'Israel’s creation worst catastrophe to hit world'

Head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Badie reminds followers of movement’s “sacrifices” in efforts to destroy the Jewish state.

Photo: REUTERS


The head of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has called on Arab forces to confront Israel and for the international community to pressure the “Zionist government to withdraw from the land of Palestine.”


The comments by Brotherhood General Guide Mohammed Badie came in a written statement issued May 17 to commemorate Nakba Day, when Palestinians and other Arabs mourn Israel’s creation in 1948.





“On this day, like every year, the Arab and Islamic nations remember the worst catastrophe ever to befall the peoples of the world,” Badie wrote in the text, translated by The Jerusalem Post. “We demand the international community rectify the historic injustice [of 1948] and pressure the government of the Zionist entity to withdraw from the land of Palestine.”The statement – the existence of which was revealed Wednesday by the Investigative Project on Terrorism blog – reminds Brotherhood followers of the movement’s decades-long “sacrifices” in efforts to destroy the Jewish state.


The statement portrays the Arab revolts of the last 18 months as part of an inexorable process to “liberate” land now in the State of Israel.


“We have toppled the most repressive regimes with purpose and determination,” Badie wrote. “We have begun the era of liberation of all peoples, first of all the Palestinian people, [suffering from] the worst occupation known to man – the Zionist occupation.”


Uriya Shavit, a lecturer in Tel Aviv University’s Department forArabic and Islamic Studies, said those acquainted with the Brotherhood’s history will find the message unsurprising.





“The idea that the Brotherhood doesn’t recognize the legitimacy of Israel, and the call to eradicate it at some point, is something the group has never denied. It’s been in Brotherhood literature from its founding in 1928 until this very day,” Shavit said.


“What they have tried to do, not just during the Arab Spring but before, is to try to reconcile the ideology of never recognizing Israel, or the 1979 Egypt- Israel peace treaty, with the understanding that if they’re to be in power, they have to be realistic,” he added. “That’s why they offer statements like ‘We realize we will have to recognize agreements signed by previous governments,’ but then always add a ‘but.’”


The Brotherhood took half of Egypt’s parliamentary seats in elections earlier this year, with even harder-line Salafis taking another quarter. The Brothers’ presidential candidate, Mohamed Mursi, barely edged former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in firstround elections last month, and the two hopefuls will meet in a runoff ballot June 16-17.


Asked about Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel, Mursi has variously called for its revision or for putting it to referendum. Aides to the candidate have said that if elected he would not meet with Israeli officials, though his assistants might.


Badie’s Nakba Day message repeatedly cites passages from the Koran to explain political events. The Arab revolts showed popular will can topple “corrupt regimes which knelt at the feet of the Zionists,” he wrote, adding the Koranic verse, “They are those with whom thou didst make a covenant but they break their covenant every time.”


“The idea is there is no point in signing treaties with Jews – not Israelis, by the way, but Jews – because the Koran tells you just how unreliable they are,” Shavit said. “This is rhetoric even Hamas has used less in the past year, because it’s seen in the West as plain anti-Semitism, albeit in Islamic garb.”


Dan Schueftan, director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, said the question of Palestine has always been at the forefront of Brotherhood doctrine.


“This rhetoric has little to do with the Palestinians, and a lot to do with the fact that all this land is Muslim, and Israel is therefore inherently illegitimate,” he said. “Egypt is moving from a bad situation to a much worse one. Naturally, Israel will suffer: when Egypt can’t deal with its own problems, it will deflect them at us.”


Nonetheless, he said, Israelis should watch developments in Egypt and across the region with a measure of both caution and confidence.


"I'm pessimistic and optimistic at the same time," he said. "Pessimistic about what's happening in the Arab world, but optimistic over Israel's ability to deal with it."


http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=272267

‘I PUT MY BROTHER’S BLOOD ALL OVER ME AND ACTED LIKE I WAS DEAD’: SYRIAN BOY DESCRIBES FAMILY’S MASSACRE

This image made from amateur video, released by the Houla Media Office purports to show 11-year-old Ali el-Sayed, a survivor of the Houla massacre that began Friday. (Image: AP/Shaam News Network via AP video)


BEIRUT (The Blaze/AP) — When the gunmen began to slaughter his family, 11-year-old Ali el-Sayed says he fell to the floor when a bullet missed him, soaked his clothes with his brother’s blood and fooled the killers into thinking he was already dead.


The Syrian boy tried to stop himself from trembling, even as the gunmen, with long beards and shaved heads, killed his parents and all four of his siblings, one by one.


The youngest to die was Ali’s brother, 6-year-old Nader. His small body bore two bullet holes – one in his head, another in his back.


“I put my brother’s blood all over me and acted like I was dead,” Ali told The Associated Press over Skype on Wednesday, his raspy voice steady and matter-of-fact, five days after the killing spree that left him both an orphan and an only child.


Ali is one of the few survivors of a weekend massacre in Houla, a collection of poor farming villages and olive groves in Syria’s central Homs province. More than 100 people were killed, many of them women and children who were shot or stabbed in their houses.


(Related: ‘Real News From the Blaze’ discusses Friday masacre in Syria and possible intervention: iIf not now, when?)


The killings brought immediate, worldwide condemnation of President Bashar Assad, who has unleashed a violent crackdown on an uprising that began in March 2011. Activists say as many as 13,000 people have been killed since the revolt began.



U.N. investigators and witnesses blame at least some of the Houla killings on shadowy gunmen known as shabiha who operate on behalf of Assad’s government.


(Related: CNN analyst predicts ‘turning point’ after Syrian massacre that included families, children)


Recruited from the ranks of Assad’s Alawite religious community, the militiamen enable the government to distance itself from direct responsibility for the execution-style killings, torture and revenge attacks that have become hallmarks of the shabiha.


In many ways, the shabiha are more terrifying than the army and security forces, whose tactics include shelling residential neighborhoods and firing on protesters. The swaggering gunmen are deployed specifically to brutalize and intimidate Assad’s opponents.


Activists who helped collect the dead in the aftermath of the Houla massacre described dismembered bodies in the streets, and row upon row of corpses shrouded in blankets.


“When we arrived on the scene we started seeing the scale of the massacre,” said Ahmad al-Qassem, a 35-year-old activist. “I saw a kid with his brains spilling out, another child who was no more than 1 year old who was stabbed in the head. The smell of death was overpowering.”


The regime denies any responsibility for the Houla killings, blaming them on terrorists. And even if the shabiha are responsible for the killings, there is no clear evidence that the regime directly ordered the massacre in a country spiraling toward civil war.


As witness accounts begin to leak out, it remains to be seen what, exactly, prompted the massacre. Although the Syrian uprising has been among the deadliest of the Arab Spring, the killings in Houla stand out for their sheer brutality and ruthlessness.


According to the U.N., which is investigating the attack, most of the victims were shot at close range, as were Ali’s parents and siblings. The attackers appeared to be targeting the most vulnerable people, such as children and the elderly, to terrorize the population.


This type of massacre – even more than the shelling and mortar attacks that have become daily occurrences in the uprising – is a sign of a new level of violence. By most accounts, the gunmen descended on Houla from an arc of nearby villages, making the deaths all the more horrifying because the victims could have known their attackers.


According to activists in the area, the massacre came after the army pounded the villages with artillery and clashed with local rebels following anti-regime protests. Several demonstrators were killed, and the rebels were forced to withdraw. The pro-regime gunmen later stormed in, doing the bulk of the killing.


Syrian activist Maysara Hilaoui said he was at home when the massacre in Houla began. He said there were two waves of violence, one starting at 5 p.m. Friday and a second at 4 a.m. Saturday.


“The shabiha took advantage of the withdrawal of rebel fighters,” he said. “They started entering homes and killing the young as well as the old.”


Ali, the 11-year-old, said his mother began weeping the moment about 11 gunmen entered the family home in the middle of the night after arriving in a military armored vehicle and a bus. The men led Ali’s father and oldest brother outside.


“My mother started screaming ‘Why did you take them? Why did you take them?’” Ali said.


Soon afterward, he said, the gunmen killed Ali’s entire family.


As Ali huddled with his youngest siblings, a man in civilian clothes took Ali’s mother to the bedroom and shot her five times in the head and neck.


“Then he left the bedroom. He used his flashlight to see in front of him,” Ali said. “When he saw my sister Rasha, he shot her in the head while she was in the hallway.”


Ali had been hiding near his brothers Nader, 6, and Aden, 8. The gunmen shot both of them, killing them instantly. He then fired at Ali but missed.


“I was terrified,” Ali said, speaking from Houla, where relatives have taken him in. “My whole body was trembling.”


The Guardian has more from their own interview with Ali:


The boy said he waited until the armoured personnel carriers had moved from his street, then ran to his uncle’s house nearby, where he hid. He said the same militiamen knocked on the door minutes later, asking his uncle if he knew who lived in the house that they just rampaged through.


“They didn’t know he was my relative and when they were talking to him they were describing six people dead in my house. They included me. They thought I was dead.”


Throughout a 15-minute conversation, the boy remained calm and detached until he was pressed on how he knew the gunmen were pro-regime militia men, known as al-Shabiha. The irregular forces have been widely accused by residents of Houla of entering homes and slaughtering families. At least 32 of the dead are children and many of them appear to have been killed at close range.


“They got out of tanks and they had guns and knives,” he repeated. “Some of them were wearing civilian clothes, some army clothes.


“Why are you asking me who they were? I know who they were. We all know it. They were the regime army and people who fight with them. That is true.”


Ali is among the few survivors of the massacre, although it was impossible to independently corroborate his story. The AP contacted him through anti-regime activists in Houla who arranged for an interview with the child over Skype.


The violence had haunting sectarian overtones, according to witness accounts. The victims lived in the Houla area’s Sunni Muslim villages, but the shabiha forces came from a nearby area populated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.


Most shabiha belong to the Alawite sect – like the Assad family and the ruling elite. This ensures the loyalty of the gunmen to the regime, because they fear they would be persecuted if the Sunni majority gains the upper hand.


Sunnis make up most of Syria’s 22 million people, as well as the backbone of the opposition. The opposition insists the movement is entirely secular.


It was not possible to reach residents of the Alawite villages on Wednesday. Communications with much of the area have been cut off, and many residents have fled.


Al-Qassem, the activist who helped gather corpses in Houla, said the uprising has unleashed deep tensions between Sunnis and Alawites.


“Of course the regime worked hard to create an atmosphere of fear among Alawites,” said al-Qassem, who is from the Houla area, although not one of the villages that came under attack over the weekend. “There is a deep-seated hatred. The regime has given Alawites the illusion that the end of the regime will spell the end of their villages and lives.”


He said the army has been pouring weapons into the Alawite areas.


“Every house in each of those Alawite villages has automatic rifles. The army has armed these villages, each home according to the number of people who live there,” he said, “whereas in Houla, which has a population of 120,000, you can only find 500 0r 600 armed people. There is an imbalance.”


Days after the attack, many victims remain missing.


Ali can describe the attack on his family. But al-Qassem said the full story of the massacre may never emerge.


“There are no eyewitnesses of the massacre,” he said. “The eyewitnesses are all dead.”


The Blaze

HARVARD, UCLA DISALLOW ARGUMENT FOR LEGITIMACY OF JEWISH STATE

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Recently I posted about how UCLA hosted a "debate" between Islamic supremacist Jew-haters Reza Aslan and Hussein Ibish arguing over the "one-state solution" or the "two-state solution" -- that is, whether Israel should be destroyed by "Palestinian" jihadists working from within or from a "Palestinian" state. There was no discussion of the legitimacy of the Jewish State. Atlas reader Wallace Edward Brand ("Salubrius") posted this comment:

I have been trying to offer the students at UCLA a view of a one lawful Jewish state West of the Jordan River. One of the UCLA faculty members told me it was impossible. All the faculty members who could sponsor a conference on that topic were too politically correct.

I had the same problem at the Harvard Conference on March 3. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11323

I tried to get the Harvard Crimson to run an op ed with my view. No reply. I finally ended up buying a quarter page ad in the printedition and the on-line edition with the facts. So I tried to do the same at UCLA. They didn't even reply to my request for a quote for a quarter page ad.

I asked him for more information and he sent me this:

Dear Pamela,

As you requested, here is the story of my trying to get on the panel in the March 3,4 conference at Harvard. It was written up by Arutz Sheva, a very conservative Israeli paper, in their English language edition: Op-Ed: "Harvard Had no Room for a One Jewish State Solution" http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11323 I was surprised at this because Ms Drew Faust, the President of Harvard is a historian. I thought she would like my presentation on the 1920 San Remo grant, the basis for my one Jewish State Solution because it is principally the history of the Middle East that has been obscured by time (and by anti-semites and anti-Zionists).

She didn't give me any help either in getting on the panel, or with getting an op ed published in the Harvard Crimson. All I got, from her aide, was a copy of a press release saying that Harvard did not endorse the conference and that "it was a free and open marketplace of ideas". Not free for my idea. I finally bought a quarter page ad in the Harvard Crimson. Arutz Sheva had agreed to my writing an op ed with the facts on the San Remo grant so a quarter page was enough to list the links to that op ed, and to an article on the three possible solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and then an article entitled: Remember the Qurayza that criticized the two state solution -- because HLS Professor Alan Dershowitz would probably sponsor a conference on that topic and I had reason to believe from a friend who knows him, that he would NOT agree to my participation. In an article he had written, he had said that the one state solutions, either from the left or the right were solutions of extremists.

So with my small ad, I finally got into the Harvard marketplace of ideas, but it wasn't free and all I got with one expensive [expensive for me] insertion in their print edition and their online edition was a small dimly lit stall in one corner.

Here is my ad:

ONE LAWFUL STATE WEST OF THE JORDAN RIVER AS A SOLUTION TO THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT

Students at Colleges and Universities should know that there are actually three solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict. First there is a "one [Arab majority] state" solution, in which the Jewish Israelis would become unwelcome guests in their own National Home, and the Jews in the Diaspora, such as in Toulouse, lose the only place on earth they could go to and not be in a minority. In a conference at Harvard on March 3,4 a one [Jewish majority] solution was excluded. The panel was limited to Arab intellectuals and Israeli history "revisionists". Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard described it in Newsmax as an "Anti-semitic and Anti-Zionist Hate Fest". The second is a "two state [temporary] solution" in which the interim solution would result in the loss of much Jewish and Christian heritage and in the long run would end up as the one [Arab majority] state solution. The third is one lawful Jewish state based on the San Remo Agreement of 1920 that established the British Mandate for Palestine. It granted the Jews exclusive collective political rights to Palestine, in trust, to vest when the Jews had attained a population majority.

These three solutions are outlined at: http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2012/03/salubrius-three-possible.html

The details of the San Remo agreement are also on line in a two part op ed that can be seen at:

Part 1: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11408

Part 2: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11412

Debunking the Palestine Lie" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ByJb7QQ9U

It is likely that a conference at Harvard will also be held on a two state temporary solution. Will a discussion of the third option be permitted at such a conference? Harvard issued a press release stating that it did not endorse the March 3,4 conference and that it was " a free and open marketplace of ideas". The three solutions are like the three legs of a stool. With only the first two, it is likely that you will get strong arguments in favor of both, but they won't provide any balance.

Here is a critical review of the two state temporary solution: http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2012/03/remember-quraysh.html Also, it would be helpful to look at what Dr. Daniel Pipes has uncovered about Yassir Arafat and the treaty of Hudibyah, a two-tribe solution that went sour. http://www.danielpipes.org/316/al-hudaybiya-and-lessons-from-the-prophet-muhammads and http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/1999/09/arafat-and-the-treaty-of-hudaybiya-updates

If Colleges and Universities are free and open marketplaces of ideas, demand a conference where all three solutions are discussed by genuine proponents and opponents.

Wallace Edward Brand, UCLA '54 HLS '57

I tried to do the same at UCLA. One of the professors there whose name I have been asked not to mention, told me that it would be impossible to present the one lawful Jewish State solution there because all of the professors who would be able to sponsor a conference on that topic, and Chancellor Block, were politically correct. He was right. The head of Hillel wasn't any help either. I learned later that he had physically attacked a woman journalist, Rachel Neuwirth, who is pro-Zionist. VIOLENCE AND LEFT-WING POLITICS: What's Going On At UCLA's Hillel? http://www.think-israel.org/hes.hillel.html So I tried to see if the Daily Bruin would accept an op ed. No reply from it either. So I asked their advertising department for a rate for a quarter page ad, thinking to duplicate what I had done at Harvard. No reply to that either. I couldn't even buy my way into the UCLA free marketplace of ideas.

No reply from Chancellor Block or the trustees of the University of California either.

So that all occurred before the Hussein Ibish -- Reza Aslan alleged debate at UCLA on May 15. Cinnamon Stillwell at Campus Watch had warned that there would be a "son-of-Harvard" conference at UCLA. Here is what my friend Salomon Benzimra had to say about Hussein Ibish http://jdlcanada.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/it-was-most-regrettable-that-professor-derek-penslar-a-professor-of-jewish-history-and-an-expert-on-zionism-and-the-state-of-israel-did-not-see-it-fit-to-raise-his-voice-and-remi/ I had found your comment on Aslan. It appears that Ibish and Aslan are a good match. And that was followed up shortly after by another alleged debate at the Temple Israel in Los Angeles between Peter Beinart and David Suissa. Op-Ed: Beinart-Suissa Debate: Two Legs of a Stool, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11675

Keep up your good work,

Wallace Brand
Atlas Shrugs

FARRAKHAN LAMENTS: ‘SAD THAT MEXICO LOST CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA, COLORADO, NEW MEXICO‘ THROUGH AMERICAN ’TRICKERY’; SOON WHITES ‘WILL BE THE MINORITY’ IN THE COUNTRY THEY ‘TOOK’

The Blaze

The day before Memorial Day, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan lamented that Mexico had lost territory to America due to the Mexican-American War and disparaged American military action around the globe.


(Related: Farrakhan Slams Obama’s Gay Marriage Endorsement: ‘He’s the First President That Sanctioned What the Scriptures Forbid’)


The poorly-timed rant took place in San Diego in front of a partially Hispanic audience. Theoft controversial minister began by disparaging “White Mexicans” of Spanish decent before announcing that “Africans were in that part of the World [Mexico] maybe before [Mexicans] got there.” The minister lamented that illegal Mexicans are called “aliens” and declared that Americans “ought to be praising the Mexicans because we living on land that was once theirs.”


Farrakhan went on to declare that he was “sad that Mexico lost California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado” after the Mexican-American War “trickery.” This led to the minister generalizing about the American people as “a people that make war and blame the person they makin’ war on and then take your land.”


However, The minister sounded overjoyed that minority births outnumber white births in America, according to recent US Census reports. Given the news, Farrakhan noted that white people will soon “be the minority in their own country that they took from the native people.” He also projected that minorities will soon “become governor of every state.”

Watch the astonishing Remarks Below:

Key Farrakhan Quotes:

“They make you think that the original Mexicans are all white Mexicans. I don’t have anything against a white Mexican, but you’re not the original. What language did the original Mexicans speak? Why are you speaking Spanish? You’re not Spain. You’re not Spanish.”

“Where did you get that name you have? Sanchez. Ramirez. Look at you. ‘My name is Sergio Sanchez. I’m not one of those black ones.‘ But, Africans were in that part of the world maybe before you got there.”


“And now you’re an alien. That‘s terrible that Americans can call Mexicans ’aliens.’You know, we ought to be praising the Mexicans because we living on land that was once theirs, San Diego. Or maybe it should be ‘San Diablo.”


“Brothers and sisters, it’s sad that Mexico lost California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado — all of this was once Mexico. And through trickery, a war was started. You see, this is a people that make war and blame the person they makin’ war on and then take your land. That’s a modus operandi all over the world.”


“A racist, white supremist must be going crazy, you know, because for the first time, Hispanic, black and Asian babies outnumbered white babies. An ominous sign for the future. Now listen now, in the next 30 or 40 years, white people will be the minority in their own country that they took from the native people.“


“That must be a terrible feeling, to know that in just a few short years, the majority’s gonna be the minority. And one man, one vote. So, we become governor of every state — ah, we give ‘em a few.”

PLOT TO KILL AMERICANS TRACED BACK TO IRAN

The Blaze  







U.S. officials have linked a plot to kill Americans – including U.S. embassy officials – to Iran, TheWashington Post reports.


The assassination plot was originally uncovered in November when officials at the U.S. embassy in the Central Asian country of Azerbaijan were made aware of the threat. However, many of the details were not made public.


Investigators from four different countries have been probing the plot for months. Now, new evidence has surfaced in recent weeks that ties the assassination attempts to either Hezbollah militants backed by Iran or operatives based in Iran, U.S. and Middle Eastern Security officials explained to WaPo.


An official report in March revealed that evidence compiled by investigators included phone records, forensic tests, coordinated travel arrangements and cellphone SIM cards bought by many of the would-be assassins, two officials who have seen the report said.


From the Washington Post report:


The plot had two strands, U.S. officials learned, one involving snipers with silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, apparently intended to kill embassy employees or members of their families.


Both strands could be traced back to the same place, the officials were told: Azerbaijan’s southern neighbor, Iran.


Precisely who ordered the hits, and why, was never conclusively determined. But U.S. and Middle Eastern officials now see the attempts as part of a broader campaign by Iran-linked operatives to kill foreign diplomats in at least seven countries over a span of 13 months. The targets have included two Saudi officials, a half-dozen Israelis and — in the Azerbaijan case — several Americans, the officials say.


Iran has certainly made no efforts to disguise its deep-seated hatred for the United States, however, should it be determined the country’s government was involved in the assassination plots, it could cause further damage to already strained relations between the U.S. and Iran.


“The idea that Iran and Hezbollah might have worked together on these attempts is possible,” a senior U.S. official who has studied the evidence explained to The Washington Post. “But this conclusion is not definitive.”


The report claims a foreign spy agency was able to intercept electronic messages seemingly describing plans to smuggle weapons and explosives from Iran into Azerbaijan. Messages were linked to an Azerbaijani national, Balagardash Dashdev, who has a long criminal history and ties to intelligence networks and militant groups in Iran.


(Related: Feds Foil Massive Iran-Linked Terror Plot on U.S. Soil)


WaPo explains that some experts argue that a covert war is actually being waged between the United States and Iran.


So far, four scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program have been killed by unidentified assassins in the past three years. Further, the county’s websites have been hit by a barrage of cyberattacks. Iran has accused the U.S. of taking out their nuclear scientists but continue to deny any involvement in assassination plots involving foreign diplomats.





Iranians carry the coffin of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, who was killed in a brazen daylight assassination when two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car in Tehran. (AP Photo/Mehr News Agency, Mojtaba Heidari)


But officials said the Iran-linked attempts stopped abruptly in the spring after the nation agreed to resume negotiations regarding its nuclear program with six world powers, including America, according to the report.


“There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to calm things down ahead of the talks,” a Western diplomat briefed on the plots told The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intelligence. “What happens if the talks fail — that’s anyone’s guess.”


President Obama has not directly accused Iran’s government of being involved in the Azerbaijan plot.


While the evidence doesn’t prove with certainty that the Iranian government was involved in the attempt, some say the regime’s consistent pattern of reckless behavior should not be ignored.


“There is not yet a smoking gun,” a Western diplomat briefed on the evidence told The Washington Post. “But the pattern is clear, and each day the volume of evidence grows.”


Iran in a statement denied any involvement in the Azerbaijan plot and suggested the plot was made up by the “Zionists.”


“We believe that the glorious people of Azerbaijan understand that this part of the script of Iranophobia and Islamophobia is organized by the Zionists and the United States,” the statement said.


Read all of WaPo’s analysis here.

"Shalit deal encouraged terrorists"

As the great philosopher once said, Well, duh.
"'Shalit Deal Encouraged Terrorists,'" by Elad Benari for Israel National News, May 25 (thanks to Voice of the Copts):
The Deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Moti Yogev, said on Thursday that terrorists have been encouraged to try to carry out attacks against Israelis because of the deal to free Gilad Shalit.
Yogev spoke to Arutz Sheva one day after security officials revealed that the Shin Bet and the IDF broke up three terror cells operating in Hevron.
One of the cells, affiliated with Hamas’ military wing, was led by two 21-year-olds from Hevron, one of whom – Mahmoud Dwek – has been previously jailed for expressing a desire to serve as a suicide bomber in an attack against Israel.
The cell also planted a number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) along the security fence surrounding the community of Kiryat Arba and was planning to kidnap one of the Jewish residents of Hevron. If the kidnapping failed, they planned to murder the target.
Israel and Hamas signed a deal in October which saw Shalit being released after more than five years in captivity in exchange for 1,026 terrorists.
Several of the terrorists who were freed in the deal have since been re-arrested after Israeli security forces gathered evidence that they have resumed terror activity. At least one terrorist sent a memory card to relatives with detailed instructions on how to kidnap more soldiers.
“The security situation has worsened in part because of the terrorists from the Shalit deal who are here on the ground, celebrating the fact that they are senior experienced terrorists,” Yogev charged. “Some of the terrorists who were freed came to Judea and Samaria, though I do not have the exact numbers or locations. Some were not allowed to come to Judea and Samaria but it is not difficult to start and lead by example. They employ others, be it to carry out kidnappings, shooting attacks, rock throwing and general disorder.”...

Jihad Watch ~ Robert Spencer

Syria / Damascus - Perry Stone