspection regime President Obama has emphasized is necessary to prevent the Iranians from cheating.”
Eli Lake has written an article for Bloomberg that Ceren quotes: “Now [Senator] Kirk feels that there isn’t much of an agreement at all. As he told me Thursday, ‘Because Iran refuses to agree to the same framework for a final deal as the United States, and because Iran still strongly disputes basic issues like how a final deal will address comprehensive sanctions relief, uranium enrichment, and coming clean on Iran’s military nuclear activities, I believe the full Senate should vote, sooner rather than later, on the bipartisan Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015.’”
The issue is not even one of who is telling the truth in the dispute between the US and Iranian version of the agreement. It is, rather, that if Iran has not signed on to the US version, and is determined to get its way, there is no agreement.
Let’s close with some good news:
“British Christian groups are circulating a declaration expressing appreciation for Israel as a safe haven for Middle East Christians, support for bolstering ties with the Jewish state, and a call to combat anti-Semitism.
“Called the ‘Shalom Declaration,; the document states, ‘We deeply appreciate that Israel is the only country in the Middle East which extends freedom of worship to all its citizens and where the Christian community is growing.’”
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/10/uk-groups-circulate-declaration-of-appreciation-for-israel-as-safe-haven-for-christians/
© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution. If it is reproduced and emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted. See my website at www.arlenefromisrael.info Contact Arlene at akushner18@gmail.com
Arlene Kushner: “The PA and More” April 12, 2015
7.Iran framework deal sparks tensions on Capitol Hill |
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to weigh on Tuesday amendments to bill calling for Congress to have say on any final nuclear deal with Iran • Republican Senator Marco Rubio wants deal to include Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist. BY Erez Linn, Israel Hayom Staff and The Associated Press President Barack Obama opposes the bill as written and has pledged to veto it, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have proposed numerous amendments to either make a final deal impossible to reach or to give the White House more leeway to negotiate with Iran.The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to debate and begin voting Tuesday on amendments to legislation calling for Congress to have a say on any final nuclear agreement with Iran.
Under the bill, Obama could unilaterally lift or ease any sanctions that were imposed on Iran through presidential action. But he would be prohibited for 60 days from suspending, waiving or otherwise easing any sanctions Congress levied on Iran. It is expected the bill will be approved by the Senate Foreign Relations committee and sent to the Senate floor for a full vote. As of now, the bill has yet to obtain the support of enough senators to override a veto by Obama. The support of 67 senators would be necessary to make the bill veto-proof. Several Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer of New York, have declared their support for the bill, which was proposed by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, one of the supporters of the bill, told The Washington Post on Thursday that the legislation would give Congress “rules that are defined in terms of procedures and timing, providing certainty that may even help the negotiators in the final phase of the negotiation.” Politico reported on Friday that Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida wants to make Iranian recognition Israel’s right to exist a condition of any nuclear deal with Iran. On Saturday, The Hill detailed five key demands that the U.S. and other world powers dropped during negotiations with Iran. These included — banning uranium enrichment; capping centrifuges at 1,500; shuttering secret nuclear facilities; ending Iran’s ballistic missile program; and finalizing a 20-year deal. Also on Saturday, Obama said that partisan wrangling over the nuclear agreement with Iran and on other foreign policy matters has gone beyond the pale. “It needs to stop,” Obama declared. Obama complained that Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona had suggested that Secretary of State John Kerry’s explanations of the framework deal with Iran were “somehow less trustworthy” than those of Iran’s supreme leader. “That’s an indication of the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries,” an exercised Obama said in a news conference at the end of the two-day Summit of the Americas. “And we’re seeing this again and again.” McCain returned the criticism, arguing in a statement that the discrepancies between the U.S. and Iranian versions of the deal extended to inspections, sanctions relief and other key issues. “It is undeniable that the version of the nuclear agreement outlined by the Obama administration is far different from the one described by Iran’s supreme leader,” McCain said in a statement. Obama, speaking at a news conference in Panama City, said it was understandable that people would be suspicious of Iran, even that they would oppose the nuclear deal. “But when you start getting to the point where you are actively communicating that the United States government and our secretary of state is somehow spinning presentations in a negotiation with a foreign power, particularly one you say is your enemy, that’s a problem,” he said. Obama also renewed his complaints about the 47 Republican senators who sent a letter to Iran’s leaders saying that any deal the Iranians made with the U.S. wouldn’t necessarily hold up after Obama leaves office. Of all of it, Obama said: “That’s not how we’re supposed to run foreign policy regardless of who’s president or secretary of state.” Obama said he’s still “absolutely positive” that the framework deal is the best way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And he added that if the final negotiations don’t produce a tough enough agreement, the U.S. can back away from it. The president added that instead of working to make the nuclear deal better, GOP critics seemed out to sink it. “I don’t understand why it is that everybody’s working so hard to anticipate failure,” he said. Obama also noted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the deal with Iran. “The prime minister of Israel is deeply opposed to it [the deal],” Obama said. “I think he’s made that very clear. I have repeatedly asked — what is the alternative that you present that you think makes it less likely for Iran to get a nuclear weapon? And I have yet to obtain a good answer on that.” McCain last week said that comments by Iran’s supreme leader had suggested that Iran and the Obama administration were on different pages. McCain called the supreme leader’s suggestion that Iran wouldn’t allow unlimited inspections “a major setback,” adding that it was the supreme leader, not President Hassan Rouhani or Iran’s foreign minister, who really calls the shots in Iran. “These differences need to be thoroughly explained by the administration if we are to give serious consideration to this agreement,” McCain said. McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, was among the signatories to the GOP letter to Iran’s leaders warning that any deal struck with Obama would be “a mere executive agreement” that the next president could revoke. In the days since, McCain has stood by the letter’s sentiment while acknowledging that writing to the leadership in Tehran had not been the most effective move. Kerry has denounced that letter as “unconstitutional.” Meanwhile, speaking at a Mimouna celebration in Or Akiva on Saturday evening, Netanyahu said, “We face great and manifold challenges, the greatest of which has been, and remains, Iran’s effort to develop nuclear weapons capabilities. To my regret, all of the things I warned about vis-à-vis the framework agreement that was put together in Lausanne are coming true before our eyes. “This framework gives the leading terrorist state in the world a certain path to nuclear bombs, which would threaten Israel, the Middle East and the entire world. We see that Iran is being left with significant nuclear capabilities; it is not dismantling them, it is preserving them. We also see that the inspection is not serious. How can such a country be trusted? As of now there is no real monitoring. We see that the sanctions are being lifted, immediately, according to Iran’s demand, and this is without Iran having changed its policy of aggression everywhere, not just against Israel, but in Yemen, the Bab el-Mandeb, the Middle East and through global terrorist networks. “The most dangerous terrorist state in the world must not be allowed to have the most dangerous weapons in the world. Therefore, we are committed to try and prevent the bad agreement and replace it with a good agreement.” |
Iran framework deal sparks tensions on Capitol Hill |
| | 8.Obama continues to ignore reality by Prof. Ron Breiman Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised a legitimate demand during the talks between the Western powers and Iran — that Iran should recognize Israel as a Jewish state and stop threatening to destroy it. U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the demand, saying that there was no relation between Iran’s view of Israel and the nuclear talks, ignoring the fact that Israel would be the country most threatened by Iran if it did get nuclear weapons. Statements made by Iranian leaders in Tehran only strengthen that claim. Obama’s response should set off alarms for Israeli policymakers. His position could also extend to Netanyahu’s legitimate call on Palestinian and Arab leaders to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Calling for the formation of a Palestinian state to the west of Jordan requires “two states for two peoples,” not just two states. Obama’s statements are a good indicator of the likely pressure Israel will face regarding the fate of its own land during Obama’s remaining time in the White House. Sadly, Obama’s performance on all the issues he has tackled gives the impression that the cockpit of the White House, and by extension the whole world, is being flown by a pilot (not unlike the Germanwings pilot) who has decided to put an end to the age of the U.S. leading the world as a powerful, rational, responsible and democratic superpower. For those who have forgotten, here is a partial list of the many theaters in which Obama’s actions have been controversial: dealing with the dangerous storm known as the Arab Spring; supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which toppled Hosni Mubarak; his handling of the Syrian-Russian deception regarding the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile; his handling of Iran as it continues to press for time and develops its nuclear weapons; his take on the recent developments in Yemen, including Iranian involvement there and in other places; his response to the fighting in Ukraine; siding with the Palestinian terrorist Authority and its leader Mahmoud Abbas — the twin brother of Hamas. Another thing about Obama and Iran: The U.S. president declared that during his term, there would be no nuclear Iran. That means that he will work so that until January 20, 2017 there will be no Iranian nuclear weapon and thus all talks about Iran not having nuclear capability for 10 or 13 years are pointless. The reality “after the storm” will be left to Obama’s successors to deal with. In a similar vein is Netanyahu’s election-time declaration that he would not allow the formation of a Palestinian state in his next term, i.e., not in the next four years. Even the most extreme leftists know that the “Palestinian bomb” (a Palestinian state in the land of Israel west of the Jordan River) cannot not be formed so quickly. Leaders are expected to look beyond their terms in office. This is also true for Obama, who must demand that Iran be prevented from making nuclear weapons forever and not just the next two years, and for Netanyahu, who only recently was voted in by the public to work to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state in the land of Israel west of the Jordan River. Professor Ron Breiman is the former chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel. |
| | Obama continues to ignore reality by Prof. Ron Breiman |
| | 9.The resurrection of the dead by Annika Hernroth-Rothstein
“Rav Yudan said: Regarding three places, the ?nations of the world cannot deceive Israel ?and say, ‘You have stolen them,’ and they ?are the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the ?Temple and burial site of Joseph?” (Genesis Rabbah 79:7?). I’m standing on a rooftop in Hebron. The wind has caught my scarf and I’m ?holding onto it with one hand while using the other to lean over the railing, ?catching everyday scenes from that oh-so-mythical other side. ? Although it’s not really fair to call it the other side, as the Arab part of Hebron ?constitutes 97 percent, whereas I’m standing on a patch of the remaining 3 percent. There ?are no two sides, but one side and a sliver; a majority and the fighting few. ? It was weirdly mundane, this place that I had heard of and read about and that ?had such a towering presence in the stories of old and the news of conflict. It ?was a city and a home, not a war zone or a fairytale, and actually walking in ?the footsteps of my forefathers gave me ownership of the deed that was ?signed there, many years ago. A week before I got to Hebron, I had stood at the ?foot of King David’s palace in the city carrying his name, being moved to tears ?as my guide made the pages of my worn-out Bible come alive through stone ?and unearthed pathways. In a short time, I had claimed these ?places and its thousands of years of history for myself, these abstract pillars of ?heritage had become relatable and concrete, and all I really had to do was ?show up. ? As Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, many of us will linger on the idea of ?remembrance. But what is remembrance, really, and what does loss of ?memory do to a nation, a people, and a dream? ? As I am standing on that rooftop in Hebron I recall a story I heard a while ?back, about a mother cooking chicken for her family in preparation for ?Shabbat. Every week she cuts the ends of the chicken, throwing away a third ?of it before putting it in the pot. Her daughter watches her do this, year after ?year, and as she grows up she invites her mother over to her own house to ?cook that very same dish. The daughter prepares the chicken, cutting off the ?ends and throwing away a third before putting it in the pot. Surprised, the ?mother asks her why she is throwing away all that perfectly good chicken. ? “What do you mean? I’m cooking it the way you always have. I’m ?honoring you by using the same recipe,” the daughter said. “But the only reason I did that was that I didn’t have a big enough pot,” the mother replied. What that story tells me is that memories can be deceiving. As history becomes ?stories to be believed or distrusted, things become lost and boundaries pushed ?until we no longer see the path for the politics or the forest for the trees. In ?order to stay true to the recipe and not throw away good chicken, we need ?caretakers of truth to walk the earth that we inherit, and over the course of ?these past weeks I have had the distinct honor of meeting such caretakers and ?seeing what they do. From Ze’ev Orenstein at the City of David to Dr. Gabriel Barkay at the Temple Mount Sifting Project and David Wilder of the Jewish community ?of Hebron — together, they create links to history that connect us to the ground ?we walk on and the land we inhabit. My friends in Hebron are often referred to as settlers, but to me they are ?returners, lamplighters who allow the rest of us to find our way back home. ?We owe them gratitude, yes, but more importantly we owe them our ?presence. To not stand alone holding that light, but for us to show up, take ?part, and carry it forward. This week, for Holocaust Remembrance Day, I suggest we all show ?up to remember. At the City of David, Hebron and the Temple Mount, making sure ?that we stay true to the recipe and honor each and every brave man and ?woman who chooses to inhabit the places deemed by our enemies as unjust ?and by our government as far too inconvenient. Because remembrance is not ?passive, but an active choice of truth, and for the sake of our children we must ?help release the confined and bring faith to those asleep in the dust, so that ?fact and history will never become story and myth in the mouths of our ?grandchildren. ? I believe that is how we honor the fallen, and how we truly resurrect the ?dead. Annika Hernroth-Rothstein is a political adviser, activist and writer on the Middle East, religious affairs and global anti-Semitism. |
| | |
The resurrection of the dead by Annika Hernroth-Rothstein
·
10. FINALLY REVEALED: WHAT AMBASSADOR IN BENGHAZI wAS REALLY DOING: Operating under orders of Obama, Hillary Clinton on secret mission WND EXCLUSIVE: Monday, April 13, 2015
Published: 09/08/2014 at 10:02 PM
image: http://mobile.wnd.com/files/2013/09/bloody-handprint-benghazi.jpg
The U.S. special mission in Benghazi and the nearby CIA annex were utilized in part to coordinate arms shipments to the jihadist rebels fighting the Syrian regime, with Ambassador Christopher Stevens playing a central role, documents an explosive new book released today.
The activities, which included a separate, unprecedented multi-million-dollar weapons collection effort from Libyan militias who did not want to give up their weapons, may have prompted the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, charges the new book.
The findings and more are revealed in the new work by radio host and WND reporter Aaron Klein, “The REAL Benghazi Story: What the White House and Hillary Don’t Want You to Know.”
Klein asserts the arms-to-rebels scheme that ran through Benghazi “might amount to the
Fast and Furious of the Middle East, the Iran-Contra of the Obama administration.”
image: http://mobile.wnd.com/files/2014/09/real-beghazi.jpg
A key issue is that until the end of April 2013, the White House had repeatedly denied it was involved in helping to arm the Syrian rebels.
However, “The REAL Benghazi Story” cites evidence of arms transfers throughout the summer of 2012, escalating with a major shipment from Libya to Turkey just days prior to the Sept. 11 attack.
It’s finally here: “The REAL Benghazi Story: What the White House and Hillary Don’t Want You to Know.” Get it now at the WND Superstore!
The book finds members of the 17th of February Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to the Ansar al-Sharia terrorist organization, may have been used as cut outs to aid in the weapons transfers to Syrian rebels.
Perplexingly, armed members of the Martyrs Brigade were hired by the State Department to provide internal “security” at the U.S. special mission.
Stevens an ‘arms dealer’?
According to information cited by Klein, Stevens served less as a diplomat and more as an arms dealer and intelligence coordinator for assistance to the so-called Arab Spring, with particular emphasis on the Syrian rebels.
As was widely reported, Stevens originally arrived in Libya during the revolution aboard a Greek cargo ship carrying equipment and vehicles. His original task in Libya was to serve as the main interlocutor between the Obama administration and the rebels based in Benghazi. Stevens never abandoned that role, even after becoming ambassador, according to Klein.
Indeed, the New York Times reported in December 2012 that Stevens himself facilitated an application to the State Department for the sale of weapons filed by one Marc Turi, whom the Times’ describes as an “American arms merchant who had sought to provide weapons to Libya.”
The Times reported Turi’s first application was rejected in March 2011 but was approved two months later after he stated “only that he planned to ship arms worth more than $200 million to Qatar.” Qatar was Turkey’s partner in aiding the Syrian rebels.
Klein notes the Times did not question why a U.S. ambassador would help facilitate government applications for arms dealers. Nor did the Times bother to investigate the possible connection of those activities to the Benghazi attack.
Continued Klein: “After all, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to divine a possible link to the Benghazi assaults amid reports of Stevens supporting a weapons dealer’s application while American intelligence officers hiding in ‘secret locations’ were helping Arab governments shop for weapons to be sent to Mideast rebels, including some of the same groups linked to the September 11, 2012 attacks.”
Klein points out Stevens held his final meeting with a diplomat from Turkey, which was one of the main backers of the Syrian rebels.
Arms to jihadists
Klein’s statement about U.S. intelligence officers aiding weapons shipments from “secret locations” is a reference to the larger arms-to-rebels pipeline that is thoroughly documented in the book.
The story began prior to the establishment of the U.S. mission in Benghazi, when the United States and NATO supported Arab airlifts of aid to the rebels who eventually toppled Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi.
The Obama administration’s “Arab Spring” adventures pivoted westward, reports Klein, when the CIA started helping Arab governments and Turkey obtain and ship weapons to the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
The New York Times reported March 25, 2013, that the covert aid to the Syrian rebels started on a small scale and continued intermittently through the fall of 2012, expanding into a steady and much heavier flow later that year, including a large procurement from Croatia.
However, Klein cites sources saying the airlifts actually began several months before the fall of 2012, including a massive arm shipment from Benghazi to the Syrian rebels in August 2012 days before the Benghazi attack. That massive weapons shipment departed the port in Benghazi and arrived in early September at the Turkish port of Iskenderun, 35 miles from the Syrian border, purportedly to deliver humanitarian aid.
The Times, meanwhile, reported that from offices at “secret locations,” American intelligence officers “helped the Arab governments shop for weapons … and have vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive.”
Jihadist cut outs
The exact nature of the U.S. involvement with the February 17 Brigade that guarded the U.S. special mission might have been unintentionally exposed when a Libyan weapons dealer formerly with the Brigade told Reuters in an in-person interview he had helped ship weapons from Benghazi to the rebels fighting in Syria.
Klein noted that no one seems to have connected the dots from what the weapons dealer said to the activities taking place inside the Benghazi compound and whether the Brigade serves as a cut out to ship weapons.
In the Reuters interview published June 18, 2013, Libyan warlord Abdul Basit Haroun declared he is behind some of the biggest shipments of weapons from Libya to Syria. Most of the weapons were sent to Turkey, he said, where they were, in turn, smuggled into neighboring Syria.
Ismail Salabi, a commander of the February 17 Brigade, told Reuters Haroun was a member of the brigade until he quit to form a group of his own.
Haroun told Reuters his weapons-smuggling operation was run with an associate, who helped him coordinate about a dozen people in Libyan cities collecting weapons for Syria.
Collecting weapons
Besides arming the Syrian rebels, Klein documents that from the U.S. mission and CIA annex, American agents ran an unprecedented multi-million-dollar U.S. effort to secure anti-aircraft weapons in Libya after the fall of Gadhafi’s regime.
This weapons-collection effort may go a long way to explain the motive behind the Benghazi attack. The various jihadist organizations that looted Gaddafi’s MANPAD reserves and the rebel groups that received weapons during the NATO campaign in Libya obviously would feel threatened by an American effort to try to retrieve the weapons.
In March 2013, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., connected Stevens to that effort. He told Fox News that Stevens was in the Libyan city to keep weapons caches from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Previously, one source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi the very night of the attack “to negotiate a weapons transfer in an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists.”
In August 2013, CNN reported there is “speculation” on Capitol Hill that U.S. agencies operating in Benghazi “were secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.”
In “The REAL Benghazi Story,” Klein fully exposes the extent of the weapons-collection effort, which took place in Benghazi, where a leading U.S. expert was deployed.
Klein relates then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed to providing $40 million to assist Libya’s efforts to secure and recover its weapons stockpiles. Of that funding, $3 million went to unspecified nongovernmental organizations that specialize in conventional weapons destruction and stockpile security.
The NGOs and a U.S. team coordinated all efforts with Libya’s Transitional National Council, or TNC. The U.S. team was led by Mark Adams, a State Department expert from the MANPADS Task Force.
Klein cites Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, who conceded that the Western-backed rebels did not want to give up the weapons, particularly Man-Portable-Air-Defense-Systems, or MANPADS, which were the focus of the weapons collection efforts.
Breaks new ground on Benghazi
Klein’s extensively sourced book breaks news on significant issues related to the Benghazi attack. A sampling of what the publisher says is contained in the book:
· Everything is covered from the secretive activities transpiring inside the doomed facility to shocking new details about the withholding of critical protection at the U.S. special mission.
· Hillary Clinton’s personal role in the Benghazi scandal.
· Information that raises new questions about what really happened to Ambassador Chris Stevens that night.
· Answered for the first time is why the State Department hired armed members of the al-Qaida-linked February 17 Martyrs Brigade to “protect” the facility.
· New reasons are revealed for not sending air support or Special Forces during the assault, while extensively probing jihadist groups behind the attack.
· How Benghazi has implications that go beyond the Sept. 11, 2012, attack and may have created major national security threats we now face, fueling conflicts from Mali to Syria to Gaza and beyond.
Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2014/09/finally-revealed-what-ambassador-in-benghazi-was-really-doing/#cq2MLPDE4GWMrWTZ.99
WHISTLEBLOWER / WND WEEKLY Monday, April 13, 2015
WND EXCLUSIVE
He’s worn band on wedding-ring finger since before he met Michelle Published: 10/10/2012 at 8:00 PM
JEROME R. CORSI image: http://www.wnd.com/wp-content/themes/worldnet-theme/_/images//feed.png
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image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-14-clear-photo-as-president-hands-clasped-together.jpg
Barack Obama’s gold band
NEW YORK – As a student at Harvard Law School, then-bachelor Barack Obama’s practice of wearing a gold band on his wedding-ring finger puzzled his colleagues.
Now, newly published photographs of Obama from the 1980s show that the ring Obama wore on his wedding-ring finger as an unmarried student is the same ring Michelle Robinson put on his finger at the couple’s wedding ceremony in 1992.
Moreover, according to Arabic-language and Islamic experts, the ring Obama has been wearing for more than 30 years is adorned with the first part of the Islamic declaration of faith, the Shahada: “There is no god except Allah.”
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-12-clear-photo-as-president.jpg
Inscription on Obama’s ring
The Shahada is the first of the Five Pillars of Islam, expressing the two fundamental beliefs that make a person a Muslim: There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s prophet.
Sincere recitation of the Shahada is the sole requirement for becoming a Muslim, as it expresses a person’s rejection of all other gods.
Egyptian-born Islamic scholar Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D., examined photographs of Obama’s ring at WND’s request and concluded that the first half of the Shahada is inscribed on it.
“There can be no doubt that someone wearing the inscription ‘There is no god except Allah’ has a very close connection to Islamic beliefs, the Islamic religion and Islamic society to which this statement is so strongly attached,” Gabriel told WND.
Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the REAL Birth Certificate?” carefully documents the story the establishment media still refuses to tell.
“Dreams from My Real Father” producer Joel Gilbert, an Arabic speaker and an expert on the Middle East, was the first to conclude that Obama’s ring, reportedly from Indonesia, bore an Islamic inscription.
Photographs published last week by the New Yorker from Obama’s time at Occidental College, taken by fellows students, indicate that the ring Obama wore three decades ago is the one he is wearing in the White House.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-wh-photo-THERE-IS-NO-GOD-EXCEPT-ALLAH1.jpg
Barack Obama
As WND reported in July, previously published photos have shown Obama wearing a gold band on his wedding-ring finger continuously from 1981 at Occidental, through graduation at Columbia in 1983, in a visit to Africa in 1988 and during his time at Harvard from 1988 to 1991. But none, until now, have displayed the ring with enough detail to identify it as the one he currently is wearing.
WND reported a satirical edition of the Harvard Law Review published by students in 1990 contains a mock Dewers Scotch profile advertisement poking fun at Obama. Among a list of Obama’s “Latest Accomplishments” is: “Deflecting Persistent Questioning About Ring On Left Hand.”
The comment suggests the ring was a subject of student curiosity at the time and that Obama was not forthcoming with an explanation.
He still has not explained why he wore the band on his wedding-ring finger before he married Michelle.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-wh-photo-THERE-IS-NO-GOD-EXCEPT-ALLAH-hand-closeup.jpg
Declaration
Gabriel, born to Muslim parents in Upper Egypt, grew up immersed in Islamic culture. He memorized the Quran at age of 12 and graduated in 1990 with a Masters degree from the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the pre-eminent Sunni Muslim institution of learning.
He explained that on Obama’s ring, the declaration “There is no god except Allah” (La Ilaha Illallah) is inscribed in two sections, one above the other.
On the upper section, “There is no god” is written in Arabic letters, from right to left: Lam, Alif, Alif, Lam, Ha.
On the lower section is “except god,” written in Arabic letters from right to left: Alif, Lam, Alif, Alif, Lam, Lam, Ha.
In the lower section, the word “Allah” is written partially on top of the word “except,” noted Gabriel, the author of “Islam and Terrorism” and “Journey Inside the Mind of an Islamic Terrorist.”
It is common in Islamic art and Arabic calligraphy, especially when expressing Quranic messages on jewelry, to artfully place letters on top of each other to fit them into the allotted space.
The exhibit below shows how the Arabic inscription fits over the two parts of the Obama ring.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-overlay-WITH-ARABIC-SCRIPT1.jpg
“There is no God except Allah” overlaid on Obama ring
‘First-rate accent’
In an interview during the 2008 presidential campaign, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof questioned Obama about his Islamic education in Indonesia, where he lived from 1967 to 1971.
After acknowledging that he once got in trouble for making faces during Quran study classes in his elementary school, Obama recited for Kristoff the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, the Adhan.
The prayer incorporates the Shahada, the expression of Islamic faith, with each line repeated twice:
Allah is supreme! Allah is supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet
Kristof noted Obama recited the prayer in Arabic “with a first-rate accent.”
“In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset,’” Kristoff wrote.
Joel Gilbert has produced a short video on his view of the ring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOHkZey5v08&feature=player_detailpage
Gabriel told WND that a person wearing a ring with “There is no god except Allah” demonstrates the significance of Islam in his life.
“Christians never use the statement,” he pointed out. “By wearing the Shahada on jewelry, a person communicates that Allah is in control of all circumstances. Allah controls you; Allah is the one and only one.”
Obama, who attended Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for two decades, has repeatedly insisted he is a Christian.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-wh-photo-IN-EXEC-MEETING-hand-closeup.jpg
Obama’s hand in a White House photo
‘Blessed statement in Islam’
Gabriel emphasized the importance of the Shahada in the profession of faith in Islam.
“Muslims recite the Shahada when they wake up in the morning and before they go to sleep at night,” he said. “It is repeated five times every day in the call to prayer in every mosque. A single honest recitation of the Shahada in Arabic is all that is required for a person to convert to Islam.”
Gabriel believes it would be impossible for Obama not to be aware of what is written on the ring, calling it a “blessed statement in Islam.”
“By wearing this religious statement on one’s hand, it connects the person to Islam,” he said. “It is worn in hopes that Allah’s protections would be with the person, in hopes of gaining favor with Allah.”
He affirmed that Muslim men do wear gold rings, despite prohibitions in Islamic law.
“Though Islamic law prohibits the wearing of gold jewelry by men, it is a widely accepted custom, even in strictly Muslim countries,” he said. “The wearing of gold rings is even more acceptable when it contains a religious message, such as ‘There is no god except Allah.’”
He noted there is also widespread acceptance of men wearing gold jewelry in non-Arab Islamic societies such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Pakistan, where Muslims generally understand that Muslims are subject to strong influences of local non-Arab cultures.
“Therefore, even though technically prohibited, a Muslim man wearing a gold ring is not looked down upon, especially if the jewelry reflects a love of Islam and a connection to Islamic society,” he said. “An even greater level of acceptance is for businessmen who deal with infidels, because such a person would be regarded as a person of influence.”
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-11-signing-legislation1.jpg
Obama signing legislation (White House photo)
‘I have known Islam on three continents’ said Obama
Filmmaker Joel Gilbert, an expert on Islamic history, noted Obama wore the ring during his high-profile speech in Cairo on June 4, 2009, in the first months of his presidency.
“Now we have a new context for what Obama meant when he told the Islamic audience in Cairo that he has ‘known Islam on three continents,” Gilbert said. “He also told the Cairo audience that he considered it part of his responsibility as president of the United States ‘to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.’ All religious Muslims are by definition required to defend Islam.”
Gilbert’s most recent documentary films on the Middle East are “Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran and The Revolt of Islam” and “Atomic Jihad: Ahmadinejad’s Coming War and “Obama’s Politics of Defeat”
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-wh-photo-IN-CAIRO-JUNE-2009.jpg
Obama in Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009 & CLOSEUP
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-wh-photo-IN-CAIRO-JUNE-2009-hand-closeup.jpg
The Occidental ring
The photographs published last week by New Yorker magazine indicate Obama was wearing the ring at Occidental College. One photo shows Obama sitting alongside Occidental roommate Hasan Chandoo in 1981, apparently waiting for a meal to be served.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-5-w-hasan-chandoo-occidental.jpg
Barack Obama & roommate Hasan Chandoo at Occidental College in 1981 (Tom Grauman, New Yorker magazine) Obama’s extended left hand clearly shows the ring.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-6-w-hasan-chandoo-occidental-closeup.jpg (Tom Grauman, New Yorker magazine)
The second of the recently released photos shows Obama reaching for a book from an Occidental College library shelf.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-7-w-bookshelf-occidental.jpg
Barack Obama in Occidental College library in 1981 (Tom Grauman, New Yorker magazine) A close-up of the library photo
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-8-w-bookshelf-occidental-closeup.jpg
Detail of Barack Obama ring in Occidental College library in 1981 (Tom Grauman, New Yorker magazine)
In the above photo, the ring’s design can be seen, including a series of parallel bars that distinguish its outer circumference.
The Obama wedding ring
The ring was mentioned in a New York Times article in 2009 recounting the Obamas’ wedding.
In the story, Jodi Kantor described its “intricate gold design,” noting it came from Barack Obama’s boyhood home of Indonesia and was not traditional, like Michelle’s.
Kantor wrote: Just before the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. pronounced Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson man and wife on the evening of Oct. 3, 1992, he held their wedding rings – signifying their new, enduring bonds – before the guests at Trinity United Church of Christ. Michelle’s was traditional, but Barack’s was an intricate gold design from Indonesia, where he had lived as a boy.
There was no mention in the article that Obama already had been wearing the ring for more than a decade.
The photos of the ring from the 1980s can be compared with more recent photos, such as the ones published by the Huffington Post in 2010 in an article by Anya Strzemien, “Obama’s ‘Intricate’ Indonesian Wedding Band: A CLOSE-UP,” seen here.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-1.jpg
Obama wedding ring, Huffington Post, 3/18/10 Obama wedding ring, Huffington Post, 3/18/10
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/10/OBAMA-RING-closeup-2.jpg
Note: Jerome Corsi is available to discuss this story with media.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/obamas-ring-there-is-no-god-but-allah/#bFzA45p9tMBLg2De.99