Frontline Tours In The Holy Land
“There’s not any sort of option where a political solution is going to happen with Assad at the head of the regime,” Haley told CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “If you look at his actions, if you look at the situation, it’s going to be hard to see a government that’s peaceful and stable with Assad.”
“We don’t see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there,” Haley added.
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Ambassador Nikki Haley continues to stand strong for Israel by speaking out this past week against the boycott movement that seeks to undermine Israel through boycotting Israeli products. The hypocrisy of the boycott movement has reached new heights as Haley points out “they should be boycotting North Korea.”
A classroom exercise at Tel-Aviv’s historic Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium high school sparked controversy after it was reported last Thursday that students were forced to participate in a simulation of IDF activities at checkpoints in which “Palestinians” were abused by “IDF soldiers.”
According to the report published by the Israeli news outlet Walla!, students in the school’s 11th grade International Relations track were met at the entrance to their floor with two makeshift checkpoints manned by students simulating IDF soldiers. The students were forced to wait on long lines while “soldiers” proceeded to verbally abuse and refuse entry to some of the students.
The simulation drew sharp criticism from IDF reservists, wounded IDF veterans and pro-IDF activists who, by the initiative of the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, organized a demonstration today (Sunday) outside the school.
The demonstrators were joined by MKs Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Oren Hazan (Likud) who voiced their opposition to the “anti-IDF” simulation.
“This simulation is outrageous,” said MK Forer. “It is time for Education Minister Bennett to end this situation in which some principals go about doing whatever they please. Red lines have been crossed a long time ago.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also came out against the simulation during a live question and answer session on his Facebook page and said that such content is “fitting to be taught at a school named after [Hamas founder] Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and not in the Herzliya Gymnasium.”
Adva Zeltzer, head of the school’s International Relations track and activist in the far-Left Israeli NGO Zochrot that works to “promote acknowledgement and accountability for the ongoing injustices of the Nakba,” said that the simulation was voluntary and was initiated by the students.
However, students have come out and said that they were forced to participate in the simulation or risk receiving poor grades.
The school’s principal Dr. Zeev Degani backed the simulation and said that it was a “wonderful lesson that presented both sides. I am proud of my students.” Degani made headlines several years ago after forbidding students to wave the Israeli flag on school grounds and advocating to refuse IDF service.
Liran Baruch, a wounded IDF veteran who lost his eye during an operation in Kalandiya, was present at the demonstration and wore his uniform for the first time since his injury. Baruch said: “I was wounded because ‘human rights’ organizations instigated riots and violence in Kalandiya that resulted in me losing my eye. I didn’t shoot because I didn’t want to accidentally harm innocents.”
“It pains me to see the school’s administration blackening the name of IDF soldiers,” added Baruch.
Im Tirtzu’s National Branch Coordinator Tom Nisani took part in the demonstration and said: “We are here today protesting this disgraceful act of contempt towards IDF soldiers. We are calling on the Education Ministry to act immediately to end this political exploitation of students.”
“This is inappropriate and certainly not educational,” concluded Nisani.
On Tuesday Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev submitted a bill that seeks to revoke the salaries and retirement benefits of elected officials convicted of security-related offenses.
The bill comes in light of the recent episode surrounding Balad MK Basel Ghattas, who was charged with smuggling cellphones to security prisoners and subsequently signed a plea bargain to serve two years in jail and resign his Knesset seat.
A similar law passed in 2011 aimed to strip ex-MK Azmi Bishara of his pension after he was charged with relaying sensitive information to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War. However, the “Azmi Bishara Law” only applies to prison sentences of 10 years or higher.
As an amendment to the Penal Code the new bill seeks to revoke the benefits of all elected officials convicted of security-related offenses, which would include MK Ghattas. According to the bill, the revoked benefits would include all pension funds, retirement stipends, severance payments and more.
The bill’s sponsor MK Moti Yogev said: “It is inconceivable that the Israeli public should pay from its own pocket the pensions of MKs convicted of supporting terror and harming Israel’s security.”
Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg, who was involved in formulating the bill, said that MK Ghattas is merely the newest member of a long line of Balad Party members seeking to harm the security of Israel.
“The bill aims to revoke the salaries and retirement benefits of elected officials who work against the State of Israel and its citizens,” said Peleg. “The reality in which elected officials violate laws that endanger the security of the state on the one hand, and continue to receive benefits at the expense of the taxpayer on the other hand, cannot continue.”
Peleg added: “All members of Knesset, regardless of religion or ideological affiliation, are expected to uphold the law and not act as a fifth column. This is another step towards ending the phenomenon wherein the state funds those seeking to destroy it.”
With American and Kurdish forces prearing to launch an attack on Raqqa The Washington Post reported the follow:
The U.S. military has drawn up early plans that would deploy up to 1,000 more troops into northern Syria in the coming weeks, expanding the American presence in the country ahead of the offensive on the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa, according to U.S. defense officials familiar with the matter.
The deployment, if approved by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and President Trump, would potentially double the number of U.S. forces in Syria and increase the potential for direct U.S. combat involvement in a conflict that has been characterized by confusion and competing priorities among disparate forces.
Is this mission creep? On the surface it appears that the USA is slowly being pulled into the conflict. With Russia already carving up the Middle East the USA must hurry up and solidify its holdings. A post war Syria will be pseudo nation filled with competing interests.