Pope says it is wrong to equate Islam with violence

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The key question here is, Who is responsible for equating Islam with violence? Islamic jihadists, or non-Muslim “Islamophobes”? Islamic supremacist groups in the West, backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), constantly pretend that the latter are responsible, when the whole world knows it’s the former.

“Pope says it is wrong to equate Islam with violence,” by Philip Pullella, Reuters, November 30, 2014:

Pope Francis said on Sunday that equating Islam with violence was wrong and called on Muslim leaders to issue a global condemnation of terrorism to help dispel the stereotype.

There are plenty of Muslim condemnations of terrorism now. What we do not see is Muslim action against terrorism, or Muslims teaching against the view of Islam espoused by the terrorists.

Francis, the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, told reporters aboard his plane returning from a visit to Turkey that he understood why Muslims were offended by many in the West who automatically equated their religion with terrorism.

Again, who is responsible for this equation? Non-Muslims who keep up with the jihad news, or the Muslims who make that news?

Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, caused storms of protest throughout the Islamic world in 2006, when he made a speech that suggested to many Muslims that he believed Islam espoused violence.

Benedict said he had been misunderstood and apologized. But this year, the image of a violent religion has once more been promoted by Islamic State, who have seized swathes of Syria and Iraq, slaughtering or driving out Shi’ite Muslims, Christians and others who do not share their radical brand of Sunni Islam.

The Argentine pope, who has been trying to foster cooperation with moderate Islam in order to work for peace and protect Christians in the Middle East, said it was wrong for anyone to react to terrorism by being “enraged” against Islam.

Indeed. Becoming “enraged” is pointless. Become aware, and taking action to defend freedom and human rights — that is what is needed.

“You just can’t say that, just as you can’t say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them (fundamentalists). All religions have these little groups,” he said.

Do they really? Where, then, are the Christians screaming “Jesus is Lord” as they slit the throats of non-Christians? Where are the Christian or Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist counterparts to those who committed the 20,000+ jihad terror attacks worldwide since 9/11?

And who is saying that all Muslims are fundamentalists or terrorists? This is just a straw man.

“They (Muslims) say: ‘No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace’.”

The Qur’an has a specific content. It can be read. Mainstream Islamic commentaries on it can also be read. None of this supports the idea that the Qur’an is a book of peace. Has the Pope read it?

Francis said he had made the suggestion of a global condemnation of terrorism by Islamic leaders in talks on Friday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

“I told the president that it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people,” he said.

Francis several times condemned Islamic State’s insurgents during his three-day trip. On the plane, he said some Christians had been forced to abandon everything: “They are driving us out of the Middle East.”

In an address at a Mass on Sunday, he said Islamic State were committing a “profoundly grave sin against God” and called for inter-religious dialogue and action against poverty to help end the conflicts in the region.

He added that ending poverty was crucial, partly because it gave rise to “the recruitment of terrorists”. Francis has in the past said that, while it is lawful for the international community to use force to stop an “unjust aggressor”, lasting solutions must be found that tackle the root causes of violence.

Study after study has shown that poverty doesn’t cause terrorism, and that jihadis are generally wealthier and better educated than their peers. CNS News noted in September 2013 that “according to a Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009, ‘Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.’ One of the authors of the RAND report, Darcy Noricks, also found that according to a number of academic studies, ‘Terrorists turn out to be more rather than less educated than the general population.’”

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House Intelligence Committee Benghazi Report Misleads and Conceals Facts

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dark forces timmermanKen Timmerman, author of Dark Forces: The Truth about What Happened in Benghazi   was interviewed Wednesday, November 26, 2014 on 1330AM WEBY  in Pensacola by host Mike Bates and this writer.  This is the third in a series of interviews with Timmerman on the Benghazi terrorist attack that took the lives of four Americans, US Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Information Manager Sean Smith, and CIA security contractors, Tyrone Power and Glen Doherty.  This latest interview with Timmerman was occasioned by the recently released House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) chaired by outgoing Rep.  Mike Rogers (R-MI).

Timmerman’s views expressed in the interviews are reflective of his Daily Caller, article, “House Intelligence Committee Report Obfuscates Benghazi Arms Smuggling.“  His views parallel those of ex-CIA agent Larry Johnson and Col. Dick Brauer of Special Operations Speaks, that we posted: “UPDATE: The Benghazi House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee Report is a “Whitewash”. Overall Timmerman considers the report, “lame” and a “whitewash” of the conduct by the Administration and the Central Intelligence Agency leadership. He especially called in to question Deputy Director Michael Morell and the Chiefs of Base in Benghazi.

Timmerman believes the media abetted this deception by suggesting that the HPSCI Report exonerated the Administration and the CIA dismissing so-called conspiracy theories.  He noted that given the short news cycle following the release of the report, Friday, November 21, 2014, the press barely had time to digest the 37 page report let alone delve into the underlying transcripts.    Report findings denying that there was no stand down orders have been contradicted by surviving CIA security contractors in the book 13 Hours.  Those contractors engaged in the battle at the Annex  said  that the Chief of Base in Benghazi had issued such stand down orders  several times, resulting in a critical 21 minute delay  too late, to rescue Amb. Stevens and aide Sean Smith. When asked his opinion, Timmerman said that with arms and equipment already in a vehicle, the CIA contractors if released in a timely manner might have saved the lives of both Ambassador Stevens and Smith.

Timmerman said that the Report leaves many unanswered questions that might be addressed by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). He doesn’t believe that possible GOP Senate creation of a parallel Select Benghazi Committee in the 114th Session beginning January 2015 would be productive.  He noted there have already been five House Committee investigations, including this final report issued by the HPSCI.

On the matter of arms shipment from Libya to Syrian opposition, Timmerman drew a fine line between so-called Presidential Findings authorizing covert operations and liaison with foreign intelligence agencies, the latter not subject to Congressional oversight.   He said the CIA briefings on covert operations in Benghazi under Presidential findings were typically given to the Chairs and Ranking Members of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the Senate Majority and Minority leaders as well as the House Speaker and Minority Leader, the so-called ‘eight Cardinals.’  According to his sources none of the briefed Congressional members made any objections. Timmerman, following the revelations by ex-CIA agent Johnson, indicated the filtration of arms was accomplished through a ‘cut out involving British, Turkish, and Qatari Intelligence and Australian contractors.

According to Timmerman, a 400 ton shipment of arms on the vessel Al Entisar was sent by a Libyan Jihadist group to a Turkish Muslim Brotherhood charity, IHH.  That attracted Western press whose reports embarrassed CIA Director Gen. David Petreaus and led to former Secretary of State Clinton dispatching the late Ambassador Stevens to Benghazi to shut the operation down.  The Turkish Embassy General Consul, who Stevens met in Benghazi on the evening of 9/11/2012, was likely an intelligence official.  Timmerman commented that Stevens had conducted liaison with Islamist Libyan militias during the Arab Spring rebellion against Gaddafi.  He said that was reflective of the Administration’s distinction that there were good versus bad Jihadists.

When asked about what was going on at the CIA Annex in Benghazi, Timmerman pointed out there were two groups of intelligence personnel there, not including the CIA security contractors at the Annex.  One group of CIA operatives was monitoring the activities of local Islamist militia and the arms filtration cut out operation with foreign intelligence agencies. Not even mentioned in the HSPCI report, Timmerman contends was the presence of NSA agents intercepting communications of local Islamist militias and Iranian Quds Force operatives in Benghazi.  Timmerman agrees with the comments of Col. Brauer that the Iranian Quds Force operatives had surveyed the Annex in Benghazi preparing it for a possible mortar attack.

Timmerman noted the HSPCI Report comment that use of mortars by the Taliban in Afghanistan was woefully inaccurate reflecting little training in the use of such weapons. Col. Brauer said in an interview with this writer that Soviet 82 mm mortars require a team of four and weigh over 120 pounds. Moreover, each rounds weighs over 7 pounds. Brauer pointed to the expertise in the use of mortars by the Iranian Quds force and military during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980’s. Timmerman believes that members of the Quds Force in Benghazi were possibly involved in preparation and execution of the mortar attack in Benghazi.

Col. Brauer’s sources suggested that some Republican members of the HPSCI may not have been consulted on the release of Final Report.  That prompted observations by Timmerman that in too many instances, ruling majority parties are often side tracked by the interests of Chairman and Ranking Members.  That may have played a part in the timing of the release of the House Intelligence Committee report. Timmerman noted former CIA Director Michael Morell’s role in editing the talking points exonerating the Administration and subsequently joining a Washington, DC-based strategic consulting firm, Beacon Global Strategies.  The firm with close connections to former aides of Secretary Hillary Clinton and former Pentagon Chief, Leon Panetta.  Also joining the firm as Managing Director was Michael Allen former Majority Chief of Staff to outgoing House Intelligence Committee Chair, Mike Rogers.  It appears that the revolving door in Washington Intelligence circles creates conflicts overarching important national security interests.

Listen to the 1330 am WEBY interview with Ken Timmerman:

Segment 1, Segment 2, Segment 3, Segment 4.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

Turkey’s Support of the Islamic State against the Kurds

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The AP reported complaints by the Turkish Kurdish Party (HDP) of support by the Erdogan Islamist Regime for ISIS  entering Turkey  to hem in Syrian Kurdish and Iraqi Peshmerga forces in Kobani, Syria, “Activists: ISIS Is Now Launching Attacks From Inside Turkey:”

ISIS “used to attack the town from three sides” said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party, in a statement. “Today, they are attacking from four sides,” noting the addition of Turkey.

Mustafa Bali, a Kobani-based activist, told the Associated Press that ISIS fighters have taken positions in the grain silos on the Turkish side of the border and to coordinate and launch attacks along the border near the crossing point. “It is now clear that Turkey is openly cooperating with Daesh,” said Bali, using the Arabic acronym ISIS.

“As we have been pointing out for months, this once more proves that Islamic State is being supported (from within Turkey),” Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP party said in a statement.

Uzay Bulent drew attention in a Gatestone Institute article to the long term Turkish strategy  of oppressing the significant Kurdish minority that antedated the rise of the Islamist regime of President Erdogan and the AKP party in 2002, “Turkey: A Laboratory of Various Methods of Oppressing the Kurds”:

For decades Turkey’s official policy was: There are no Kurds — so there is no problem.

“They wanted to send us a message through a beheading, a throat-cutting. This was an organized attack against our party. The [Turkish] state wanted to behead our party administrator in our party building. Behind this attack was the state itself.” — Selahattin Demirtas, co-Chairman of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

There are an estimated 20 to 25 million Kurds in Turkey, whose heritage, language and human rights have been violated and quest for autonomy denied since the establishment of the Republic with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 that ended the Ottoman empire. Bulent chronicles the travails of Turkey’s Kurds and the duplicity of Erdogan’s policy of continuing internal attacks in the Southeastern region where Kurds predominate. This has  resulting in killings of civilians by Turkish military and riot police. Bulent noted  in the 1990’s that “at least three million Kurds were displaced and left homeless, with 3,438 Kurdish villages destroyed and burned down by Turkish soldiers.” Under Erdogan attacks against protesters and extra judicial killings have continued. Regarding, news reports about Erdogan’s accommodation of ISIS, Bulent noted:

Video footage [below] of Turkish troops meeting with ISIS members was released on October 27. The footage shows the soldiers and ISIS members chatting and saluting each other on October 22.

The Turkish army issued a statement saying that the soldiers were “merely warning two persons that the area was a minefield.”

Bulent cites the comments by a Syrian Kurd, Moustafa Mohamad at a Hunger Strike in Washington, DC on behalf for his brethren in embattled Kobani:

I think the international community is realizing that the Turkish ruling circles are not bothered or threatened by the extremism of the Islamic State. What billions of dollars could not have accomplished for the Kurds and Kurdistan has been delivered to us: healthy and honest political recognition, on a silver platter.

I curse the Islamic State today and want them to be destroyed. Tomorrow, I will thank it and the Turkish ruling circles for the services rendered.

Schanzer_med

Dr. Jonathan Schanzer

In an interview with Dr. Jonathan Schanzer Vice President for Research of the Washington, DC – based Foundation for Defense of Democracies to be published in the December edition of the NER, we asked him about his research on Turkey’s emergence as the second state sponsor of terrorism in the region after Iran, Bordering on Terrorism: Turkey’s Syria Policy and the Rise of the Islamic State. Schanzer responded:

What we have been tracking over the last several months is the amount of ISIS activity that appears to be taking place on Turkey’s border and inside Turkish soil. The bottom line is that we see a very troubling trend that the border has been exploited by ISIS for the sale of oil. ISIS is now able to sell oil through middlemen and that oil is then transferred on into Turkey and actually used by the mainstream financial sector.  We also have the sale of illegal antiquities by ISIS when they cross over into Turkey. You have cash that is being brought from the Gulf into Turkey and then transferred over the border into Syria to finance ISIS operations. We have a weapons trade that continues.  We have a foreign fighter problem that has been growing.  It has been documented that you have fighters coming from all over the Muslim world — from all over Europe, from Canada and the United States, for that matter.

Turkey has now become a huge transit point for all of this activity.  From my vantage point as a former Terror Finance Analyst at the US Treasury Department, I would say that Southeastern Turkey has become a massive jurisdiction of terror finance activity that needs to be addressed.  . . . In our report we said that the American Foreign Policy with Syria has been feckless while Turkey has been reckless  They have become one of the top sponsors or enablers of ISIS and this should be cause for serious concern.

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EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of Turkish Soldiers and Islamic State members chatting on Syrian Border, taken on October 22, 2014.

From Russia to Paris with Love

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Below is a touching message from our friend Bernard Chalumeau, an authority on international law who has shared valuable insights with us here and here.

You may recall that the US and the EU forbade France to proceed with their bargain to provide naval ships to Russia at a mutually stipulated price. It was a done deal but the powers that be undid it, without of course, consulting with the French people, who like all Europeans have been reduced to near-serfdom by the increasingly alien EU government and their puppet governments at home.

It needs to be understood that the French, like most Europeans, understand that their government has long betrayed them, in large part by forcing them into the now-failing European Union. This is why Marine LePen’s Front National is growing in popularity in leaps and bounds. This growth can be likened to that of Nigel Farage’s UKIP in the UK and Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party in Holland. These parties all understand the Russian position and realize that while Europe has been busy banning public expression of religion, Putin has been defending traditional Christianity not only in Russia but also abroad. The European people are undergoing a low key spiritual awakening and the leaders of these alternative parties sense that, in important ways, Russia today promises freedom to their people that their own governments do not offer (as I was writing this, I received a news report that Russians may now own and use firearms for self-defense, more bad news for Russophobes hard put to show how Russia is less free than the West). Educated Westerners are aware that the persecuted churches of Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Serbia are sisters to the Russian Orthodox Church and that the gestures of kindness on Russia’s part toward these peoples is not purely political.

Today’s situation can be traced back to Russia’s conflict with the Ottoman Empire, where Britain, which proudly sported a long list of colonies on which the “sun did not set,” hypocritically fretted over what it called “Russian expansionism.” In Russia, the westernizers like Turgenev (an atheist and sexual libertine who lived in a permanent ménage à trois in France) insisted that the goals of this Russo-Turkish conflict should be purely political while the Slavophiles like Dostoesvsky (a Christian) unabashedly stood for protection of the Eastern Christians. Today, Putin is clearly a carrier of the Slavophile tradition who resists the notion of a unipolar world with the increasingly godless US as the enforcer of a murky “morality” that suppresses all public expressions of spirituality and traditional religion and promotes what most people in both the West and in Russia perceive as perversion.

Thus, Putin’s gift of a Russian Christmas tree to France can be seen in large part as a symbol of Christian love, the true meaning of Christmas, from the Russian people, whose spiritual fervor is white hot today after 70 years of oppression.

I have been saying for some time that we need a similar political party in the U.S. that will fight for U.S. sovereignty (not to be confused with the right to smoke the dope of one’s choice; I’m talking about a party for grownups) and that this will come about once the American people understand that they do not have a party that represents them in Washington. The non-reaction of the GOP to Obama’s unconstitutional executive order is a further step in that direction. (It is unconstitutional not because executive orders are unconstitutional but because this particular order defies Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution enjoining the government to protect the states from invasion. So far, not all Americans grasp that illegal immigration has become an invasion, but they will eventually see the crime imported from Latin America reaching a fever pitch just like the violent crime spike in European cities thanks to the open borders policy of Brussels — known as the Schengen Agreement.)

Vladimir Putin understands a simple fact that a growing number of Europeans and Americans are beginning to understand as well, and that is this:

As far as the real people are concerned, Washington does not in any meaningful way represent the will of Americans and Brussels does not in any meaningful way represent the will of the French or any other nation in Europe.

To drive home this point, Putin’s tree is to be displayed in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. This tree is intended for the French people, not for the tyrants in Paris, who have forbidden the public singing of Christmas carols in many public places under the rigid legal concept of laïcité (secularism). Even public display of the Christmas tree itself has been at the center of controversy.

Russia’s gesture transmits at least these three clear messages:

  1. Russia is sending a reminder that France was once a Christian nation despite the rigid (some Europeans use the word ‘fascist’) legal measures taken to suppress the public expression of Christian utterances. Hence the stipulation that the tree be displayed in front of the famous religious landmark.
  2. It is not important what the French government decides because it does not speak for the French. Hence, the gift is people to people, a salient feature of this gesture.
  3. Putin represents hope for the French because he acts on behalf of his people first and the oligarchs second. Not only do the Russians perceive this as a rare blessing but so do the peoples of Europe, who look to Russia for hope and guidance. (Recently, Marine LePen traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin and returned with words of praise for him and his defense of ‘sovereignism,’ a concept that he applies to all nations, in the spirit of the Treaty of Westphalia).

Meanwhile, Bernard Chalumeau is urging his fellow French citizens to send a thank you note to Russia via the Russian ambassador in Paris, Alexander Orlov, who is a friend of Bernard’s.

Here is my translation of his message, which appears below:

Dear compatriots,

While our head of state despises it, bans it from the international community, blockades it, and denies it the ships it has ordered, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, sends us a wonderful gift, a symbol of harmony and hope to all:

A Christmas tree for the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris!

What a great lesson this statesman has given us!

What a great lesson!

So why do we not respond to his fraternal gesture by sending, each and every one of us, a little thank you note via his excellency Alexander ORLOV, Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Paris – 40-50 Boulevard Lannes, 75116 Paris.

I think he will be quite moved. Moreover, does the international situation not demand that Russia and France become as close as they possibly can?

This gesture can actively contribute to this rapprochement.
Thank you in advance.

Bernard Chalumeau

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of the Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which reportedly cost €80,000 to transport and install. Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP.

‘Salam Alaykum’, Your Majesty

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Present or former Bishops saying silly things is part of the rich fabric of our national comedy in Britain. Historically their silliest pronouncements are those which appear to disprove their own faith.

But in recent years an unamusing silliness has also entered into this. For instance there was Rowan Williams’ fateful pro-Sharia comments some years ago. A point he reiterated and dug himself deeper into recently when he said, in retirement, that pupils in Britain should not be concerned to be taught by teachers wearing full face veil coverings.

But the former bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, has now taken this further. Earlier this week in the House of Lords he suggested that the next coronation (of the present Prince of Wales) at Westminster Abbey should include readings from the Quran. His suggestion is that given Britain’s diverse modern makeup this would be a wonderful thing.

Of course you have to wonder whether he had thought any of this through. If Muslim scripture were read at the next coronation then surely Hindus, Sikhs, animists and others ought to have readings from their texts too. Oughtn’t atheists, Britain’s largest growing ‘faith’ – or non-faith – have readings from their foundational texts so that they should feel ‘included’? Something from the Origin of Species perhaps?

More seriously there is the matter of Islam and reciprocity.

Everyone surely now knows – especially the former Bishop of Oxford – that no Christian can even go to Mecca, let alone pray there. But let’s bring the same point closer to home. All synagogues in Britain include a prayer for the Queen in their services.

Why should mosques across Britain not do the same?

If there is to be representation it must be reciprocal. It’s not enough to be represented. The favour must be returned. When it is successful, outreach is a two-way street. So here is a proposal. In return for readings from their scripture in the coronation service, Britain’s newest faith communities must commit every week to offering up a prayer for the future King, as defender of the faith and head of Britain’s armed forces.

Nobody could possibly have any objections to that. Could they?

Now Look What They’ve Done [In English and Hebrew]

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har419“Now look what they’ve done!” That sums up the reaction, in certain quarters, to the November 18th slaughter at Kehilat B’nei Torah. They who? Palestinians? Israeli Arabs? Terrorists? Mujahidin? Activists? Résistants? No. The Jews. Israel = the Jews, look at what they’ve done now. Will they never learn?

The massacre is condemned, that’s the first step. Then the condemnation makes a U-turn and aims at Israel. like one of those killer cars unleashed since… when? Since the Protective Border operation pushed back the all-out attack from Gaza, leaving Hamas with phony victory celebrations in the rubble and Israelis with a hollow feeling in the pit of the stomach. The cease fire in Gaza was directly followed by a new double-pronged phase of the ongoing assault on Jews in their State: random assassinations and a “diplomatic” campaign to create a fake Palestinian State that can be used as a real weapon.

But that isn’t enough. Because there is something so atrocious about attacking men in prayer with a meat cleaver, knives, and a gun, there is something so unbearably eloquent in the sight of thick red blood on prayer books and tallit, there is something so barbaric about smashing into a synagogue to butcher pious rabbis, that certain commentators feel a need to defend themselves from accusations of bias. The campaign to create a cardboard Palestinian State is buffered by a communications offensive. Media coverage? It’s faultless, they say, and we are tired of your complaints. The creation of a Palestinian State by European parliamentary fiat is the appropriate response to “lone wolf” attacks by hopeless Palestinians, they opine, in unison with lawmakers, leaders, and anointed specialists. Extremists on both sides are spinning this political & territorial conflict into a religious war, they warn, and that must be nipped in the bud.

Daniel Haïk, political commentator on i24 news in French, faces a Belgian correspondent. With a little help from anchorman Jean-Charles Banoun, Haïk politely suggests that there is something twisted about coverage of the latest attack. “Mais non mais non,” responds the Belgian correspondent. “We condemned it. We all condemned it.” Fifteen minutes of “yes, buts” did not suffice to squeeze out a single drop of self-criticism. They condemned it, that’s the ticket to paradise. And they “contextualize” it. That’s the part that makes us wince. Contextualizing means it’s the fault of the far-right Netanyahu government, the pursuit of colonization, the failure of peace talks, the intrusion of Jews in Arab Jerusalem and fanatic Jewish prayer mongers on l’esplanade des mosquées (French for Temple Mount).

Wouldn’t you rather write for Haaretz and be invited to lunch by your French colleagues than get kicked in the pants like a tramp begging for a crust of bread?

You’re choking on an overdose of factual errors, misinterpretations, grotesque analyses, lopsided round tables, cockeyed interviews, and indecent tongue lashing of anyone who even vaguely suggests that the Har Nof attack and others before it are not the fault of Israel… and they don’t even want you to make a squeak.

Are they right? Am I some kind of hypersensitive, partisan, paranoid, kvetching Jew? Am I so uncouth that I don’t know how journalism woks, how experts analyze, how European parliaments legislate (for Israel)? Shouldn’t I be ashamed of making a big stink just because CNN broke the news on the Har Nof massacre with “Deadly attack on Jerusalem mosque”? Don’t you know that news travels at the speed of light? And you’re claiming a simple mistake is evidence of bias?

“Le Secret des Sources” is a weekly program on state-owned highbrow France Culture radio. Journalists give a peek into the backroom, tell how they milk sources, navigate in government circles, circumnavigate obstacles, face dangers, and get the story. The story on Saturday November 22 was the Mideast conflict.

The lineup tells half the story: Charles Enderlin, France 2; Philippe Agret, Agence France Presse; Olivier Ravanello, I Télé; Gideon Kouts, Maariv and Kol Israel, and no one to challenge their self-satisfied hypocrisy. Except, briefly, Kouts who dared to make two remarks that perturbed the unanimity. I guess they hung up on him. He was never heard from again. Charles Enderlin, father of the Mohamed al Dura blood libel, dominated the chit chat.

Talk about kvetching! Where’s the justice for journalists who report with good faith on a grinding conflict that has worn international nerves to a fray? They swap persecution anecdotes. During the “Gaza offensive” Ravanello didn’t even look at his Facebook account. How about you, Charles? Yes, in fact, there were all kinds of threats after my report of the death of a Palestinian child, he replies. No one pronounces the name “al Dura,” Enderlin is urbane: it still comes up now and then, insults and whatnot, but it’s over for me. (My i24 news interview centered on the release of Al Dura: Log Range Ballistic Myth, aired on November 20th.)

Later in the program Enderlin threw a dart at i24 news, “a pro-Netanyahu radio network [it’s television] that forces journalists to call the occupied territories “disputed.” This is obviously bad journalism. As an example of good journalism, Enderlin’s colleagues explain that their media issue terminology guidelines. Ravanello gets hot under the collar about the terms “terrorist” and “résistant”: an act can be labeled “terrorist” but not an organization!!! Got it, fellows? Hamas = la résistance.

The overall impression was that journalists impartially covering the Mideast conflict are in mortal danger from disgruntled Jews. Gideon Levy, says Enderlin, needs bodyguards. Somehow they made this danger more eloquent than the hatchet massacre in a Jerusalem synagogue and the celebrations it earned in Muslim circles. The real gore was on their Facebook pages.

Inviting Charles Enderlin as an example of integrity is equivalent to reporting the Har Nof massacre as an attack on a mosque: it’s a dishonest mistake. If his colleagues had read my book, they would know that a French court, having viewed raw footage shot by his cameraman Talal Abu Rahmeh at Netzarim Junction on September 30, 2000, included staged scenes. Some of which were aired in France 2 newscasts. This obvious falsification justified, in the eyes of the court, Philippe Karsenty’s right to publicly express his opinion that the al Dura “death scene” is a hoax. If I’m not mistaken, none of these journalists attended court hearings on the controversy. They probably applauded Charles Enderlin’s book Un Enfant est mort [a child is dead] without reading it or my critical analysis of same.

This is just one example of an international media onslaught. Anchormen and women jump out of their skin when faced with a defender of Israel. Journalists and specialists spill out sewers of defeatism about contemporary Israeli society, wealth disparities, tent protests, inaudible Leftists peaceniks & intellectuals, far right government, inexcusable pursuit of colonization, refusal to negotiate with the eminently moderate Mahmoud Abbas. A guest on “Moi president,” a program hosted by the very Ravanello who hobnobbed with Enderlin on Secret des Sources, said Israel is reduced to a mixture of Tel Aviv hedonists and Jerusalem religious fanatics; the disillusioned army was defeated by Hizbullah in 2006. [Or was it Ravanello himself? I came in at the end of the program and can’t find it on the I télé site to confirm this detail.] At the end of the program all four of his guests and 67% of viewers vote yes for French recognition of a Palestinian State. The real debate will take place in the French Parliament on Friday, November 28th with the vote scheduled for December 2nd.

The esteemed philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, distinguished member of l’Académie Française, loyal supporter of JCall will not join the European version of JStreet in calling for recognition of a Palestinian State at this stage. [L’esprit de l’escalier, Radio Communauté Juive, 23 November] Finkielkraut is profoundly aware of the horrifying significance of the synagogue massacre. A symbolic threshold has been crossed: These men were not killed as colonists, not as Israelis, they were slaughtered because they are Jews. Finkielkraut recognizes that the “occupation” that supposedly justifies such crimes is the whole of Israel. He acknowledges incitement. Mahmoud Abbas threatens war if “al Aqsa is contaminated by Jews.” That being said, he goes on to pummel Binyamin Netanyahu and Nafthali Bennet. He’s disgusted by their “jubilation.” They pounced on the occasion to dig in their heels and refuse to negotiate with Mahmoud Abbas. And the rest follows like rocks thrown by shababs: colonization, Temple Mount fanatics, extreme right coalition, refusal to negotiate, to make concessions. Netanyahu’s policies are dangerous and ineffective. They’re going to lead to Diasporism!

What is going on? What explains the sudden intensification of criticism of Israel and the urgent need to fabricate a Palestinian State? An unremitting offensive that began with the kidnap and murder of three yeshiva bochers and has been carried through several stages including rocket attacks, tunnel infiltrations, pro-Hamas stampedes in Western countries, assassinations by car ramming, slaughters with knives and hatches, culminates in and a campaign for recognition of a Palestinian State. Opinion assaults against Israel rise in rhythm with physical attacks from Hamas, applauded by the Palestinian Authority and global Islamist forces.

a-dura1This is what I call the lethal narrative strategy. Physical violence aimed at harming and demoralizing Israelis—making them suffer at home and look bad abroad—culminates in political and rhetorical offensives to destabilize the State, with the ultimate aim of toppling it. We witness a perverse logic in media and government circles that replaces the sense of horror when praying Jews are hacked apart with outrage at the State that allows itself to be persecuted. The obvious comparison between the Har Nof blood bath and DAESH decapitation orgies is stubbornly denied. The fanatics are not the demons that wield butcher knives but Jews who think there is room for them to pray on the Temple Mount. The source of conflict, the element that blocks any and all negotiated solutions is not the forked PLO tongue it is the refusal of a “far right” Israeli government to make the necessary concessions and create the Palestinian State. And, finally, the origin of a wave of aggression that has continued from June to date is, retroactively, the failure of a 9-month stint of peace processing driven by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

All of these causes can be more or less examined. Except for one: the failed peace process. It is the First Cause. What issues were discussed last summer? What were the stumbling blocks? In what way did those negotiations resemble previous efforts? These and all other verifiable details are locked in an unbreakable safe. The First Cause cannot be examined. And Israel is guilty.

What explains the failures of previous rounds of peace talks? In September 2000, after walking out on the Camp David negotiations, Yasser Arafat organized “spontaneous” demonstrations that blossomed into the “al Aqsa Intifada.” Last week Israeli forces intercepted a shipment from China labelled “Christmas decorations.” It contained 5,200 knives, 1,000 swords, 18,000 firecrackers, 4,300 taser-flashlight devices, 5,000 electric shock devices destined, obviously, for “spontaneous” demonstrators.

This explains the ebb and flow of shabab operations in “Arab” Jerusalem. The same forces that purchase street weapons from China decide when and where to spontaneously uprise. Punitive measure against perpetrators and their families—house demolitions, withdrawal of residence permits and welfare payments, transfer out of Israel—might not be effective if the lone wolves were really alone. They aren’t. Their paymasters and dispatchers will have to factor the new measures into their calculations.

But we still need to understand why the “international community” feels the urgent need for a Palestinian State. The conflict, they say, has gone on for too long. Nothing has worked so far. Now it is getting more violent and, worse, it is turning religious. If DAESH is not Islamic and the Palestinian ambitions are strictly political and territorial, who are the religious troublemakers?

The Jews.

If an outside observer–the EU, the UN, or your corner journalist—presumes to impose a solution to a conflict that stubbornly persists, he should be expected to think the issue through in all its dimensions. Otherwise, it is quite unrealistic to imagine that the outsider knows better than the concerned parties. When it comes to thinking through the “Israel-Palestine” conflict, one element is locked tight and unavailable for analysis: the two-state solution. It is the touchstone, the holy grail, the silver bullet.

Why is The Solution not forthcoming?

It’s the fault of the Jews. That’s why they are attacked with rockets, tunnels, cars, cleavers, and parliamentary resolutions. Like misers, they withhold The Solution. The good folks looking on from their high places are not without pity. They condemn the bloodshed. And impose the remedy. The State of Palestine…

…that will punish the Jews for refusing to submit.

מאת

תגים

אנטישמיות אירופית הפיגוע בהר נוף מוחמד א-דורה נידרה פולר עלילות דם צוק איתן שארל אנדרלין
מדוע התגברות האלימות הפיזית מצד הפלסטינים רק מעצימה

פלאש90
יהודיה עזת מצח שמסרבת להישחט. צילום: פלאש90

“עכשיו תראו מה הם עשו!” – זה מסכם את התגובה בחוגים מסוימים לטבח ה-18 בנובמבר בקהילת בני תורה. “הם”, מי? הפלסטינים? הערבים הישראלים? המחבלים? הג’יהאדיסטים? הפעילים? אנשי ההתנגדות? לא. היהודים. ישראל – כלומר, היהודים – תראו מה הם עשו עכשיו. הם לא ילמדו אף פעם?
הטבח זוכה לגינוי, זה הצעד הראשון. ואז הגינוי עושה פניית פרסה ומתחיל לשעוט לכיוון ישראל כמו אותן מכוניות מחבלים שדורסות מאז ש… ממתי, בעצם? מאז מבצע ‘צוק איתן’ שהחזיר מהלומה קשה למתקפה הכוללת מעזה והשאיר לחמאס לחגוג ניצחון מזויף על ערימת ההריסות, בעוד הישראלים נשארו עם גוש מכווץ בבטן. הפסקת האש בעזה הביאה בעקבותיה שלב ב’ של התקפה מתמשכת נגד יהודים. היא כוללת רציחות אקראיות מלוות במערכה “דיפלומטית” ליצירת מדינה פלסטינית מזויפת שניתן להשתמש בה בתור נשק אמיתי.
אך זה אינו מספיק. כיוון שיש משהו כל כך לא ייאמן באכזריותו בתקיפת גברים בתפילתם עם אנקול בשר, סכין קצבים ואקדח; ועם זאת יש משהו בלתי-נסבל ברהיטות ובבהירות של מראה הדם הסמיך על מחזורי התפילה והטליתות, יש משהו כל כך ברברי בהתפרצות אל תוך בית כנסת כדי לשחוט רבנים, מורים רוחניים. עד כדי כך ברברי ומקומם שכמה פרשנים בתקשורת האירופית מרגישים צורך להתגונן מפני האשמות בנקיטת דעות קדומות. אתם אומרים שהמערכה ליצירת מדינת קרטון פלסטינית מתבצעת באמצעות פגוש קדמי של מתקפה תקשורתית? אין בכך כל פגם, הם אומרים, ונמאס לנו מהתלונות שלכם. יצירתה של מדינה פלסטינית באישור פרלמנטרי אירופי היא התגובה המתאימה למתקפת “הזאבים הבודדים” של פלסטינים חסרי תקווה. כך אומרים בעלי הדעות, תוך שהם מיישרים קו עם המחוקקים, המנהיגים ושאר המומחים בתחום. קיצונים משני הצדדים הם שמכניסים את הסכסוך המדיני והטריטוריאלי הזה לסחרור, והופכים אותו למלחמת דת. כך הם מזהירים. ויש לקטוע זאת מיד בהתחלה.
בעקבות מתקפת “כן, אבל”
דניאל האיק, פרשן פוליטי ב-I24 ניוז בצרפתית מתמודד מול כתב בלגי עם קצת עזרה מהמגיש ז’ן שרל באנון. האיק רומז בנימוס שיש משהו מעוות בכיסוי של ההתקפה האחרונה. “mais non, mais non!” עונה הכתבלב הבלגי. “אנחנו מגנים את זה! כולנו מגנים את זה”. 15 דקות, נצח של “כן, אבל…”, “כן, אבל!” לא הצליחו לדחוק באלכסון טיפה סרוחה של ביקורת עצמית. הם גינו את זה, וזה הכרטיס שלהם לתיבת נוח של הצדיקים. והם נותנים לטבח את “ההקשר הנכון”. זה החלק שגורם לנו להתכווצות. לשים את הכל ב”הקשר” משמעותו שזה באשמת ממשלת הימין הקיצוני של נתניהו, המשך הקולוניזציה, כשלון שיחות השלום, חדירת יהודים לירושלים הערבית ומחרחרי התפילות הפנאטים היהודים ב”מתחם מסגדים” (כך הם קוראים בצרפתית להר הבית).
נו אז מה אתם מעדיפים? לכתוב ל’הארץ’ ולהיות מוזמנים לארוחת צהרים עם עמיתיך הצרפתים, או לקבל בעיטה בישבן כמו קבצן שמתחנן על פירור לחם?
אפשר להיחנק ממנת יתר של שגיאות עובדתיות, פרשנויות שגויות, ניתוח גרוטסקי, שולחנות עגולים הפוכים, ראיונות מעוקמים, והצלפות לשון נטולות קורטוב של הגינות – וזאת כלפי כל מי שרק רומז במעורפל שהטבח בהר נוף ומעשי טבח רבים לפניו אינם באשמת ישראל. הם לא רוצים שתוציא אפילו ציוץ קטן בנושא.
האם הם צודקים? האם אני איזו פריזאית פראנואידית הסובלת מרגישות יתר? האם אני יהודייה גונחת? האם אני כל כך חובבנית שאני לא יודעת איך עתונות עובדת? איך מומחים מנתחים? איך פרלמנטרים אירופים מעבירים חקיקה (שנוגעת לישראל)? אני צריכה להתבייש אם אני מחוללת סקנדל רק בגלל ש-CNN פתח את הדיווח על הטבח בהר נוף ב”התקפה קטלנית על מסגד בירושלים”? אתם רוצים להגיד שאתם לא יודעים שחדשות עוברות במהירות האור? ואתם עוד מנסים לטעון שמדובר בטעות פשוטה ושזה לא מעיד על דעה קדומה?
“מקורות חסויים” הוא שמה של תכנית שבועית גבוהת מצח של הרדיו הצרפתי הממלכתי. עתונאים מאפשרים הצצה אל מאחורי הקלעים, מספרים איך חולבים מקורות, איך הם מנווטים בחוגים הממשלתיים, עוקפים מכשולים, עומדים בכל סכנה ומביאים את הסיפור. והסיפור בשבת שעברה, 22 בנובמבר, היה כמובן המזרח-התיכון. רק הליין-אפ מספר את חצי הסיפור: שרל אנדרלן מפראנס 2, פיליפ אגרט מסוכנות הידיעות הצרפתית, אוליבייה רבנלו מערוץ טלה-1 וגדעון קוץ מקול ישראל. לא היה שם אף אחד שיאתגר את הצביעות הנפוחה משביעות רצון עצמית של החבורה הזאת. מלבד, לרגע, כשגדעון קוץ העז להעיר שתי הערות שפגמו באחדות הדעים. אני מניחה שפשוט סגרו לו את הקו. לא שמענו ממנו יותר אחרי זה. שרל אנדרלין, אביה של עלילת הדם של מוחמד א-דורה, חלש ללא מצרים על הפטפטת העקובה מדם.
אנדרטה לזכר מוחמד א-דורה בעיר במקו בירת מאלי
העלילה נמשכת. אנדרטה לזכר מוחמד א-דורה בעיר במקו בירת מאלי. צילום: PetterLundkvist
הזוועה התרחשה בפייסבוק
ואם מדברים על גניחות. לא מגיע קצת צדק לאלה המדווחים באמונה טהורה על הסכסוך שטחן את העצבים הבינלאומיים עד דק? הנה, הם מחליפים ביניהם אנקדוטות על הרדיפות שהם סובלים מהן. בזמן “מתקפת עזה” רבאנלו לא הציץ אפילו פעם אחת בדף הפייסבוק שלו! מה אתם אומרים?! אליך, שרל. כן, אוממם, למעשה הופנו כלפיי כל מיני איומים ברצח אחרי הדיווח שלי על ילד פלסטיני… השם א-דורה לא עולה. אנדרלין הוא אדם תרבותי ומאופק. זה עולה לפעמים, השם הזה, יש עלבונות פה ושם ומה לא. אבל מבחינתי זה נגמר. אותי במקרה ראיינו ב-I24 על הספר שלי ‘אל-דורה: טיל בליסטי מיתולוגי ארוך-טווח’.
אנדרלין זורק ש-I24 ניוז הוא רשת רדיו “פרו-נתניהואית” (זו טלויזיה בעצם), והיא מכריחה את הכתבים שלה להגיד “שטחים במחלוקת” ולא “שטחים כבושים”. זו כמובן עתונות גרועה. מנגד, מציגים עמיתיו של אנדרלין את מדריך המושגים שלפיו הם עובדים. רבאנלו צריך לשים קרח על הצואר כשהוא מדבר על המושג “טרוריסט” ו”לוחם התנגדות”. פעולה יכולה להיקרא “טרוריסטית” אבל לא ארגון! אתם הבנתם את זה? חמאס הוא תנועת התנגדות.
הרושם הכללי שהם מנסים ליצור הוא, שעתונאים שמציגים את המזרח-התיכון בצורה אובייקטיבית נתונים לסכנת מוות מצד יהודים ממורמרים. גדעון לוי! ידעתם שהוא מסתובב עם שומרי ראש?! ומפה לשם הם מצליחים לתאר את הסכנה הנוראה המרחפת על ראשו של גדעון לוי בצורה הרבה יותר משכנעת מבוקר הסכינים הארוכות בבית הכנסת בירושלים והחגיגות ברחוב המוסלמי. הזוועה המדממת הרי מתרחשת על עמוד הפייסבוק שלהם.
להזמין את שרל אנדרלין כמגלם יושרה עתונאית זה כמו לדווח על הטבח כהתקפה על מסגד. זו טעות של אי-יושר. בחומר הגלם שצילם הצלם שלו בצומת נצרים בפרשת א-דורה בשנת 2000 נראות לא מעט סצינות מבוימות. כמה מהן שודרו בתחנה שלו פראנס 2.
מחר הדיון בפרלמנט הצרפתי
וזו רק דוגמא אחת למתקפת מדיה. מגישים ומגישות באולפנים קופצים מתוך עורם כשהם נתקלים במקרה במישהו שמגן על ישראל. עתונאים ומומחים שופכים מהפיות ביוב של נאצות על החברה הישראלית של היום, פערי העושר, מחאת האוהלים, וכמובן הסירוב לשאת ולתת עם האיש המפורסם במתינותו מחמוד עבאס. אורח בתכנית שאותה מגיש אותו רבאנלו אמר, שישראל מצטמצמת בעצם להדוניזם התל-אביבי כנגד ירושלים הפנאטית הדתית. והצבא המאוכזב הובס על ידי חיזבאללה ב-2006. בסוף הצביעו 67 אחוז מהצופים בעד הכרה במדינה פלסטינית. הוויכוח האמיתי יתקיים מחר (יום שישי) בפרלמנט הצרפתי. ההצבעה תתקיים ב-2 בדצמבר.
וישנו הפילוסוף המוערך אלן פינקלקראוט, חבר במעמד רם באקדמיה הצרפתית. הוא לא מצטרף לגירסה האירופית של J-STREET בקריאה להכרה במדינה פלסטינית. בשלב זה. פינקלקראוט מבין באופן עמוק את המשמעות המבהילה של הטבח בבית הכנסת. סף סמלי נחצה. האנשים האלה לא נרצחו כמתנחלים, לא כישראלים, הם נטבחו בגלל שהם יהודים. ופינקלקראוט מכיר בכך ש”הכיבוש” שכביכול מצדיק פשעים כאלה כולל את ישראל כולה. הוא מכיר בקיום הסתה. מחמוד עבאס מאיים במלחמה “אם אל אקצה יזדהם על ידי יהודים”. אבל! אבל… לאחר שאמר את כל זה הוא פורץ לפתע בהתקפה על בנימין נתניהו ונפתלי בנט. הוא נתקף גועל מה”חגיגות” שלהם. הם נאחזו באירוע כדי להתחפר בעמדותיהם וסירבו לשאת ולתת עם מחמוד עבאס! וכל מה שבא אחר כך פורץ כמו מטחי אבנים של השבאב: קולוניזציה, קנאי הר הבית, קואליציית הימין הקיצוני, סירוב למשא ומתן, סירוב לוויתורים. מדיניותו של נתניהו מסוכנת, גורס הפילוסוף, והיא גם לא יעילה. הם יובילו ל”דיאספוריזם!” (האידיאולוגיה המעדיפה את הגלות על הציונות)
אז מה קורה פה? מה יכול להסביר את ההתעצמות הפתאומית של הביקורת על ישראל והצורך הדחוף לפברק מדינה פלסטינית? מדובר במתקפה בלתי-מתפשרת שהחלה בחטיפתם ורציחתם של שלושת נערי הישיבה ונערכה בכמה שלבים: מתקפות טילים, חדירות של מנהרות, שעטת אספסוף פרו-חמאסי ברחובות המערב, התנקשויות באמצעות מכוניות דורסות, טבח בסכינים שמגיע לשיאו בקמפיין להכרה במדינה פלסטינית. מתקפת מאמרים ודעות משודרות נגד ישראל, מתעצמת לפי קצב התקפות הטרור של חמאס, וההתקפות האלה מתקבלות בתשואות על ידי הרשות הפלסטינית והכוחות האיסלאמיסטיים העולמיים.
קואליציה אנטי-ישראלית. צילום: פלאש90
קואליציה אנטי-ישראלית. צילום: פלאש90
הפתרון הסופי: למוטט את מדינת ישראל
זה מה שאני קוראת אסטרטגיית הנרטיבים הקטלניים. אלימות פיזית שמטרתה לחולל דמורליזציה בקרב הישראלים – סובלים בביתם ונראים רע בחו”ל – וכל זה מגיע לשיאו במתקפות פוליטיות ורטוריות שכוונתן לערער את יציבות המדינה. הפתרון הסופי: למוטט אותה. אנו עדים לגילויים של הגיון סוטה בחוגי ממשלה ותקשורת שבא במקום תחושת הזוועה כאשר יהודים נרצחים בצורה כזאת; הזוועה מתחלפת בזעם מתפרץ כלפי המדינה שנהפכת לנרדפת. ההשוואה המתבקשת בין מרחץ הדמים של הר נוף לבין אורגיות כריתת הראשים של דאע”ש מוכחשת בעקשות ובחרי אף. לא, הפנאטים אינם אלה שמנופפים בסכיני קצבים ורוצחים אלא אותם יהודים שחושבים משום מה שיש להם זכות להתפלל על הר הבית. מקור הסכסוך שחוסם כל פתרון של משא ומתן איננו הלשון המפוצלת של אש”ף, אלא הסרבנות של הימין הקיצוני בממשלת ישראל, שמסרבת לעשות את הוויתורים הדרושים ולהקים מדינה פלסטינית. ולבסוף, מה המקור האמיתי של גל התוקפנות שנמשך מחודש יוני ועד היום? במבט לאחור זהו כשלון הסבב בן תשעת החודשים של מערבל השלום שהונע על-ידי מזכיר המדינה ג’ון קרי.
כל הגורמים האלה ניתנים לבדיקה. חוץ מאחד. תהליך השלום הכושל. זהו הגורם העיקרי. על מה דובר באותן שיחות? מה היו הבעיות שנדונו? מה היו אבני הנגף? באיזו מידה דומה המשא-ומתן הזה למאמצים הקודמים? אלה וכל שאר הפרטים השונים נעולים בכספת שאיננה ניתנת לפריצה. הסיבה הראשית לא ניתנת לפענוח. וישראל אשמה.
המשאים-ומתנים רק מסבירים משהו על הגאות והשפל באלימות הערבית. בשבוע שעבר תפסו כוחות הביטחון משלוח מסין שהגיע על תקן “קישוטי חג המולד”. היו בו 5,200 סכינים, 1,000 חרבות, 18 אלף זיקוקים, 4.300 פנסי טאזר, 5,000 שוקרים חשמליים – כמובן, הכל לטובת “הפגנות ספונטניות”.
אותם כוחות הרוכשים נשק רחוב הם שמחליטים מתי ואיפה להתקומם בצורה “ספונטנית”. צעדי ענישה נגד מבצעי האלימות ומשפחותיהם הכוללים הריסת בתים, עיכוב אישורי בניה והפסקת תשלומי סעד מישראל אולי לא היו יעילים אם אותם “זאבים בודדים” היו באמת בודדים. אבל הם לא. משלמי המענקים למחבלים האלה ומשלחיהם יצטרכו לשקול את צעדי הענישה החדשים בחישוביהם.
אבל עדיין אנחנו צריכים לנסות להבין למה “הקהילה הבינלאומית” מרגישה צורך דחוף במדינה פלסטינית? הסכסוך מתמשך כבר יותר מדי זמן, הם אומרים. שום דבר לא עבד עד עכשיו. עכשיו זה נעשה יותר אלים ויותר גרוע: זה הופך לדתי. אם דאע”ש איננה “איסלאמית” (ראה הכרזותיו של אובמה) והשאיפות הפלסטיניות הן מדיניות טריטוריאליות בלבד, אז מי כאן עושה הצרות הדתי? דומה שהתשובה ברורה מבחינת האנדרלינים.
אם משקיף מבחוץ – האיחוד האירופי, האו”ם או העתונאי השכונתי שלכם – מתיימר לכפות פתרון על סכסוך שמתמשך בצורה עיקשת, צריך לפחות לצפות ממנו שיחשוב לעומק על ממדי הסכסוך. אחרת, זה לא מציאותי לדמיין שהמשקיף החיצוני יודע משהו טוב יותר מהצדדים המעורבים. כשמדובר בבחינה יסודית של הסכסוך “הישראלי-פלסטיני”, יש יסוד אחד שנעול היטב ואינו מסור לניתוח ובדיקה: פתרון שתי-המדינות. זוהי אבן הפינה, הגביע הקדוש, קליע-הקסם.
אז למה הפתרון מסרב מגיע?
זוהי אשמת היהודים. זו הסיבה שהם מותקפים בטילים וברקטות, במנהרות, באנקולי בשר, באמצעים פירוטכניים חצי-צבאיים, ובהחלטות פרלמנטריות. כמו קמצנים הם חוסמים את “הפתרון”. הברנשים הטובים הצופים בעניין מהחלונות הגבוהים בכל המהומה אינם חסרי חמלה. הם מוקיעים את שפיכות הדמים. וכופים את התרופה. מדינת פלסטין… מדינה שתעניש את היהודים על כך שהם מסרבים להיכנע.

Ferguson: The Progressive Socialist Left’s Racial Waterloo

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It was supposed to be that seminal moment, shining a glaring light on the abject horror of white police brutality towards young black men. It was intended to be a triumph for the champions of race baiting. It was intended to be a midterm election rallying point for the black vote, staving off an electoral debacle of monumental proportions. It was intended to be a victory for victimhood and mob justice over the rule of law and judicial process. In the end, Ferguson, Missouri resulted in a Waterloo for the Left — especially the liberal progressive media who was caught perpetuating a lie of epic proportions.

And now Ferguson burns and a family is embarrassed not only nationally, but internationally.

First, my heart goes out to the parents of Michael Brown who were used as pawns in a game of politics with the vehicle being the tragic loss of their son. It was never the intent of anyone passing themselves off as their “sympathetic friends” to know the truth — it was their goal to advance an agenda, at their expense.

Second, the media owes an apology to one Ferguson Police Officer named Darren Wilson — yeah, I know, it will not be forthcoming. Wilson survived death threats, a bounty, and his name being horrifically smeared by a mob spun into a frenzy by a sensationalist Leftist media machine not interested in truth, fact, and evidence — just a story that fit their insatiable hunger.

Third, a special hat tip goes out to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch who realized the volatility of the situation and delivered what was the most articulate and meticulous grand jury summary we may ever come to hear. His careful explanation of the entire proceeding, and decision to make public the evidence and findings de-fanged a multi-headed hydra that was poised to strike.

Of course, the hydra decided to strike anyway, displaying true disregard once again — two weeks in a row — of the rule of law in America. The real losers in all of this were those like Jesse Jackson Sr., Al Sharpton, and the mob who, even in the face of truth, made a conscious decision not to abide by it — or accept it.

Consider the Democrat Party of Georgia, who unabashedly used images of Ferguson, Missouri in campaign materials to stoke racial animosity during the recent Senate race. They likened a vote for the GOP candidate, David Perdue, to being supportive of another “Ferguson” occurring in Georgia. One has to ask, will the Chairman of the Georgia Democrat Party issue an apology statement to the people of the “Peach state?” I certainly don’t expect one to be given to Senator-elect Perdue.

And what now of the public image of our law enforcement officers, who have seen their collective reputation besmirched all in the name of what? Some ill conceived sense of “social justice?”

Shall we now — in light of the truth of Ferguson — realize these men and women place their lives on the line every day for the sake of the preamble of the Constitution which states, “to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility?”

The men and women of the “Thin Blue Line” are the everyday soldiers on the front lines, fighting to maintain a peaceful environment in which we can all find the “security of the blessings of liberty.”

Are there bad cops out there — yep — just like there are bad anything. However, the blanket assault on the honor, integrity, and character of the American law enforcement officer must end. After all, where are the protests and rioting when one of them loses his life? Recently we’ve even seen that come at the hands ofillegal immigrants who have been deported on several occasions, only to return.

Ferguson, Missouri and the case of the shooting of Michael Brown must awaken in all of us the notion that individuals are responsible for their actions — and there are consequences. It was not just the actions of Michael Brown, but the despicable actions of those who would willingly lie as Prosecutor McCulloch brilliantly presented in his grand jury summary.

Where are we going in America, when there is no compunction to tell the truth when it comes to the life of another human being? We must understand the closed grand jury hearing was necessary in order for the truth to surface and those who could speak it could do so without fear of retribution. And again, a hat tip to McCulloch for being astute enough to protect the names and reputations of those who would commit perjury — and for what?

In closing, Ferguson, Missouri was a triumph for the system of federalism once again displaying the preeminence of the state over the federal government in such a matter. There can be no doubt that the federal government under the social activist agenda of President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder sought to fully interject itself.

However, with complete transparency of witnesses and physical evidence, Robert McCulloch checked and checkmated the secret whims of Obama and Holder. And that was clearly visible Monday evening when President Obama rambled on after the decision, still straining to stoke the fires of racial animosity.

Yes, we do have a problem in America and it is with raising our young black men to be respectful and responsible — there is a reason why we have a Ray Rice or an Adrian Peterson — it starts early. We have a problem with media sensationalism and truth. We have a problem with the respect of the rule of law. We have a problem with regard for our law enforcement officers. We have a problem with victimization and the politics of race and the advancement of a “by any means necessary” skewed vision of justice.

Officer Darren Wilson was “innocent until proven guilty” and too many forgot what that meant. He has been exonerated of any wrongdoing as he was attacked. We must ask ourselves, would we feel better as a nation is we had buried Wilson? Would there have been incessant media coverage and protests? Sadly, we all know the answer to that question. Our law enforcement officers die and no one really cares, save for the families who go missing a loved one — as seen in the murder of Captain Kevin Quick in Virginia. Or does anyone remember the name of the NYPD rookie who was attacked by the ax-wielding jihadist?

I thank God that even in the face of all this negativity — and at times hatred — we still have young men and women who will serve and protect us on our streets, preventing complete anarchy and lawlessness. In the end, we should all take a pause and thank a law enforcement officer today for his or her service, sacrifice, commitment, and bravery. Thanks guys, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com. The featured image is of people gathering around burning stores in Ferguson, Mo. as President Barack Obama speaks to the media in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. Source: AP

One Mans ‘Islamophobe’ is another Mans Freedom Fighter

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Islamophobia is a term used by Mohammedans to identify those who criticize Islam.

Andrew Zak Williams in the New Statesman writes:

“Surely, rational discourse should be permitted to tiptoe cautiously along the hallowed corridors of the house of Islam without the guards frogmarching it out, bellowing allegations of racism and bigotry. Cannot we not agree that the real issue is whether the critiques of Islam proffered by today’s prominent atheists are correct? For instance, does Islam fall short when it comes to women’s rights? Does it trample free speech while enforcing its own precepts, by the sword if necessary? By all means, apologists may disagree with the likes of Harris and biologist Jerry Coyne. But what signal is sent by a refusal to permit the issues to be even debated?”

Williams notes, “This time round, the scientific and intellectual elite of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens have found themselves accused of Islamophobia. The whole sorry saga was conveniently summarised in last Friday’s Independent.”

Can’t atheists, and those with other political or religious beliefs, be permitted to “tiptoe cautiously along the hallowed corridors of the house of Islam?” The answer to this question from CAIR-FL is no!

The Florida chapter of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) recently held its annual fundraising banquet in Tampa, Florida. Each attendee received a booklet titled,  “CAIR – Florida ANNUAL REPORT”.  On page 26 of this booklet  there is a section titled, “Islamophobia 2014”. The report is signed by CAIR-FL Chief Executive Director Hassan Shibly and Operations Director Nezar Hamze.

CAIR-FL lists Florida Islamophobes who must be dealt with using a “proactive approach.” The CAIR-FL report states, “Using daily media monitoring and in depth analysis, we have identified trends that the Islamophobia industry uses to serve’s [sic] their special interests.” The report targets those who “[O]perate in sync to support institutionalizing discrimination against Islam and Muslims in Florida.”

Below are the eighteen Floridians listed in the CAIR-FL report as Islamophobes (for a larger view click on the image):

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As Mohammedans wage jihad against U.S. and Canadian citizens, in the name of Allah, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and CAIR-FL have published lists of American individuals and organizations it considers to be “Islamophobic.”

Question: Will the Islamic State use the CAIR lists of Islamophobes to attack these individuals?

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CBC laments that online “Islamophobia” goes unprosecuted

Islamic supremacist groups connect their jihad to Ferguson riots

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In the photo above (thanks to Kay), Leftist demonstrators relate the strife in Ferguson to the “Palestinian” jihad. And Pamela Geller has a great deal of information on how Islamic jihadists and supremacists, including the Hamas-linked terror organization CAIR, have tried to co-opt the Ferguson riots as part of their own jihad. Most noteworthy is the active presence in Ferguson of “Palestinian” jihad activist Bassem Masri.

The connection between Ferguson and “Palestine” (and the global jihad in general) is clear: both the Islamic supremacists and the Ferguson rioters think that the American system is corrupt and must be brought down. The Islamic supremacist presence in Ferguson is thus akin to jihad recruitment in prisons: both attempt to capitalize upon resentment toward America and American authority, and channel it into jihad.

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Islamic State training children to be jihad killers

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“We’re going to kill you, O kuffar. Insha’allah we’ll slaughter you.” Kuffar = Infidels. Insha’allah = Allah willing. Not that this has anything to do with Islam.

“Children of the Jihad: ISIS Behead Kurdish Children; Train Kazakh Children to Fight,” by Donna Rachel Edmunds, Breitbart, November 24, 2014:

New horrific evidence of ISIS embroiling children in their religious war has emerged. Refugees fleeing the fighting in the battle-stricken border town of Kobane, Syria, have told of how ISIS fighters are beheading children in their bloodthirsty siege; whilst in Kazakhstan, ISIS have released a propaganda video showing children being trained as fighters.

“They were beheading people — we heard that they were even beheading children,” a young woman fleeing the fighting in Kobane told the Sunday Times. “We ran.”

Her words are echoed by Zawa, a new mother who gave birth to her daughter, Shirin, whilst deserting Kobane. The young mother crossed first into nearby Turkey, and then on into Iraq. “There was no choice,” says Zawa. “We had to do it.”

Kobane has been the focal point for heavy fighting since mid September, when ISIS militants laid siege to the Kurdish border town in northern Syria. As shells and heavy artillery pounded the town and over 300 villages in the area, up to 300,000 Kurds fled the region, 45,000 from Kobane alone.

The town is still the scene of heavy fighting between Kurdish Peshmerga forces, backed by coalition airstrikes and the Free Syrian Army, and ISIS jihadists intent on claiming the land for their oppressive Islamic State.

According to the Times, the war in Syria has created over 3 million refugees since 2011, half of whom are children. Save the Children, who operates in the region, are now appealing for more help to provide food and shelter. Justin Forsyth, Save the Children’s chief executive said “Millions of terrified children have lost their parents, brothers, sisters, friends, homes and normality through no fault of their own. Many don’t have any memories left of what a normal childhood, free from war should look like.”

Meanwhile, ISIS has created and released a high production quality propaganda video titled Race Towards Good, showing Kazakh children at an Islamic school being indoctrinated in radical Sharia law and taught military skills. In one scene, a boy demonstrates his ability to strip down and reassemble a machine gun while his classmates look on.

Their teacher narrates in Arabic: “They’ve completed lessons in Qur’an, Tajwid and the Arabic language. They will move on to physical and military training until they get older and pound the thrones of the tawaghit. With Allah’s permission, they are the next generation. They are the ones who will shake the earth and spread this precious deen [religion] to all regions of the earth.”

In another, a boy, who identifies himself as Abdullah from Kazakhstan, is quizzed. He is asked what he is doing, to which he replies “Right now I’m training in the camp”; where he is: “In the Islamic Khilafeh”; who his leader is: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”. When asked what his future holds, he smiles and proudly declares “I will be the one who slaughters you, O kuffar. I will be a mujahid, insha’allah.” His interviewer praises his every answer.

The film also shows a toddler dressed in military fatigues totters about carrying a toy machine gun, while behind him an older child leads a group of his classmates in declaring their mission, proclaiming “We’re going to kill you, O kuffar. Insha’allah we’ll slaughter you.”…

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Islamic State recruits in South Africa

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Submitted by Jasmine Opperman –

The murderous Islamic State (Isis) is active in South Africa and has been recruiting citizens to fight in Iraq and Syria. So far, three have died fighting for the terrorist group.

Iraq’s ambassador to South Africa, Dr Hushaim al-Alawi, said on Saturday that the men’s deaths were subsequently covered up as car accidents. The trio had travelled to Syria separately.

The terror group is known for its highly publicised beheadings of foreigners and for carrying out other public executions.

Al-Alawi says he shared the information with Department of International Relations and Co-operation officials. According to a UN report, more than 15 000 people from various countries have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Isis. The Sunday Independent understands that up to 140 men have left South Africa to join the group.

But Department of State Security spokesman Brian Dube said he was unaware of any South Africans joining Isis. However, he said intelligence officials would look into it.

The Syrian Embassy said it was not aware of the matter.

The Foreign Military Assistance Act, 1998 (Act No 15 1998) prohibits South African citizens from participating in the armed forces of foreign states, rendering foreign military assistance and taking part in armed groups.

Although al-Alawi said he was not aware that 140 SA citizens had allegedly joined Isis, he said there were groups operating in the country recruiting for and raising funds for Isis under the guise of humanitarian aid.

He said one of the South Africans who died fighting for Isis was recruited by two men in Joburg.

The 24-year-old had travelled with a group of young men from Azaadville and Lenasia. He is believed to have been killed in combat for Isis in October last year.

The ambassador said before the man left the county he sold all his belongings, including his car.

Al-Alawi said the man came from a wealthy background.

“He was recruited by two men in Gauteng. The group used the slogan of supporting refugees and orphans,” he said. The third victim to die in combat this year was a 26-year-old man from Vereeniging, who went to Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage.

“When he got to Saudi Arabia he came in contact with a man who convinced him to travel to Syria to join Isis,” he said.

The man died fighting for Isis, but his family were told he had died in a car crash. “They always use car accidents as an excuse.”

A 54-year-old man from Cape Town had left with a group that was meant to provide humanitarian aid but then joined Isis and died while he was travelling in a convoy with the terror group.

“His body has been returned to South Africa,” said al-Alawi.

He said the group used its strong media resources to lure young men from various countries to join them.

He cited the example of a man who attended Friday prayers with a friend at a mosque in the Eastern Cape. He was shocked by the speaker’s inflammatory language. “They were saying all non-Muslim should be sent to hell,” said al-Alawi.

A spokesman for the Muslim judicial body, the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa, said: “If this is a matter of fact that so many South Africans are joining the Islamic State, there will always be concerns. There are legal implications for anyone involved in armed conflicts around the world.”

This week the African Christian Democratic Party released a statement calling on the government to investigate the allegations that elements in South Africa are “key players in facilitating funding and sending of recruits to fight alongside Isis”.

Al-Alawi said it was the obligation of all countries to raise awareness to prevent young men from joining terrorist groups.

“This is not a simple issue to deal with, but we have to bring on board government and non-government organisations to fight terrorism. I think if we do that we are likely to succeed,” said al-Alawi.

Last year South Africans were shocked when it emerged that “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite – believed to be the mastermind behind the terrorist attack in Kenya – had lived in a flat in Mayfair, Joburg with her three children.

International Relations spokesman Nelson Kgwete told The Sunday Independent on Saturday they were unaware of South Africans being recruited by Isis, but if the ambassador had passed on such information, it would have been relayed to security authorities.

Kgwete could not confirm whether the bodies of the dead men who were allegedly Isis recruits had been repatriated to South Africa.

“The UN Security Council recently adopted a resolution that member countries must take harsh action against citizens helping such groups. In South Africa we have laws that deal with this, and any citizens who are found to be in contravention of the laws will be dealt with.”

He said security agents would be best positioned to look into the allegations and take appropriate action.

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Islamic State has enough weapons to carry on fighting for two years, UN warns

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Submitted by Norman Lihou – 

A new report prepared for the United Nations Security Council warns that the militant group known as the Islamic State (Isis) possesses sufficient reserves of small arms, ammunition and vehicles to wage its war for Syria and Iraq for up to two years.

The size and breadth of the Isis arsenal provides the group with durable mobility, range and a limited defense against low-flying aircraft. Even if the US-led bombing campaign continues to destroy the group’s vehicles and heavier weapons, the UN report states, it “cannot mitigate the effect of the significant volume of light weapons” Isis possesses.

Those weapons “are sufficient to allow [Isis] to continue fighting at current levels for six months to two years”, the UN report finds, making Isis not only the world’s best-funded terrorist group but among its best armed.

Isis, along with its former rival turned occasional tactical ally the Nusra Front, are sufficiently armed to threaten the region “even without territory”, the report concludes.

The report, months in the making, recommends the UN implement new steps to cut off Isis’s access to money and guns.

The Isis arsenal, according to the UN assessment, includes T-55 and T-72 tanks; US-manufactured Humvees; machine guns; short-range anti-aircraft artillery, including shoulder-mounted rockets captured from Iraqi and Syrian military stocks; and “extensive supplies of ammunition”. One member state, not named in the report, contends that Isis maintains a motor pool of 250 captured vehicles.

Much of the Isis weapons stocks, particularly “state of the art” weaponry stolen from the US-backed Iraqi military, was “unused” before Isis seized it, the report finds. But some of the relatively complex weapons “may be too much of a challenge” for Isis to effectively wield or maintain.

Earlier this year, speculation focussed on Isis’s potential ability to produce chemical weapons after it seized Iraqi facilities that had contributed to Saddam Hussein’s illicit weapons programs, but the UN report casts doubt on the likelihood that Isis possesses the “capability to fully exploit material it might have seized”. Nor does the UN report believe that Isis can manufacture its own chemical or other weapons of mass destruction.

But at least one anonymous member state has provided information about “chemicals and poison-coated metal balls” placed inside Isis’s homemade bombs to maximize damage. In October, Kurdish forces defending the Syrian town of Kobani from Isis reported cases of skin blistering, burning eyes and difficulty breathing after the detonation of an Isis bomb.

The UN Security Council is expected to take up consideration of the report on Wednesday.

The report recommends the UN adopt new waves of sanctions designed to disrupt the well-financed Isis’s economic health. Significant among them is a call for states bordering Isis-controlled territory to “promptly seize all oil tanker trucks and their loads” coming in or going out.

While the report warns that Isis has alternate revenue sources, and does not predict that truck seizures can eliminate Isis’s oil smuggling money, it holds out hope that raising the costs to smuggling networks and trucking companies will deter them from bringing Isis oil to market.

To combat Isis’s ability to resupply its weapons stocks and launder money, the report recommends the UN mandate that no aircraft originating from Isis-held territory can land on airstrips in member states, and to prohibit flights into Isis-held territory. Exemptions would be made for humanitarian relief planes.

The report comes on the heels of an October report to the Security Council assessing that 15,000 fighters from 80 countries have flooded into Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Isis and other militant groups.

While still months off, the US has indicated it will intensify its fight against Isis, primarily in Iraq. After doubling the US troop commitment there, defense officials have said the US will bolster 12 Iraqi and Kurdish brigades, and may even join in the Iraqi fighting for key terrain, such as the borderlands between Syria and Iraq or the city of Mosul.

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The War for the Free World

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Frank Gaffney, President of the Center for Security Policy, and Dr. Daniel Gouré the Vice President of the Lexington Institute, a think tank based in Arlington, Virginia, and an analyst on national security and military issues for NBC, discuss the War for the Free World.

Dr. Gouré has worked as an Adjunct Professor in the National Defense University’s Homeland Security. Gouré has taught at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, the Foreign Service Institute, the National War College, the Naval War College, the Air War College, and the Inter-American Defense College.

The Secure Freedom Channel and The United West join forces to bring you this compelling broadcast:

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Hamas-linked CAIR-Florida discourages Muslims from talking to FBI

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The photo above comes from Hamas-linked CAIR-Florida’s “14th Annual Banquet Rooted in Faith” in Tampa yesterday, courtesy of an anonymous reader who was at the banquet. It is not the first time Hamas-linked CAIR, designated a terror organization by the United Arab Emirates, has discouraged Muslims from talking to the FBI. A few years ago a Hamas-linked CAIR chapter in California distributed this poster:

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House Intel Committee: Benghazi not escalation of peaceful protest

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The Obama Administration narrative is definitively torpedoed in this report — and yet the mainstream media, even more craven and dishonest than usual, is spinning the report as an exoneration of Obama.

“CIA gathered intelligence on weapons to Syria: Benghazi report,” by Catherine Herridge and Pamela Browne, FoxNews.com, November 22, 2014:

A leading Republican wants to expand the House investigation into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack by adding a Senate probe, as a new House Intelligence Committee report Friday concluded that the initial CIA assessment found no demonstrations prior to the assault and a primary purpose of the CIA operation in eastern Libya was to track the movement of weapons to Syria.

The report described the attack as “complex” with the attackers affiliated with Al Qaeda. It also said the initial CIA assessment concluded there were no demonstrations outside the State Department Consulate in Eastern Libya.

Referring to the House Select committee Chairman, and the Democratic ranking member, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said the current House investigation should be expanded.

“(Republican) Trey Gowdy and (Democrat) Elijah Cummings have done a good job,” he said. “I can’t imagine the U.S. Senate not wanting to be a part of a joint select committee. We’ll bootstrap to what you’ve done, but we want to be part of discussion,” Graham told Fox News. “What I would suggest to (incoming Senate majority leader) Mitch McConnell is to call up Speaker Boehner and say ‘Listen, we want to be part of this’.”

Graham, along with his two Republican colleagues, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, have been outspoken advocates of a special investigation, because they say then-acting director of the CIA Mike Morell misled them about his role in crafting the so-called media talking points that blamed an opportunistic protest gone awry for the assault.

“Number one, Mike Morrell misled three senators,” Graham said of their November 2012 meeting on Capitol Hill, where Morell accompanied then UN Ambassador Susan Rice to explain her flawed explanation on national television five days after the attack.

“I think it’s important that for future CIA personnel to understand, that if you come to Congress and you’re asked a question and you give a deceptive answer, you tell half the story, not the entire story, you play word games, it will follow you and will be unacceptable,” Graham said.

On Friday, with little fanfare, the House Intelligence Committee released the findings of its two year, bi-partisan investigation into the terrorist attack. The 37 page report found that the first, internal CIA assessment was accurate — that no protests were involved — but then-CIA Director David Petraeus, Morell and the administration latched onto information that supported the flawed demonstration scenario.

Fox News was first to report on September 17, 2012, one day after Rice’s controversial Sunday talk show appearances, that there were no protests when the attack unfolded.

“One day after the assault, on 9/12/12, the first CIA assessment about the attacks, a September 12th Executive update, said ‘the presence of armed assailants from the incident’s outset suggests this was an intentional assault and not the escalation of a peaceful protest,” investigators found. And while intelligence gaps remain, “No witness has reported believing at any point that the attacks were anything but terrorist acts,” the report added.

On Saturday September 14, 2012, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes wrote in an email titled “PREP CALL with Susan,” that one of the goals for the administration’s public statements should be “To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.” The House report says these conclusions were “incorrect.”

Judicial Watch, not Congress, obtained the Rhodes email as the result of a federal lawsuit.

The Obama White House did not move away from the protest explanation for the attack that killed four Americans – Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department Foreign Service officer Sean Smith, and former Navy Seals and CIA contractors Ty Woods and Glenn Doherty – until September 20, when then White House Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters ‘It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” and the State Department did the same much later.

The report found the CIA’s Office of Public Affairs made three “substantive” changes to the talking points that included the removal of references to Al Qaeda and swapping the word “attacks” with “demonstrations.” It is not clear from the publicly available, and heavily redacted emails exactly who made the changes and who directed them, since the CIA public affairs office would be unlikely to make these changes unilaterally…

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