First Thoughts On the Trump Plan and How Mahmoud Abbas Will Save the Day by Hugh Fitzgerald

“The Deal of the Century” turned out to be remarkably generous to the “Palestinians,” giving them far more than they had any right to expect. It promises them a state – the state of Palestine. It doubles the size of the territory under Palestinian control. The Palestinians will under the plan possess nearly 80% of the West Bank. They will also have their capital in East Jerusalem. The plan includes Palestinian use and management of facilities in Haifa and Ashdod ports, Palestinian development of a resort area in the north shore of the Dead Sea, and continued Palestinian agricultural activity in the Jordan Valley. Ultimately, the plan envisions “modern and efficient transportation links” through the future Palestinian state, including Gaza. The West Bank and Gaza will be linked through a tunnel.

Under the Trump plan, the Palestinians will be obligated to disarm Hamas and Islamic Jihad, must stop their Pay-For-Slay plan, must stop inciting terrorism, must end the rampant corruption in the PA, must respect human rights, and must guarantee a free press and religious freedom. We shall see if the PA is able to meet these conditions precedent to achieving a state. The PA’s record to date is not encouraging.

The plan also requires Israel to observe a four-year moratorium on any new settlements in the West Bank while negotiations with the Palestinians are going on, but says nothing about whether the moratorium would continue if, after four years, negotiations are still continuing. It makes provision for $50 billion in aid to be given to the Palestinians, as had previously been announced at the “Peace Through Prosperity” workshop in Manama last June. That is a huge sum, but who would pay it? One hopes that it will not be the Western Infidels paying for the Palestinians. The $50 billion ought by rights to come from fellow Muslim Arabs, those who live in the oil-rich states of the Gulf – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar.

The most important concession of all, according to Trump’s peace initiative, would be the recognition of a new state, the State of Palestine. This State of Palestine would have to agree to be disarmed, but how that disarmament would be enforced, and exactly what arms it would include, remains unclear.

Israel also gets certain concessions. Existing Israeli settlements (that is, towns and cities) in the West Bank would be recognized as sovereign Israeli territory. The Palestinians would have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The Palestinian refugees, or “refugees” (the quotation marks indicate that these are the descendants of refugees, not true refugees themselves) would be integrated into the countries where they now live. There would be no right of return.

Netanyahu and Gantz have both declared themselves pleased with Trump’s peace plan. But can they truly be pleased with the recognition of a State of Palestine, with its capital in East Jerusalem? Perhaps they are pleased because the plan is better than any of the previous plans presented by Trump’s predecessors, and because they know that Abbas will never accept it, so they needn’t worry. They can afford to be pleased. There is no other state in the world that has been successfully disarmed. How likely is it that a State of Palestine, full of Jihadis, could be permanently disarmed, and not become a source of terrorism against Israelis, whether living in the West Bank or elsewhere in Israel?

The plan is generally good, but I confess that I expected even better. I did not think this administration would recognize a State of Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem. I envisioned instead an arrangement whereby the local Arabs (to be carefully referred to as “Palestinian Arabs”) in the West Bank would be given as much autonomy as was consonant with Israeli security, but not a state. The safer the Israelis, the greater the degree of local autonomy. I see that I was wrong.

However, there is one thing about this plan that makes it most welcome. And that is the assurance that neither Mahmoud Abbas, nor any of his successors in the Palestinian Authority, nor anyone in Hamas, will be willing to negotiate over this plan in good faith. The Palestinians rejected Trump’s plan before they knew what was in it; they reject it again now that they know what is in it. Much of the world will be able to see that even when the Palestinians are offered a state of their own, even when they are promised that that state’s capital will be in East Jerusalem, even when they are further promised $50 billion in aid, far more than any of the more than 100 developing countries have ever received In aid, that is not enough to satisfy them. They are the spoiled brats of the international community.

Other Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman, will urge the Palestinians to take the deal — “You get a state, you have your capital in Jerusalem, the Israelis have to stop building settlements, you’ll have 80% of the West Bank” – “or else.” “Or else” would mean only this: “We are tired of your whining, tired of the whole Palestinian problem; tired of your refusal to accept $50 billion in aid. We have so many bigger problems to think about, starting but not ending with Iran. Get with the program. Or count us out.” The refusal of the Palestinians to take the deal will only widen the gap between them and the other Arabs.

In agreeing to the Trump plan, Israel will have committed itself to not building new settlements in the West Bank for four years, while negotiations are going on. It’s a big concession. But if there are no negotiations, because the Palestinians continue to refuse enter into them, then the Trump administration has made clear that Israel is no longer required to refrain from settlement building. The Trump administration has noted that, in that case, it will support Israel should it decide to unilaterally incorporate other areas of the West Bank, beyond what it will already have annexed. And the offer of a State of Palestine will not be revived. And very few, at that point, will care.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

Palestinian Authority paid $150,000,000 to jihad terrorists as salaries in 2019

“PMW exclusive: PA gave 517.4 million shekels to terrorists as salaries in 2019,” by Maurice Hirsch, Palestinian Media Watch, January 30, 2020:

According to recently published Palestinian Authority financial reports, Palestinian Media Watch can expose that the PA has admitted to spending no less than 517.4 million shekels ($149.7 million/€136 million) paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and released prisoners in 2019.

The PA expenditure on allowances to wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists was at least 151.6 million shekels in 2019. Accordingly, the total minimum PA expenditure in 2019 on its payments to terrorists and families of dead terrorists – its Pay-for-Slay policy- was 669 million shekels ($193.6 million/€175.8 million).

In accordance with the Israeli law, Defense Minister Naftali Bennet should present the National Security Cabinet with a report showing that the PA expenditure on its Pay-for-Slay policy was no less than 669 million shekels.

Israeli law demands that this figure be deducted from the monthly tax transfers Israel makes to the PA.

Background 
Since created in 1994, the PA has implemented a “Pay-for-Slay” policy according to which it pays millions of shekels/dollars/euro every year in monthly salaries to reward Palestinian terrorist prisoners and released prisoners and monthly allowances to reward wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists (so-called “Martyrs”).

The PA codified the policy in the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners in 2004. Since then, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has twice approved substantial hikes in the monthly salaries paid by the PA to the terrorists (2006, 2010).

According to sworn testimony given by a senior official on behalf of the PA, the PA payments to the wounded terrorists and families of dead terrorists are not codified in PA law, but rather only stipulated in undisclosed internal documents.

While the PA policy has been widely condemned, with four countries (Canada, the USAustralia, and Holland) cutting off all direct aid to the PA until the policy is abolished, and while the PA continues to request (and receive) considerable amounts of foreign aid, the PA itself carries on squandering hundreds of millions of shekels/dollars/euro on terrorist salaries every year, incentivizing and rewarding Palestinian terrorists.

In 2018, Israel passed a law to combat the PA policy. According to the law, at the end of each year, the Israeli Minister of Defense must submit a report to the National Security Cabinet detailing the PA expenditure on terrorist salaries and allowances in the passing year. Once the Cabinet approves the report, the PA expenditure in the passing year is deducted in twelve equal parts from the taxes that Israel collects and transfers to the PA in the coming year.

The new Israeli law was first implemented in February 2019, after PMW exposed that the PA had admitted to spending no less than 502 million shekels to pay the monthly salaries to the terrorist prisoners and released prisoners in 2018.

In response to the Israeli decision, Abbas positively decided to plunge the PA into a self-inflicted financial crisis by refusing to accept all the tax revenues from Israel, if Israel deducted any sum. Since the tax revenues account for almost half of the PA budget, rejecting their receipt had a substantial impact on the PA economy.

To overcome the crisis, the PA decided to temporarily cut salaries to the law abiding PA employees by 50% and to suspend referrals of Palestinians for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. The PA also attempted to hide its financial reports, until PMW highlighted these actions. However, at the same time, the PA doubled down on its commitment to pay the terrorist prisoners, continuing to pay them 100% of their salaries.

After 7 months, the PA finally capitulated and agreed to receive the taxes that remained after the deduction.

Following an additional PMW report on the subject of the PA payments to the wounded and the families of the dead terrorists, in late December 2019 the Israeli National Security Cabinet decided to deduct an additional sum of 150 million shekels. Since the number of wounded Palestinian terrorists and the number of Palestinian terrorists killed grew in 2019, it is reasonable to assume that the PA expenditure for these terrorists grew.

According to statistics published by the PA and Israeli NGO B’tselem, no fewer than 110 Palestinian terrorists were killed in 2019. Taking into account the different PA payments, the additional expense incurred by the PA was no less than 1.6 million shekels.

During the presentation of his new Middle East peace plan, – the deal of the century – US President Donald Trump stressed the need for the PA to abolish its policy of rewarding terrorists and murderers:

“To ensure a successful Palestinian state, we are asking the Palestinians to meet the challenges of peaceful co-existence.  This includes adopting basic laws enshrining human rights; protecting against financial and political corruption; stopping the malign activities of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other enemies of peace; ending the incitement of hatred against Israel — so important; and permanently halting the financial compensation to terrorists.”

[www.whitehouse.gov, Jan. 28, 2020]

Whether the PA will suddenly listen to US President Trump – for whom the PA has only shown contempt – only time will tell, but until then, Israel – if it wants to abide by its own laws – should deduct no less than 669 million shekels ($193.6 million/€175.8 million) from its tax transfers to the PA in 2020.

In the meantime, while most of the world agrees that the PA practice of paying financial rewards to terrorists is despicable, the PA continues to waste ever-growing amounts of fungible donor aid to fund this policy. To help put an end to the PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” policy, the EU and more countries should make their aid conditional on the permanent abolishment of the policy.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan a Much-Needed Dose of Reality

It’s unlikely that President Donald Trump’s new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan will succeed. Yet, it’s the best of any recent offerings because it dispels poisonous fictions that have held back negotiations for decades.

The reality is that there will never be a Palestinian “right of return” to Israel, since such a policy would destroy the Jewish character of the state.

Palestinians are not getting their great-granddads’ houses in Jaffa back any more than the hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Muslim lands after Israel’s 1948 war of independence are reclaiming their property.

The difference is that one of these groups accepted reality long ago.


In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>


Nor will Palestinians ever take control of Jerusalem proper. Any Israeli politician who broaches the notion of handing over the fulcrum of Jewish cultural, religious, and political identity to Fatah is engaging in an act of political suicide.

Palestinians have never administered Jerusalem, and they have no legitimate claim over Jerusalem. The current state of affairs is the status quo, whether Palestinians decide they want a state or not.

Likewise, Israelis will never pull back to pre-1967 lines, giving up its claims to the West Bank, because no sane nation would reinstitute unsecure borders next to an unreliable potential terror state.

The vast majority of Israelis who now reside in towns (“settlements”) built in historically Jewish areas aren’t going to be displaced because the United Nations or Ben Rhodes has declared Judea and Samaria a no-Jew zone. Those towns are part of a de facto border whether Palestinians agree to a deal or not.

Finally, there is no way that Israel, a liberal democracy responsible for the security of its citizens, can hand over the Jordan Valley—an area with immense strategic importance irrespective of the Palestinian situation—to a newly created state that allies itself with unsavory nations and entertains the idea of entering into a unity government with Hamas, the theocratic terror group. Perhaps, after peaceful coexistence for a few decades, this could change.

The Trump deal would simply codify these realities while allowing Palestinians finally to have a startup state. Trump’s plan is the first to offer a map laying out what the final borders of the Palestinian nation might look like.

In it, Israel cedes around 70% of the disputed territory in the West Bank to Palestinians but doubles its existing territory overall. “The sovereign capital of the State of Palestine,” the plan states, would be the city of “East Jerusalem.”

In return, Palestinians would recognize the existence of Israel, agree to solve their refugee problem through integration in their new state and in host Arab counties, and renounce terrorism. In other words, Palestinians would be asked to conduct themselves as does any normal, functioning state. The U.S. would also infuse $50 billion into the new Palestinian state.

Stateless peoples yearning for self-determination around the world—ethnic groups that Western elites don’t care a whit about—would, no doubt, be ecstatic for such an opportunity. Palestinians, however, happen to have chosen the right enemies.

They just have the wrong leaders. President Mahmoud Abbas hasn’t faced an electorate in 15 years and counting. His title of “president” falsely suggests that Abbas is the duly elected leader of a nation. Neither is true.

And although that is his own fault, Abbas and his deputies will no doubt sit in their U.N.-funded mansions while the Palestinian people suffer, waiting out Trump for more advantageous terms from a friendlier president such as Joe Biden—or Bernie Sanders, who could put Linda Sarsour in his administration.

But they won’t be able to wait out Israel. A nation with an open and vibrant economy has no reason to enter into a deal that upends its security. Most Israelis—I hate to break this to everyone—aren’t obsessed with the Palestinians.

Hamas is largely contained. Fatah is contained. Israel’s existence isn’t contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, only on security.

Israel, in fact, probably feels less external pressure than ever to enter into a deal. Anyone who’s followed this issue understands the historic significance of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Oman sending envoys to the White House unveiling of Trump’s peace deal.

Arab nations are coming to terms with the reality of the Jewish state in ways that Americans progressives have not.

Nor is there more internal political pressure to enter into a bad deal. Benny Gantz, the Kahol Lavan leader and chief rival to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “hailed” the Trump plan because, despite the effort of the American left to cast Netanyahu as the sole impediment to peace, no major Israeli party on either the right or the left is going to agree to a right of return, a return to pre-1967 lines, or a surrender of Jerusalem.

In the past, Palestinian negotiators sat back and rejected one concession after the next. They offered ever-growing lists of grievances while American leaders tried to pacify them.

It’s about time someone injected a dose of this reality into this situation. Trump’s plan allows Palestinians to have a state in the world that exists. Or not.

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A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

When ‘Never Again’ Means Nothing

This week, the world marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Allied forces during World War II. Politicians of all stripes dutifully tweeted, “#NeverAgain.”

Meanwhile, many of those same politicians continued to forward the worst sort of anti-Semitism, blithely ignoring the fact that anti-Semitism isn’t a relic of the past but a thriving part of the present.

Take, for example, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. Omar has, in the past two years alone, sponsored an anti-Semitic resolution that likened boycotts of Israel to boycotts of Nazi Germany; rejected a Democratic-sponsored resolution backing a two-state solution in order to chide the Trump administration and Israel, because the solution wasn’t radical enough; and repeatedly suggested that Jewish money manipulates American foreign policy on Israel.

Her anti-Semitism was so palpable that the Democrats were forced to debate and then water down a resolution condemning anti-Semitism. Still, Omar tweeted, “Today and every day, we must redouble our efforts to confront anti-Semitism and all forms of religious discrimination and say #NeverAgain.”


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Or how about Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.? She tweeted a story about a Holocaust survivor visiting Auschwitz and added, “May we honor them by sharing stories like these, #NeverAgain allowing hate to flourish, and committing to speaking out against anti-Semitism and all other forms of hate.”

Just two days before that tweet, Tlaib put out a now-deleted retweet of anti-Semitic blood libel that accused “a Herd of violent #Israeli settlers” of kidnapping a 7-year-old boy and drowning him in a well. In reality, the boy was 8 years old and apparently had drowned after slipping into a pool of rainwater in the Beit Hanina neighborhood.

Tlaib, of course, is no stranger to Jew hatred: In the past two years, she has accused congressional lawmakers opposed to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement of dual loyalty and hobnobbed with open terror supporters, and she is the bedrock congressional supporter of BDS itself.

Both Tlaib and Omar have provided moral support for Hamas, the terror group in charge of the Gaza Strip.

Then there’s Jeremy Corbyn, the British Labour Party leader who so disgraced his own party with his coddling of anti-Semites that he was rejected by many members of his upper echelon.

Corbyn glibly tweeted, “This is a time for us all to reflect on the horrors of the past, the evils of Nazism, genocide and antisemitism, and indeed all forms of racism, which we must always be determined to root out, wherever they appear.”

The truth is that #NeverAgain has become a virtue signal for many on the modern left, who are more than willing to greenlight the genocidal anti-Semitism of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority, and the Iranian regime, among others. Islamic anti-Semitism, in their view, is not true anti-Semitism; it’s just religious conflict, or territorial disagreement, or anti-Zionism.

When such ideological disagreements result in open calls for the murder of Jews … well, that’s going a bit too far, but it’s understandable. After all, modern Jews—particularly Zionists, who insist on a Jewish state to ensure the survival of their people—are rather bothersome in real life, unlike those dead Jews from World War II, who aren’t any more real than their old black-and-white photos, and whose survival is no longer at issue.

It’s easy for radical leftists and their Islamic allies to spout #NeverAgain while proclaiming that today’s Jews aren’t like yesterday’s Jews. All of which is why Israel’s continued existence provides both a thorn in the side of modern anti-Semites and why Israel’s continued existence is so necessary.

Vague expressions of upset over an event that took place 75 years ago are no substitute for the hard-nosed defense of Jewish survival that Israel represents. And Jews should remember that when they decide to blind themselves to the real and present anti-Semitism of the Omars, Tlaibs, and Corbyns.

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Ben Shapiro is host of “The Ben Shapiro Show” and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is The New York Times best-selling author of “Bullies.” He is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, and lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles. Twitter: .

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This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

They’re making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!

GET ACCESS NOW! >>


EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

Palestinians Miss Opportunity by Rejecting Trump Peace Plan

President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan on Tuesday at a White House ceremony attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump declared that the plan “presents a ‘win-win’ opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security.”

Netanyahu enthusiastically embraced Trump’s vision, proclaiming, “It’s a great plan for Israel. It’s a great plan for peace.” He then lauded Trump as “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”

Indeed, Trump’s vision for peace is the most pro-Israeli peace initiative ever promoted by the United States. It accords a high priority to Israeli security needs, recognizes Israel’s vital interest in retaining control of the border with Jordan, and clears the way for U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over many settlements and Jewish holy sites in the disputed territory of the West Bank.


In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>


Trump’s vision also includes important benefits for Palestinians, who were offered the opportunity to build a state of their own, supported by a $50 billion regional development plan for the Palestinian territories and nearby Arab states.

More than half of the $50 billion would be invested in infrastructure and business projects in the Palestinian territories in the first 10 years, with the remainder invested in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.

This economic program, which has been compared to the Marshall Plan through which the U.S. helped stabilize western Europe after World War II, would boost prosperity among Palestinians, free them from dependence on foreign handouts, and give their children hope for a much brighter future.

Despite the economic benefits and the diplomatic pathway to a Palestinian state offered by the initiative, Palestinian leaders immediately rejected the plan.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Trump’s “deal of the century” as the “slap of the century.”

Trump’s vision fell far short of the Palestinian Authority’s maximal demands for a sovereign state controlling all the territory in the West Bank and Gaza, with a capital in East Jerusalem, and recognition of the “right of return” for millions of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

But those demands were always unrealistic and posed unacceptable risks to Israeli security.

The Trump peace initiative envisions a smaller Palestinian state composed of Gaza, approximately 70% of the West Bank, and specified land swaps of Israeli territory along its borders with Egypt and the northern West Bank.

To mitigate the security risks to Israel of such a state, the Palestinians would be required to renounce terrorism, disarm Hamas and other terrorist groups, recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and halt payments to the families of Palestinians imprisoned or killed due to their participation in terrorist attacks.

Missed Opportunities for Peace

The “land for peace” paradigm enshrined in the 1993 Oslo Accords failed in large part because the Palestinian Authority failed to halt terrorism against Israel, particularly by Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas rejects peace negotiations with Israel and remains committed to Israel’s destruction.

After Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas staged a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority, seized control of Gaza, and turned into a base for attacking Israel with rockets, tunnel infiltrations, and incendiary balloons.

Israelis have strong reasons to suspect that a total Israeli pullout from the West Bank also could result in a Hamas overthrow of the weak Palestinian Authority and the establishment of another terrorist front against Israel.

Palestinians made a bad situation worse by rejecting a series of peace plans proposed by the Carter administration in 1978, the Reagan administration in 1982, and the Clinton administration in 2000.

Since 2014, the Palestinians have rejected negotiations with Israel unless it froze its settlement program, a condition that was not included in the Oslo peace negotiations.

The Palestinian Authority broke off diplomatic contacts with Washington in December 2017 after the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians’ “all or nothing” negotiating stance has left them with nothing that gives hope for a better future. Now they are turning their backs on Trump’s vision, despite the potential economic benefits it offers.

Trump’s ‘Outside-In’ Strategy

Although the Palestinians swiftly rejected Trump’s peace initiative, other Arab states have supported the plan and told the Palestinians “not so fast.”

Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates sent their ambassadors to the White House rollout event and joined Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia in appealing to the Palestinians to consider the initiative as a framework for negotiations.

Getting the buy-in of these key Arab states is important for the Trump administration’s “outside-in” strategy, which seeks to enlist support from Arab states that already have made peace with Israel (Egypt and Jordan) as well as Arab Gulf oil states that fear Iran more than Israel (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait).

It is not clear how hard Arab leaders will pressure Palestinian leaders to accept the plan. Realistically, the plan is unlikely to advance peace talks unless the Palestinians engage on it, and that is not likely. It takes two to tango, but Palestinian leaders have refused multiple American invitations to attend the dance.

The Trump peace plan is therefore unlikely to jumpstart the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

But even if it produces no immediate results, Trump’s initiative will serve as a marker that could encourage Palestinian leaders to take a more realistic approach to negotiations in the future and improve the long-term prospects for peace.

COMMENTARY BY

James Phillips is the senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He has written extensively on Middle Eastern issues and international terrorism since 1978. Read his research.

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Turkey: Demonstrators protest Trump peace plan, hold signs saying “Jerusalem belongs to Islam”

RELATED VIDEO: Powerful speech by Swedish woman on Muslim migration.

https://twitter.com/EM_KA_17/status/1222208946460594176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1222208946460594176&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvladtepesblog.com%2F2020%2F01%2F31%2Fswedish-woman-lays-on-an-illegal-dose-of-truth%2F


A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

They’re making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!

GET ACCESS NOW! >>


EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

Sex Trafficking at the Super Bowl is Only the Tip of the Iceberg

The Super Bowl has a significant sex trafficking problem.

In 2019 alone, according to the FBI, 169 individuals were arrested in connection with sex trafficking during an 11-day operation that was undertaken in conjunction with Super Bowl LIII happening in Atlanta.

However, as deeply problematic as the trafficking that occurs around large events such as the Super Bowl is, the 24/7/365 reality of sex trafficking in the United States is an epidemic of proportions most Americans have not even begun to comprehend.

This lack of awareness is precisely why it’s important that we leverage the increased spotlight that the topic of sex trafficking gets in conjunction with the Super Bowl. In an age of distraction and increased competition for human attention, it is vital that we use opportunities for visibility as opportunities for education.

That’s why we started the #TackleDemand campaign and run it each year in the lead up to the Super Bowl. But we can’t spread the word alone.

© All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Super Bowl Arrests Shine Light on Sex Traffickers’ Use of the Internet to Sell Victims

PLO calls for jihad terror against Trump’s peace plan: “Escalate the resistance and the jihad”

A state and $50 billion won’t do it. Maybe a state and $100 billion? Two states? Three states?

Find out why no “Palestinian” peace plan will ever be acceptable to the “Palestinians” unless it helps pave the way for the total destruction of Israel in The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process.

“Escalate the resistance and the struggle” — jihad is “struggle” in Arabic.

“PLO calls for terror against Trump’s deal: ‘Escalate the resistance and the struggle… in all its forms,’” by Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Palestinian Media Watch, January 28, 2020:

In anticipation of the revelation of US President Trump’s Middle East peace plan – the so-called “deal of the century” – the PLO, the PA, and Fatah are emphasizing their rejection of the still unknown plan. They have also announced a “day of rage” on the day the plan is revealed, and called for “escalation of resistance” – a Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror.

Abbas’ Fatah Movement posted a photo of a Palestinian rock thrower in a call for violence accompanied by text implicitly encouraging Palestinians to seek death as martyrs for “Palestine”:

Posted text and text on image: “We will redeem you with our blood, #Palestine”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 26, 2020]

Similarly, the PLO urged Palestinians to “escalate the resistance and the struggle” against Israel “in all its forms and manners.” Terms like “all forms” and “all means” are ‎used by PA leaders to include the use of all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails:

“The [Palestinian] National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) again expressed its objection to every plan, project, deal, or attempt to harm the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights…  The National Council yesterday [Jan. 26, 2020] demanded that the PLO Executive Committee implement all of the National Council and [PLO] Central Council’s decisions – and foremost among them the decision determining that the transition period has ended with all of the political, security, and financial obligations in it towards the Israeli occupation – and also to take all the necessary steps to encourage and escalate the resistance and the struggle against the occupation in all its forms and manners.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2020]

Palestinian groups also declared the day Trump announces his peace plan a “day of mass rage.” Palestinian Media Watch has documented that PA and Fatah leaders view “days of rage” as preludes to “intifadas” – campaigns of violence and terror.

The [Palestinian] National and Islamic Forces of the Ramallah and El-Bireh district have declared the date of the announcement of ‘the deal of disgrace’ as a day of mass rage in response to the American-Israeli aggression, on which the Palestinian people will say its piece in one voice: the deal will not pass, and our people is capable of thwarting it.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2020]

The cartoon at the top above shows PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas holding his fingers up in a “V” for victory, but in place of his hand is the first word of the text: “No to the deal of the century.” [Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 23, 2020]

The PA presidency has also announced that “there is no discussion with the American administration, neither brief nor long,” and that its position is unwavering on “everything regarding the unacceptable deal of the century.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2020]

Another Fatah post showed a tiny Trump facing a giant Palestinian rock thrower:

Posted text: “#No_to_the_deal_of_the_century”
Text at center of image: “No to the deal of the century”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 26, 2020]

The following are additional posts against Trump’s peace plan posted by Fatah:

Posted text: “#No_to_the_deal_of_the_century”
Text at bottom of image: “No to the deal of the century”

At the top of the poster is the Fatah logo that includes a grenade, crossed rifles, and the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas. Under the logo is written: “Palestinian National Liberation Movement ‘Fatah’ Mobilization and Organization Commission Information Office”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 26, 2020]

Posted text and text at bottom of image: “No to the deal of the century”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 23, 2020]

Posted text and text at bottom of image: “No to the deal of the century”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 23, 2020]

Posted text and text on image: “Thanks to our people’s determination and resolve, the deal of the century will fall”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 26, 2020]

The following are longer excerpts of the texts cited above:

“The [Palestinian] National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) again expressed its objection to every plan, project, deal, or attempt to harm the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights…
In a statement, the National Council yesterday [Jan. 26, 2020] demanded that the PLO Executive Committee implement all of the National Council and [PLO] Central Council’s decisions – and foremost among them the decision determining that the transition period has ended with all of the political, security, and financial obligations in it towards the Israeli occupation – and also to take all the necessary steps to encourage and escalate the resistance and the struggle against the occupation in all its forms and manners (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror). This is in order to defend our people’s permanent rights, which [US President Donald] Trump’s administration and the occupation are attempting to eliminate through what is called ‘the deal of the century’ (i.e., refers to US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan, which he said he would reveal to Israeli leaders in late January 2020)…
The [Palestinian] National and Islamic Forces of the Ramallah and El-Bireh district have declared the date of the announcement of ‘the deal of disgrace’ as a day of mass rage in response to the American-Israeli aggression, on which the Palestinian people will say its piece in one voice: the deal will not pass, and our people is capable of thwarting it.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2020]

Palestinian National and Islamic Forces – an unaffiliated coordinating body comprised of representatives from factions in the PLO and outside the PLO. The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces were established in 2000 shortly after the start of the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), under the authorization of Yasser Arafat and the leadership of terrorist Marwan Barghouti. During the PA terror campaign it played an active role in coordinating political efforts and terror attacks against Israel, but since the end of the campaign it has been less significant and its activity is primarily centered in Gaza.

Headline: “The Democratic National Coalition called to intensify the popular resistance”
The Palestinian Democratic National Coalition forces called to intensify the popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) in all of the Palestinian territories. The forces – which include the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF, a terror organization and PLO member; see note below –Ed.), the Arab Liberation Front, the Palestinian Arab Front, and the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (i.e., all PLO members) – discussed ways of intensifying the popular resistance against the settlement, after their meeting at the Popular Struggle Front’s headquarters in Ramallah…
The Democratic National Coalition forces called on the international community to pressure the extremist right-wing occupation government and [US President Donald] Trump’s administration, the occupation’s partner in its aggression against our people, to immediately stop the settlement and cease the attacks against the Palestinian national rights and sovereignty, in order to prevent pushing the region into a whirlpool of violence whose end will be bad and bitter.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 24, 2020]…

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

President Donald J. Trump’s Vision for Peace, Prosperity and a Brighter Future for Israel and the Palestinian People

“We are not here to lecture—we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership – based on shared interests and values – to pursue a better future for us all” – President Donald J. Trump


BOLD VISION FOR PEACE: President Donald J. Trump recognizes it is time for a new approach to achieve peace, security, dignity, and opportunity for Israel and the Palestinian people.

  • This Vision is the most serious, realistic, and detailed plan ever presented, one that could make Israelis, Palestinians, and the region safer and more prosperous.
  • This Vision is just the first step and provides the basis for historic progress toward peace. The United States hopes this Vision will lead to direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
  • It will be up to Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take courageous and bold actions to end the political stalemate, resume negotiations on the basis of this Vision, and make lasting peace and economic prosperity a reality.
  • If the Palestinians have concerns with this Vision, they should bring them forth in the context of good-faith negotiations with the Israelis and help make progress for the region.
  • Mere opposition to this Vision is simply a declaration of support for the hopeless status quo that is the product of decades of stale thinking.

DIPLOMATIC ACCOMPLISHMENT: President Trump is bringing together Israeli political rivals in support of a detailed vision for peace and promoting normalized relations between Israel and its neighbors.

  • President Trump secured agreement from both Prime Minister Netanyahu and opposition leader Lieutenant General Benny Gantz to come to Washington, where they agreed to use this Vision as a basis for negotiation.
  • For the first time in this conflict, President Trump has reached an understanding with Israel regarding a map setting forth borders for a two-state solution.
  • President Trump has been bringing historic enemies in the region closer together, and his actions are promoting normalized relations between Israel and its neighbors.

MUTUAL RECOGNITION AND INDEPENDENCE: This Vision proposes a realistic two-state solution, offering a viable path to Palestinian statehood.

  • Israel has now agreed to terms for a future Palestinian State.
  • The Vision aims to achieve mutual recognition of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and the future State of Palestine as the nation-state of the Palestinian people, with equal civil rights for all citizens within each state.
  • The Vision creates a path for the Palestinian people to realize their legitimate aspirations for independence, self-governance, and national dignity.
  • Under this Vision, neither Palestinians nor Israelis will be uprooted from their homes.

ISRAEL’S SECURITY: This Vision takes into account the realities on the ground and fully protects Israel’s security.

  • The Vision fully addresses Israel’s security requirements, does not ask Israel to take additional security risks, and enables Israel to defend itself by itself against any threats.
  • The Vision provides for a demilitarized Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel, with Israel retaining security responsibility west of the Jordan River.
  • Over time, the Palestinians will work with United States and Israel to assume more security responsibility as Israel reduces its security footprint.

JERUSALEM AND HOLY SITES: Israel will continue to safeguard Jerusalem’s Holy Sites and will guarantee freedom of worship for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and people of all faiths.

  • The status quo at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif will be preserved.
  • The special and historic role of the King of Jordan with regard to the Muslim Holy Shrines in Jerusalem will be preserved.
  • All Muslims are welcome to peacefully visit al-Aqsa Mosque.

FUTURE STATE OF PALESTINE: The Vision delivers significant territorial expansion for Palestinians and designates land reasonably comparable in size to the West Bank and Gaza for the establishment of the State of Palestine.

  • Israel has agreed to a four-year land freeze to secure the possibility of a two-state solution.
  • Jerusalem will stay united and remain the capital of Israel, while the capital of the State of Palestine will be Al-Quds and include areas of East Jerusalem.
  • The Vision’s map will more than double the size of the land currently used by the Palestinians.
  • Beyond territory, the Vision provides for Palestinian use and management of facilities at the Haifa and Ashdod ports, Palestinian development of a resort area on the north shore of the Dead Sea, and continued Palestinian agricultural activity in the Jordan Valley.
  • The Vision proposes modern and efficient transportation links for easy travel and movement of goods throughout the future state of Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank.

NORMALIZATION: This Vision will end the refugee status quo and help put the region on a truly transformative path: one with stability, security, and abundant opportunities for prosperity.

  • The Middle East needs strong regional partnerships to counter Iran and terrorism, strengthen security, and unlock vast opportunities for economic investment and regional prosperity.
  • President Trump has cultivated these regional partnerships, helping historic enemies identify shared threats and mutually beneficial opportunities, facilitating the prospect of normalized relationships between Israel and its neighbors.
  • This Vision will serve as a strong platform from which to further improve regional dynamics and strengthen regional partnerships.
  • Under this Vision, Palestinian refugees will be given a choice to live within the future State of Palestine, integrate into the countries where they currently live, or resettle in a third country.
  • The United States will work with the international community to establish a generous trust to aid in the process of resettling refugees.

PROSPERITY ACROSS THE REGION: This Vision, combined with the Peace to Prosperity economic framework, will unlock the potential of a region long held hostage by conflict.

  • The Vision incorporates the massive $50 billion Peace to Prosperity economic plan, which will spur the Palestinian economy. When properly implemented, the Vision will:
    o Create more than 1 million new jobs;
    o More than double Palestinian GDP; and
    o Reduce unemployment below 10% and cut the poverty rate in half.

© The White House · 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW · Washington, DC 20500-0003

RELATED ARTICLE: A Historic Opportunity That Must Be Seized

THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY: Peace to Prosperity — A Vision to Improve The Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People

“The Trump administration’s approach to the issue of peace in the Middle East differs from that of previous US administrations in that it is based on facts on the ground as they have evolved over time. The US peace team appears to have jettisoned both the historical “blame game” and the contradictory narratives of the Palestinians and the Israelis, which have combined to frustrate all prior peace initiatives.” The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.


On January 28, 2020 President Donald J. Trump released Peace to Prosperity — A Vision to Improve The Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People. The Peace to Prosperity contains two components:

  1. A Political Framework.
  2. An Economic Framework.

According to WhiteHouse.gov/PeaceToProsperity:

This Vision is the most realistic solution to a problem that has plagued the region for far too long.

It creates a path to prosperity, security, and dignity for all involved. If the parties can agree on this framework as a basis for negotiations, the potential for both the Israelis and the Palestinians and the region is unlimited.

The Political Framework

Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve a future of peace and prosperity. A realistic two-state solution will protect Israel’s security, fulfill the aspirations of self-determination for the Palestinian people, and ensure universal and respectful access to the holy sites of Jerusalem.

This Vision would achieve mutual recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and Palestine as the nation-state of the Palestinian people—each with equal civil rights for all its citizens. The plan designates defensible borders for the State of Israel and does not ask Israel to compromise on the safety of its people, affording them overriding security responsibility for land west of the Jordan River. For Palestinians, the Vision delivers significant territorial expansion, allocating land roughly comparable in size to the West Bank and Gaza for establishing a Palestinian State. Transportation links would allow efficient movement between Gaza and the West Bank, as well as throughout Palestine. The plan does not call for uprooting any people, Arab or Jew, from their homes.

The Economic Framework contains 3 Parts:

  1. Unleashing Economic Potential. Peace to Prosperity will establish a new foundation for the Palestinian economy, generating rapid economic growth and job creation. This part of the plan will create a business environment that provides investors with confidence that their assets will be secure by improving property rights, the rule of law, fiscal sustainability, capital markets, and anti-corruption policies.
  2. Empowering the Palestinian People. Peace to Prosperity will unlock the vast potential of the Palestinian people by empowering them to pursue their goals and ambitions. This part of the vision will support the Palestinian people through education, workforce development,  and an improved quality of life.
  3. Enhancing Palestinian Governance. While implementing Peace to Prosperity will require significant international support, no vision for the Palestinians can be realized without the full support of the Palestinian people and their leadership.

Here is our take on President Trumps initiative:

  • Peace to Prosperity (The Plan) is historic in its breath and depth of detail.
  • The Plan provides for a Palestinian state within the state of Israel.
  • The Plan is subject to mutual negotiation on the details.
  • The Plan puts pressure on the Palestinians because the Israelis have already agreed to the plan.
  • The Plan requires the Palestinians to reject terrorism in all of its forms.
  • The Plan provides for a Jewish capital (Jerusalem) and a Palestinian capital (East Jerusalem).
  • The Plan is embraced by multiple Arab nation states.
  • The Plan provides incentives for both sides to win.
  • The Plan ends the false narrative that there is any “occupied territories” in Israel.
  • The Plan must be implement in 4 years. This would mean that on January 28, 2024 the agreement must be finalized.

The unanswered questions are:

  • Will the Palestinian leadership negotiate in good faith or will they continue down a path that has lead to death and destruction?
  • Will key Arab nations support the plan?
  • Will the European Union support the plan?
  • Will Russia and China support the plan?
  • What will happen if agreement is not reached in 4 years?

One of the keys to this plan is getting the details to the Palestinian people. It is imperative to bypass the PLO, HAMAS and the state run media to address the Palestinian people directly.


CLICK HERE TO READ: Peace to Prosperity — A Vision to Improve The Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People


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https://twitter.com/Farberyanki/status/1222223063179235329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1222223063179235329&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jihadwatch.org%2F2020%2F01%2Fvideo-palestinians-enraged-at-trumps-peace-plan-burn-photo-of-trump-and-netanyahu

Inequality, Real and Imagined

Alessandra Nucci: The Vatican’s response to poverty fails to acknowledge real-world examples of what has worked and, quite clearly, does not work.


Pope Francis’s headline-grabbing words last year – “inequality is disastrous for the future of humanity” – reflected the long doctrinal dialectic following Vatican Council II.  At the Council, the focus of social justice increasingly shifted from the tenets of Rerum Novarum – which recognized “the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses,” but opposed State control of wealth. Pope Leo’s earlier encyclical specified that to give to the indigent “is a duty not of justice (except in extreme cases) but of Christian charity.” The Council, by contrast, focused on guaranteeing equality and, therefore, emphasizing wealth distribution over wealth creation.

Yet there is little correlation between poverty rates and inequality. Experience has shown that reducing economic inequality does not of itself lead to reducing poverty. On the contrary, since 2008 the worldwide recession has reduced inequality by reducing the wealth in the hands of the rich, without benefiting the poor.

This was confirmed in 2018 by a study conducted in the UK (“Living standards, poverty, and inequality”), which showed that inequalities were few in the poorer areas of Britain, while in places where the poor are better off there are also greater inequalities.

In the past fifty years, with the conviction that some sort of panacea lies in a sagacious redistribution of “resources,” about $1.1 trillion in development aid has been transferred from wealthy countries to Africa. Has this bettered the life of Africans? No, say many, among whom author Dambisa Moyo, who in her book, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, points to the well-being achieved by African countries which have refused the aid. Meanwhile, the ones that have become addicted to aid have remained trapped in the vicious circle of debt, corruption, market manipulation, continued poverty, and the need for more aid.

That poverty is not an incurable malady is demonstrated by a counterexample: the development of formerly poor countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and parts of India – to say nothing of the transformation of Ireland and of Poland.

The success of Nobel Prize recipient Mohammed Yunus’s microcredit programs was born of his refusal to take the easy way out by distributing the tiny sums of money required to help the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh. His method of not giving, but lending out the needed pennies and requiring prompt repayment of micro-interest, is geared to training the bank’s clients – mostly women – to run small businesses.  The virtues involved are straight out of the Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25:14-30): not coercion but self-reliance, thrift, honesty, cooperation, working to meet the needs of others.

As to the capitalist society par excellence, in 2018 the United States stood accused before the U.N. Human Rights Commission of doing “very little about the fact that 40 million of its citizens live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty and 5.3 million in third-world conditions of absolute poverty” despite being “the world’s wealthiest nation.”

Yet U.S. poverty thresholds are much higher than in most of the rest of the world: in 2019, a family of four was considered poor with an income of $25,750 (the individual threshold is $12,140). And this does not take into account non-monetary income, such as public housing, Medicaid or food stamps; nor does it consider people’s savings or property.

Research shows that 42 percent of “the poor” own the house they live in, with an average of three bedrooms, one-and-a-half bathrooms, and a garage. Eighty percent have air conditioning and cable or satellite television; three-fourths own at least one car or pick-up. Even families ranked “extremely poor” typically own a computer, a DVD, and a mobile phone. Over half of poor families with children have videogame consoles such as Xbox or PlayStation.

Moreover, the consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is practically the same for the children of poor families as for those belonging to middle-class families. On average, even children of “poor” U.S. families grow to be taller and sturdier than the GIs who landed in Normandy.  Despite whatever social, educational, and spiritual problems that may exist in a developed nation like the United States, inequality is hardly the outrage bodies like the U.N. Human Rights Commission apparently would like them to be.

And by comparison, China today, while having converted to capitalism (despite everything under the strict control of the Communist Party), is celebrated for its enormous macroeconomic growth. There are, however, no consistent estimates of the extent to which people have benefited from this (I quote the celebrated and far from conservative French economist Thomas Piketty). Hence, attempts at tracing inequalities in China are highly unreliable.

What we know is that there exists a level of non-income in China relating to the reportedly millions of slave laborers in the Laogai (i.e., work camps) and Uighur labor camps scattered across the country. Since its admission to the WTO in 2000, little has been done to force China to close down these camps. On the contrary, it has actually begun to propagandize its “re-education” programs at the U.N.

In a globalized world, the existence of slave labor anywhere is not only a moral disgrace for the global bodies that do nothing to stop it, it is also a major factor depressing working-class salaries across the rest of the world.

And this is to say nothing of recent revelations about the brainwashing, “re-education,” and outright repression of religious groups – Muslim, Christians, and even traditional Chinese Buddhists and Hindus.

Pope Francis, like the international organizations dedicated to responding to such things, is right to want to remedy poverty, inequality, and even outright exploitation wherever they may exist. But to solve a problem means, first of all, to understand it properly – and to look to the real-world examples of what has worked and what, quite clearly, does not.

COLUMN BY

Alessandra Nucci

Alessandra Nucci is an Italian-American writer and freelance journalist. She won the Golden Florin Award in Florence, Italy, for her book on antagonistic feminism, La donna a una dimensione: Femminismo antagonista ed egemonia culturale.

EDITORS NOTE: This The Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2020 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

Wildfire Jihadis and the Genocide of Cultural and Ancient Sites

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.  Never yield to force.  Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” – Winston S. Churchill

“Europe is no longer Europe, it is Eurabia, a colony of Islam, where the Islamic invasion does not proceed only in a physical sense, but also in a mental and cultural sense.” –  Oriana Fallaci, Italian Journalist

“In each of our cities lies a second city: a Muslim city, a city run by the Quran.  A stage in the Islamic expansionism.” – Oriana Fallaci, Italian Journalist

“Some Westerners have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists.  Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise.” –  Samuel P. Huntington, American Political Scientist


Chaplain Austin Miles, a friend of over 23 years, recently authored a commentary on the fires of Australia.  He was right, they are not the product of climate change as the socialists in our society claim, but of purposely set fires by Islamists to destroy and instill fear in the nations they wish to occupy and control.

Miles wrote, “The Daily Telegraph reported that they now know how the Australian fires started. You will not see this in most newspapers.  They were deliberately started by two Muslim teenagers living in Australia with their parents.

Those teens, Fadi Zraika and his brother, Abraham were seen, laughing as they left court and walked out free.  Got that?  Walked free after setting Australia on fire.”

For many years, the Al-Qaeda Magazine and the Islamic State (ISIS) have offered instructions to its operatives and followers in the West about how to start large wildfires with timed explosives and how to build remote-controlled bombs.  Even ABC News has reported this.

Because of the great difficulty in identifying the perpetrators of the various wildfires, only a few Muslims have been caught and arrested.  But considering how many wildfires take place every year, it is not out of line to presume that some of the fires have been Al-Qaeda-inspired. Yes, Al Qaeda promotes forest fire attacks.

Muslims in Australia are among nearly 200 arsonists who have set fires. Authorities in Australia have arrested close to 200 people for deliberately starting the bushfires that have devastated the country, yet the media and celebrities continue to blame “climate change” for the disaster.

Many organizations believe the killing of terrorist Qasem Soleimani will activate the multitude of Islamic sleeper cells in America to retaliation…that remains to be seen.

Fire Jihad in Israel

In Israel, fires set by Muslims are a common occurrence.  Firefighters continue to deal with epidemics of arson in the Haredi community, with groups of young boys repeatedly setting fires in open areas. They would watch the firefighters battling the blaze and taunt them, saying they’d be called back to the same place in less than an hour.

Israel National News reported that two Arab arsonists were arrested in Jerusalem blazes. One of the fires was set next to an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) base on Mount Scopus, and the other was set next to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus. One of the Muslim thugs confessed, incriminating his partner in crime.

Islamic State in its summer 2017 English language magazine called on supporters to commit arson in the spirit of “devastating fires that ravaged Jewish settlements in Palestine.”

Through arson, operatives can “impose terror on an entire country,” the Sunni Islamist organization stressed.  They added, “The whole world witnessed the devastating fires that ravaged Jewish settlements in Palestine, destroying around 700 Jewish homes.”

Recruits should target “ideal locations” such as “houses and apartment buildings, forest areas adjacent to residential areas, factories that produce cars, furniture, clothing, flammable substances etc., gas stations, hospitals, bars, dance clubs, night clubs, banks, car showrooms, schools, universities, as well as churches, Rafidi temples, (Rafidi means those who have rejected Islam) and so forth,” the article explained.

Worldwide Jihadi Fires

Thousands of fires by jihadists have destroyed churches and cathedrals in Europe and around the world. Millions of acres have burned in California; forests, wildlife and homes have been destroyed.

In 2019 a Protestant Church was set ablaze in Niger, a landlocked country in West Africa following the arrest of a prominent Muslim leader and extending ongoing interreligious strife in the country.

Early in 2013, the New York Times reported that in Islamabad, Pakistan, an enraged Muslim crowd attacked a Christian neighborhood in Lahore setting fire to more than 200 Christian homes and two churches, in a new display of religious intolerance as Pakistan reels from violent persecution against other minorities.

In 2010, Muslim jihadists set fire to a church and to a Christian school in Punjab, India in reaction to the proposed Qur‘an burning by U.S. clergyman, Rev. Terry Jones,  in order to commemorate 9/11, an action he later abandoned but still caused protests among Muslims along with anti-Christian violence.

Then there’s the fire that nearly destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. The two dominant forces in Europe, secular leftism and Islamism, have sought the end of Christianity and the West. The Left believes that protecting Western civilization is equivalent to protecting white supremacy.

Whether Notre Dame’s fire was a worker accident or that a Muslim jihadist set fire to the landmark, as they have to scores of other churches around Europe, it doesn’t much matter. The omen is that fire jihadists are burning and destroying worldwide.

California fires over the last ten years have increased exponentially, burning homes, forests, and wildlife. ISIS has urged its followers to ‘ignite fires’ in forests across the US and Europe.  The disturbing call comes as wildfires have devastated California.

At least four propaganda posters have appeared on Quraysh, a pro-ISIS media outlet, urging followers to “ignite fires” in forests, The Washington Free Beacon says, citing The Middle East Media Research Institute.

“Ignite fires in the forests of America, France, Britain, and Germany, for they are painful to them,” one poster reads, according to the site.

Cultural and Historic Jihadist Destruction

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris, France. UNESCO, the international body that has been given the powers of judgment over what sites on this planet constitute our “world heritage,” has denounced the many incidents of vandalism as “acts of barbarism.” That’s about it, in terms of a concerted international response, they have done nothing to stop it.  UNESCO has no policing powers. We have empowered a body to recognize the rare and beautiful things of this planet, yet we do nothing when they are destroyed by Islamic jihadists.

Islam is not even a religion; it is a political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest, and that system is growing faster than any other.

Muslim extremists have long sought to destroy the physical evidence that any other faith worth valuing existed before their own. In March, 2001, the Afghan Taliban announced to the world that they would destroy the ancient, giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, and then, using explosives and artillery, proceeded to do just that. In the last decade, the Saudis, as the keepers of the Muslim holy places, have razed hundreds of historic sites in the cities of Mecca and Medina to make way for new construction, including shopping malls and hotels.

Famous Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci wrote her book, The Rage and the Pride after the 9/11 carnage by Islamists.  She railed against them knowing that Europe was already lost and America’s political correctness would be our demise as well.  She raged against the worldwide cultural and historical destruction by these jihadists.  Oriana was infuriated at the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. This destruction is cultural genocide.

Islamists willfully and with impunity are destroying some of the world’s oldest and rarest archeological treasures. In 2015, there were video clips of the Islamic State in Iraq of al-Sham’s extremists wielding sledgehammers and drills, methodically destroying an exquisitely carved stone lamassu, or winged man-bull, at the Assyrian complex of Nimrud, which was created by artists nearly three thousand years ago.

Then it was the ancient temple complex of Hatra, in northern Iraq, which was built by the Seleucid Empire around two or three centuries before Christ. Hatra had been the site of a series of glorious colonnaded buildings and statues; it is reported that beginning on March 7th, 2015, ISIS destroyed what was left of them.

Images on social media showed ISIS extremists attacking the grounds of St. George’s, a centuries-old Chaldean Catholic monastery outside of Mosul. In this world of all-seeing, all-hearing killer drones, these acts somehow continue.

Islamic State militants completely ransacked the northern Iraq City of Mosul’s central museum and destroyed priceless artifacts, some which dated back thousands of years. Some of the statues and artifacts dated to the Assyrian and Akkadian empires. The terrorist group published a video of the destruction. In the video, an ISIS representative condemns Assyrians and Akkadians as polytheists. The militants smashed the statues in the museum with hammers and pushed the remains to the ground so they shattered even more. ISIS had not just destroyed the museum, however, they have caused irreparable damage across Syria and Iraq since 2010.

Before and after ISIS, here are heartbreaking photos of destroyed historical   monuments in Syria.  Here is a guide from National Geographic to ancient cultural sites that ISIS has damaged or destroyed so far.

Destroying Freedom for the Love of Money

There are many enemies of freedom and liberty.  Communism and Communist Red China is one of the greatest, but another is just as violent and evil. Islam has conquered Europe through the migrant crisis; now their target is the west, i.e. America.  The Islamist goal is total control of the world for Muhammed.

Why do our politicians promote the politically correct attitude toward Islamists when they desire to ultimately control America?  Because they have succumbed to the bribery of the multitude of Muslim organizations who fund their candidacies. Ahh yes, the love of money, 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV) states, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” The Bible clearly says that love of money, (not money) produces all kinds of evil.

That love of money by our politicians has cost America dearly.  The Muslim Brotherhood, which was introduced to the George W. Bush White House after 9/11 by pro-Islamist and CFR member, Grover Norquist, has infiltrated all of American intelligence.

The FBI severed its relationship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in 2008, saying until it determines “whether there continues to be a connection between” CAIR leadership and Hamas terrorists, the organization is not an appropriate liaison partner.

However, two recent episodes show that, despite this rhetoric and evidence linking CAIR to a Hamas support network – in addition to unresolved questions about its current connections – government agencies continue to engage with the group, even sending its officials abroad to represent the U.S.

Conclusion

In 2009, David Gaubatz wrote Muslim Mafia, a book that details his son, Chris Gaubatz’s infiltration of CAIR and the Brotherhood for six months and what he found and exposed.  Chris and his team revealed a well-funded conspiracy to destroy American society and promote radical Islam.

The Islamic worldwide destruction of cultural and historic monuments is much like destroying America’s Civil War history by eliminating the statues of veterans of both sides of that war…they eliminate the historic truth.  The Muslim goal is to instill fear and pain by burning their enemy’s countries, their homes, their churches, and destroying their landmarks and their culture.  They now reside in our Congress…America must not allow them to succeed.

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Los Angeles: Anti-Semitic hate crimes 14 times more frequent than anti-Muslim hate crimes

No hate crimes are ever justified. The “Islamophobia” industry, however, wildly exaggerates the threat to Muslims and falsely portrays them as subject to widespread discrimination and harassment in the US, in its indefatigable pursuit of protected victim status.

“Anti-Semitic hate crimes in LA increased by 60 percent,” JNS, January 24, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

(January 24, 2020 / JNS) Reported anti-Semitic hate crimes in Los Angeles increased by a little more than 60 percent between 2018 and 2019—the highest total for hate crimes on the basis of religion, according to data released on Wednesday by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Of the reported 81 total hate crimes that targeted religious groups in 2019, 69 of them were anti-Jewish, compared to 43 of the 52 total hate crimes in that category the previous year as anti-Semitic—or a 60.5 percent increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes.

There are more than 500,000 Jews in Los Angeles, according to Brandeis’s Steinhardt Social Research Institute.

There were five reported hate crimes that targeted Muslims in 2019, compared to just two the previous year, followed by four hate crimes targeting other religions not listed….

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

The Constitution and the March for Life

Hadley Arkes: The logic of the Constitution’s separation of powers should be enough to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that disfigured our laws and altered the moral sensibilities of our people.


As we reached the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, pro-lifers gathered again in the March for Life, in what is usually the coldest weather that Washington D.C. will suffer.  The March began with speeches on the Mall and then it would move, en masse, down Constitution Avenue until it culminated at the Supreme Court, the scene of the crime.

In January 1973, seven judges had taken upon themselves to sweep away, in a stroke, the laws in all of the States and the District of Columbia that cast protections over the life of a child in the womb.  And now, the pro-lifers head to the Court with the sense of seeking redress for the wrong that emanated from that place, transforming the culture as well as the laws.

They go with a livelier hope that the Court, as it is now constituted, is closer to the moment when Roe v. Wade may be overruled, or at least scaled back, in a decisive move that would lead, step by step, to its withering away.

In my last column, I recalled the classic example of the political branches, led by Lincoln, countering the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, the decision that threatened to sweep away all laws that barred slavery.  As I sought to show, Lincoln’s argument for the constitutional role of the political branches was anchored in the very logic of the separation of powers under the Constitution.

Over the last twenty years some of us have sought to make Lincoln’s understanding explicit as part of the preamble, or understanding, attached to pro-life legislation.  That effort failed, for various reasons until 2002 when we succeeded in passing the Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act, the Act that sought to protect children who had survived abortions.

And now some of us have sought to raise the issue again with the sequel, the bill that seeks to attach serious penalties for the surgeons who kill those babies surviving abortion. If the political class had been clear on this understanding in the run-up to Roe v. Wade, there would have been no need for pro-lifers to be marching in the cold every January.

The argument begins by returning to the classic case of Cohens v. Virginia (1822).  Chief Justice John Marshall observed there that any question arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States may rightly come within the reach of the judicial branch of the federal government.

But if that were the case, we suggested that the corollary clearly followed:

If the Supreme Court can articulate new “rights” under the Constitution, the legislative branch must be able to vindicate the same rights under the same Clause in the Constitution where the Court claims to have had found them.  And in filling out those rights, the Congress, at the same time, may mark their limits.  The one thing that should not be tenable under this Constitution is that the Court may articulate new rights – and then assign to itself a monopoly of the legislative power in shaping those rights.

With the benign logic of the separation of powers, it would have made the most profound difference if Justice Brennan and his colleagues had understood, at the very outset, that if they loosed upon this country this new “right to abortion,” the judges could not keep control of it.  Congress would have laid hands on it at once, and we know, from the record, what Congress was likely to have done.

Lest we forget, the parties were not as polarized as they are now on this question. There were strong pro-life Democrats in Congress, reflecting the outrage of their voters, and quite ready to do something.  If Congress laid its hands on this matter, it would have been to counter forcefully the decision in Roe, not to endorse and promote it as a breakthrough in our jurisprudence.

Justice William Brennan was no mean reader of the political winds, and with this cast of things, it seems highly unlikely that he would have encouraged his colleagues to spring this decision, especially with two judges in bristling dissent.

In that event we would have been spared the scene of pro-lifers marching every year in the cold, winding around the Capitol until they reached the Court – and with that move confirming a premise even worse yet: that, among the branches of our government, the Court is truly the most sovereign of all in governing our lives.

What I am suggesting is that the simple logic of the separation of powers – the logic explained by Lincoln and exemplified by his Administration – that this logic of the Constitution could have been enough to have spared us the decision that disfigured our laws and altered the moral sensibilities of our people.

If and when Roe v. Wade is overturned, it would be on a day in June, when the Court announces its decisions on the cases most freighted with controversy.  In that event, the pro-life March of celebration could be held in the spring, with the signs of life renewing.

And yet my sense of the pro-lifers is that they would still march every January in the cold. For something in them just doesn’t want to make things easy.  They might prefer to remember with cold sobriety that the temptation to do thoughtless, even murderous things, may spring even from decent people living in good places.

COLUMN BY

Hadley Arkes

Hadley Arkes is the Ney Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Amherst College and the Founder/Director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights & the American Founding. His most recent book is Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law. Volume II of his audio lectures from The Modern Scholar, First Principles and Natural Law is now available for download.

EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2020 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

The Method to Their Madness

“America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” – Abraham Lincoln.   January 27, 1838.


For different reasons and perhaps unknowingly, the leftist-supported LGBTQ movement and Islam are allied in a common goal of ridding the West of its Judeo-Christian ethos.  The former would abandon America to the tyranny of unrestrained freedom, the latter to the prison of a mullahcracy – strange bedfellows united by a common goal.

Our school systems countrywide have long been moving away from our Biblically-inspired culture – gradually eliminating our own values to make way for the chaos of the Left and the tenets of dehumanizing Islamic laws, sharia.  It began in the 1960s, but it was never so insidious and efficient until the Obama years and the implementation of Common Core standards and other deviations from our Founding Principles and Virtues.

With an influence on all aspects of students’ lives, schools have been discouraging close friendships within the classroom for quite some time, preparing the children for dependency on and development of a group mentality, in which opinions are insinuated into the entire class rather than encouraged to be formed by the individual.  Longer time spent on computers and away from critical peer interaction stunts the brain development necessary to form and defend their own thoughts.  Kept from reading quality literature that would expose them to the experiences and hard-won wisdom of previous generations, they are instead confined to the propaganda du jour.

Further disengagement from amity is accomplished with the introduction of intersectionality, whereby the children are emotionally divided into conflicting groups determined by superficial characteristics, such as race, religion, ethnicity, sex/gender, social or political group membership.  The  dissimilarities rouse their distrust, envy and intolerance, which in turn trigger their resentment, anger and violence.  Their rational judgment abandoned, they look to the leader (schools, textbooks, instructors) for protection.  This becomes the “wolf pack” from which they gain their relevance, acceptance, power and invincibility.  Their blind need for harmony overrides all desire for alternative ideas and viewpoints.  The product of their schooling, implemented long before we understood the Left’s control over academia, is more stressing and devastating than we had imagined.

The removal of literature authored by “old white men” has decreased their language skills and reading comprehension, killing the inspiration that once empowered further investigation and learning.  It was also used to instill a resentment for the “old white men” – our Founding Fathers and all Caucasians.  The reading skills of many of today’s high school graduates are no better than fourth-grade level.  They cannot read their own diplomas, but have been promoted in the name of “equality,” and disposed to listening to mind-bending oration on whom to hate and blame for their plight, their incompetence, unemployability, and social station – the true culprits being their educators.

Hearing a persuasive speaker can preclude research and critical thinking, and prevent the development of the vital ability to discern fact from misinformation. Consequently, they are rendered defenseless against, for example, the simpler Arabic-published, antisemitic material that damns Israel and Jews worldwide.  The unrelenting emphasis on equality has leveled the learning field and produced mediocrity in the students.  The resultant “Brave New” American unexceptionalism is indistinguishable from the capabilities of the Third World, and is fatally vulnerable to the confident assertions of Islam.

Beware of Islam, but beware equally of an education that disarms our youth.

The other attack is against the essence of the children’s identity, their family heritage, their ability to bond with others in a mutually supportive friendship or marriage and parenthood, their God-ordained role in human society.  Leftist-controlled academia have been laying the groundwork for this destruction patiently over time, eroding the core and spirit of their personality, even to removing their sexual identity, making them vulnerable to assaults, humiliation, and total dominance.  Although homosexuality and its various effects are publicly considered haram (prohibited, impure and sinful) in Islam, some unspoken acceptance exists, so that, even here, these two evils of Islam and Marxism (the Green-Red Axis), may still work conjointly – at least until the final accounting.

With homosexuality and deviance now becoming acceptable, the exposure of the very young to bizarre behaviors, the appearance of Drag Queens at libraries’ Storytime, the gay-rights activists are being allowed to condition our young children (including Kindergartners) to accept masturbation, transgenderism (to some deadly results) and pedophilia.  The behavior of a pedophile, now innocuously termed a MAP (Minor Attracted Person), is being hailed as acceptable, without giving thought to the victimized child.  We need not leave it up to imagination to consider the effects of rape at an early age.

In the Islamic world, the mother has complete control over her son for his first seven years, during which time she may take him to the local bathhouse where he will be assaulted, raped and humiliated, and bond violently to sexual relations.  The result is a lack of intimacy and empathy, animosity toward his mother’s betrayal, feelings of aggression against all women, and confusion that extends into his adulthood.  The act becomes synonymous with power, control and domination.  The infamous mass attacks and sexual assaults by Arab migrants on the women in Cologne, Germany, have revealed the Arab man’s sick relationship with women.  His rage is nurtured by his family life and encouraged by imams and Mahmoud Abbas’s Days of Rage, and western cultures are still denying this form of combat.  The Islamic woman who is raised to be subservient is valued only when she has borne a son and when he has been martyred in suicide while murdering the perceived enemy of Islam.

The objectification of children is a commonality shared between the Left and Islam, the attitudes now being overtly introduced into our culture as we descend into a godless darkness.   The LGBTQ community’s activists, supported by the Left and Islam, have no reservations about allowing pedophiles to conduct a dehumanizing assault on our most vulnerable.  Robbed of their childhood, these children are to be exposed to a deviance for which they are disastrously immature, so that they, too, may react with terrible fear, abandonment, shame and degradation, their anger paralleling that of the jihadi’s.  Pedophiles and their victims are to be added to the progressives, anarchists, communists, prematurely released criminals, uncontrolled migrants, Antifa, Black Lives Matter – the mainstream media’s darlings – as the homegrown warriors rise up against capitalism, citizen sovereignty, freedoms and individuality.

Abraham Lincoln warned us to beware that we could be destroyed from within, but never, in his wildest nightmares, could he have envisioned how it would be attempted.  Those who are so fearful as to remain in denial may never know what hit them.

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RELATED ARTICLE: How Drag Queen Story Hour Expanded Across America

Tlaib retweets “Palestinian” propagandists’ tweet blaming Israelis for death of boy who apparently drowned

Rep. Tlaib has nearly 900,000 followers on Twitter. Hundreds of thousands likely saw her initial tweet before she took it down. She did not retweet the retraction.

“Tlaib deletes retweet blaming Israelis for death of boy who apparently drowned,” Times of Israel, January 26, 2020:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib retweeted then removed a tweet falsely blaming Israelis for the death of a Palestinian child.

Tlaib, a Palestinian American who is a Michigan Democrat and one of only two lawmakers to back the boycott Israel movement, retweeted a tweet by Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestinian official, who was quote-tweeting an account, realSeifBitar, that accused Israeli settlers of kidnapping, assaulting and throwing into a well an eight-year-old child. “The heart just shatters,” Ashrawi said.

In fact the boy, Qais Abu Ramila, appears to have drowned accidentally in a reservoir of rainwater in eastern Jerusalem. Israeli first responders found him on Saturday and tried to revive him.

Tlaib removed her retweet, and Ashrawi eventually apologized for “retweeting something that’s not fully verified.” Tlaib did not retweet the retraction.

Dani Dayan, the Israeli consul general in New York, took Tlaib to task for spreading what he called a “blood libel.”

“I am always extremely cautious in criticizing US elected officials,” Dayan said on Twitter. “However, when an American elected official retweets an unfounded blood libel against Jewish Israelis, I cannot remain silent. Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib just did.”

Abu Ramila had apparently slipped into and drowned in the pond, formed after days of rain in the city’s Beit Hanina neighborhood, police sources said….

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.