Author: Micha Gefen

Micha is a government policy analyst for Israel Rising.
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ISIS Takes Hostages and Slits Priest’s Throat in Northern France

Jacques Hamel

The hostage event in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France is over, but not before the attackers slit the priest’s throat and taking 2 nuns and 2 parishoners hostage.  One witness recalled that the attackers screamed Daesh [ISIS] while they slit the priest’s throat.

Response from Marie LePen, the French far right leader was swift on Twitter. “Horror again in SaintEtienneduRouvray. The nature of the attack clearly makes one fear another attack from islamist terrorists.”

A spokesman for the interior ministry said the knifemen were shot dead as they exited the church. The alarm was reportedly raised by one of the hostages who managed to escape.

France’s Le Point reporting that the priest killed in the attack was 86-year-old Jacques Hamel, ordained in 1958, although this has not yet been confirmed. The website also says multiple sources say the two men identified themselves as ISIS supporters.

The incident comes among a swarm of radical Islamic incidents across Western Europe, unnerving citizens who had up until the last 10-15 days begrudgingly put up with a flood of Syrian refugees and other muslim migrants. The scales now are clearly tipping against the current EU policy.  The solution is not clear as the migrant population in Europe does not seem to be gong anywhere, while Erdogan looks to unleash a new flood of refugees from Syria on the European mainland.

Normandy is but another stop along the way towards an Islamic indiced chaos across the European continent.

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Israel Defeating BDS Movement One Country At a Time

During a debate at the State Control Committee on Monday, a number of MK’s argued that Israel’s foreign policy and public diplomacy (Hasbara) require a more unified voice. This includes appointing a new minister to take over the Foreign Ministry position, which the Prime Minister currently holds.

MK Elharrar remarked, “During this time, when the State of Israel is dealing on a daily basis with an intensifying delegitimizaiton campaign, attacks by UNESCO on the historic link between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, one-sided resolutions against Israel in the UN`s Human Rights Council and even attacks on us in the World Health Organization, don`t you think we need to appoint a foreign minister who will act to improve Israel`s standing in the international community?”

Netanyahu countered by saying that the success of Israel’s public diplomacy is measured by its diplomatic ties, foreign trade and public opinion. “Today Israel is perceived more and more as an asset and an influencing element in the world because of our war on terror and our technological achievements… We have achieved free trade with China, a 30 percent increase in trade with India, an agreement with Japan on protecting rigs, military coordination with Russia, initial ties with a host of African countries, heads of state visiting Israel for the first time, the normalization of ties with Turkey, and every week I meet with four heads of state. Israel`s foreign policy is a great success. Despite some specific successes [of the delegitimization campaign against Israel], we have defeated the boycott movement in many arenas.”

It is true that the scope of Israel`s connections with countries around the world has never been broader, especially after Netanyahu’s recent visit to Africa after which several African countries strengthened their diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.

Netanyahu then went on to state that the obstacles to peace between Israel and Palestinians is the incitement of Abbas and the PA to murder Jews and the refusal of the PA to recognize the Jewish state.

The constant hostile resolutions against Israel during times of conflict and continuous movements to boycott Israeli products are a clear sign that Israel needs improvement in its public diplomacy. Netanyahu says Israel is “working to annul the automatic majority against us in international forums” by improving relations with African, Latin and Asian countries.

Others such as MK Zehava Galon of Meretz argue that “Israel will have to choose between its democratic values and international legitimacy.”

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Israel To Help Bolster Economy for West African Countries

Marcel Alain De Souza, President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), met with President Rivlin in Israel today. They spoke about economic cooperation between Israel and West African countries.

“Africa is key to the future of the world. Your organization facilitates the cooperation between the individual African countries, and also between Africa and the whole world which looks to see what is happening there,” remarked Rivlin. “We have excellent cooperation, and we welcome the opportunity for Israel to contribute from its knowledge and abilities in the fields of health, water and agriculture; a sign of the friendship between us.”

ECOWAS is a 15-member regional group, constituting around 320 million people, with a mandate of promoting economic integration in all fields of activity of the constituting countries. Member countries making up ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’ Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

The recent few weeks have shown an increase of cooperation, diplomatically, economically and politically between Israel and African countries. There seems to be a major regional trend of countries reaching out to Israel for guidance and training in technology, agriculture and security.

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Pro-Israel Muslims Get Attacked

It may come as a surprise that many Arabs and Muslims support Israel. However, many refuse to voice their support for Israel and anger for the Palestinian Authority due to fear for their lives.

Khaled as a child with Israeli flag (credit: Facebook)
Khaled as a child with Israeli flag (credit: Facebook)

This was the case last week when Khaled Abu Much, who works in a Jerusalem hotel, was attacked by a fellow Arab worker who found, via Khaled’s Facebook page, that Khaled is a long-time supporter of the State of Israel. Khaled posts pictures of himself with the Israeli flag and posts about his disgust for MK Haneen Zoabi.

Finding this out, his fellow worker threw a rock at his head and Khaled was rushed to a hospital to receive stitches while suffering with dizziness.

During an interview on Israel’s Channel 20, Khaled stated that he is not afraid to voice his support for Israel. “These responses, it’s normal, wherever there are such extremist Arabs, but they won’t break me,” he exclaimed. “I walk the true path. This is the truth. I was born here, I opened my eyes here and saw the national flag. There was no Palestinian flag where I was born. The Star of David, that’s me, that’s how my mother raised me.”

Khaled is not the only one being attacked for voicing his opinion about Israel. Mahdi Satri, 17, a young Palestinian Arab from the village of Jadeidi-Makr in northern Israel, says he receives “regular threats from both Arab Israelis and Palestinians, via social media and by phone” because of his outspoken support for Israel. In an interview with The Algemeiner, Satri stated that he is in constant fear for his life from people in his community and that he feels like he is being targeted by all Arabs in Israel, including Hamas.”

Mahdi Satri
Mahdi Satri

In a touching letter he wrote, Satri explains his fear and says “If I died and if they succeeded to kill me, know that I died a Zionist defending my country. And know that I was smiling while dying because I’ll die for my country.”

In the past, Arabs showing support for Israel even fled the country due to fear for their lives. In 2014, Muhammad Zoabi, a loyal Arab Muslim citizen of Israel, fled the country after receiving multiple death threats. Today, Zoabi is back in Israel and is one of the countries leading voices supporting Israel and speaking out against Muslim terror. His Facebook page exudes love for Israel.

Muslim support for Israel has no borders. Even Muslims from Pakistan publicly show their support for Israel. Noor Dhari, whom we interviewed a few months ago, is a Pakistani Muslim who went as far is becoming an honorary member of the Zionist federation in the UK. He claims there are many pro-Israel Muslims just like him, but most are afraid to speak up.

It is an outrage that one cannot voice their support without being attacked or fearing for their lives. Are Muslims so insecure about their beliefs that they need to attack other Muslims for voicing an opinion? Is it such a crime to want peace in the country in which one lives?

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Israel and Chad to Strengthen Diplomatic Ties, As Israel Renews African Relations

Just weeks after Prime Minister Netanyahu’s historic trip to Africa and just days after Israel signed a diplomatic agreement with Guinea, Israel reports it looks to reestablish ties with Chad, another majority-Muslim African country.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Director Dore Gold met with Chad President Idriss Déby to discuss issues of common interest and establish bilateral cooperation.

Chad severed ties with Israel in 1972 after pressure from neighboring Arab countries. However, many African countries are now feeling less pressure to cooperate with Israel after seeing Muslim countries, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, building strong security ties with Israel.

Chad, like many Muslim and African countries, is facing the threat of Islamic extremists and could use a partner like Israel to assist with security and intelligence. Israel’s technological and entrepreneurial advances can also benefit many African countries economically.

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Ali Sonboly: Iranian Refugee Kills 9 Germans, Merkel’s Policy in Tatters

ali-sonboly

Ali Sonboly, son of Iranian refugees in Germany killed 9 and injured many more in Munich. The attack comes a few days after a 17 year old Muslim refugee attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria with an axe. The attacks come after weeks of reported rapes and violence on the part of refugees that have been allowed to enter Germany and other Western European countries unhindered.

Despite the clear Islamic connection German authorities have refrained from calling it a terrorist attack.  German leadership tried to hide the name until neighbors released it to the media.

Refugee Policy in Tatters

“We are mourning those who will never go back to their families. We share your pain. We think of you. We suffer with you,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said about the attack. “We live together in a liberal society. This freedom is our greatest strength,” she contined.
The challenge now for Merkel and other leaders of countries that have backed such a liberal refugee policy is at one hand offering a clear security plan, while maintaing a sense of control as citizenry in Germany, France, and other Western European countries grow increasingly frantic.
The real message with the attacks in Nice, Bavaria, and now Munich is that open borders where Muslim refugees are able to stream into western societies has created a real sense of deterioration in security.
The Enemy Within
There are no real solutions to Europe’s refugee and terrorist issues.  Far too many undocumented migrants have flooded Europe.  These migrants have no interest in becoming part of the host countries they go to, rather they act as a spring board for radical Islamic terror and a pool of near limitless potential Jihadists waiting to be radicalized.
Western Europe, which long ago lost its backbone does not seem capable of fighting something so outside of their paradigm. Ali Sonboly is essentially one of millions of potential home grown terrorists waiting to strike Europe.
The recent overtures to Israel on becoming a security partner are in effect too little too late.
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Without Amona the Government Will Fall

“It’s unthinkable to simply evacuate entire towns for judicial reasons,” Infrastructure Minster Yuval Steinitz was quoted as saying on Monday in relation to Amona and its impending destruction.

Amona has become a red line for many in the government and a litmus test for both Avigdor Lieberman and Bibi Netanyahu. The issue is far more beuroctratic than ideological. Most of the country still remembers what occurred there when the former Prime Minister Olmert essentially used what amounted to an incredible use of force to ensure the destruction of several houses there. What transpired there even disgusted those on the left.

The country has little interest going back to those times and move wants to move forward. It is clear Steinitz is floating this idea in order to pave way for a government decision to legalize Amona.  He knows as well as the Prime Minister that without Amona the government will fall.

Uprooting Amona will confirm a disconenct between the leadership of Likud and the party’s rank and file, possibly splitting the party.  It will also destroy Lieberman’s persona as a populist leader of the rightwing, damaging his ability to rebuild his brand.

Admidst the growing storm that threatens to tear apart the government, Yuval Steinitz has taken th lead in finding a logical solution. “My proposal says something simple – logic must prevail. There’s a difference between one of two houses and a whole neighborhood, and there’s a difference between temporary living on the land and a community that has been built up over many years when someone suddenly challenges the ownership.”

Steinitz has a point.  Amona, isn’t growing simply to make a statement, but it is a thriving community.  In most civil societies, absentee land claims are settled through monetary comensation, but because Amona is over the green line, the Supreme Court views the community through the lense of politics rather than ruling on legitimate government policy.  Then again, Israel’s supreme court has always had a habit of ruling against communities in Judea and Samaria.

In a government that has at least one minister accused of building without approval, the hypocrisy of that same government being forced to destroy a whole comunity defies logic. Then again, rightwing governments in Israel have consistantly found themselves hamstrung by a leftist court system, a hold out from the Mapai era that imposes its will on everything and anything in Israel.

What About the Absentee Land Law of 1950?

For days now rumors have been floating that Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was going to use an already established law enacted in 1950 connected to absentee land ownership.  As of today, that proposal has been taken off the table for fear that the supreme court would not only strike it down, but use it against the right in the future. Attorney General Mandebilt has insisted the only solution is to move the community by rebuilding it.

If Amona goes, the government goes, and yet the entrenched left is forcing Bibi’s hand and pushing him to destroy his own government.  Yet, somehow Bibi seems capable of finaly turning the tables on an overinvolved and activist court.  If he truly wats to do so, Amona is the right place to start.

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Yossi Sade and Sde Bar Provide Security and Growth to Eastern Gush Etzion

יוסי שדה

With current peace talks permantly on hold, the need for increaseג building in the areas like Eastern Gush Etzion have become a priority for the Gush Etzion locality and the government.  As the region becomes more established other needed services have been built in the last decade and are now flourishing. This is where Yossi Sade’s (יוסי שדה) vision has taken hold and helped transform the region and nation.

Nestled underneath Herodian, site of King Herod’s mountain palace, Sde Bar (שדה בר) under the directorship of Yossi Sade (יוסי שדה)  has led a revolution in rehabilitating troubled youth by giving them responsibility and a caring place. From taking care of livestock to cheese production, youth from all sorts sof backgrounds not only learn skills, but rebalance their lives in order to tap their true potential.

Yossi Sade (יוסי שדה) and the Sde Bar staff work with the youth who have run outof their rehabilitation options.  Not only do the boys have to do phyiscal work, they work towards highschool graduation, learn history through guided tours, and many move onto the army and integration back into Israeli society.

Beyond the societal affects of the farm, Sde Bar’s location gives it a strategic purpose.  By connecting Herodian to Tekoa, Sde Bar helps form a contiguous Jewish presence in Eastern Gush Etzion that is often overlooked when tourists and government officials frequent Western Gush.

 

 

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Is Jerusalem Under Seige?

When Jerusalem’s light rail was finally finished and operational, the first worry was how to protect it from a terrorist attack.  Over a decade ago, suicide bombers targeted the city’s busses at will, until Ariel Sharon launched operation Defensive Shield. Today Jerusalem witnessed a frighteningly close call when a potential suicide bomber was stopped in his tracks.

A suspicious man carrying a bag was stopped on the train and when the bag was opened, explosives were found.  On one hand what happened is testament to the security services successful strategy, on the hand as the mayor Nir Barkat suggested, the city was saved only by a miracle.

Up until now the light rail suffered plenty of rock attacks when he reached Arab neighborhoods. The residents of Jerusalem have grown used to this occurence, but a bombing is a whole different manner. No one wants to relive those dark days of the second intifada, when Jerusalem felt as if it was under siege.

The light rail must have increased security and the mayor may have to do what he has been reluctant to do and that is closing the light rail stops that go through Arabs neighborhoods in order to cut down on flow potential terrorist into the heart of the city.

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan, False Flag Coup, and the Rise of the New Sultanate

There are times when rulers reach a zenith in their power.  Some of them fall away and others find a way to reverse course and rise again.  The failed coup in Turkey over the weekend marks the lowest point Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It also marks that moment that Erdogan shifts Turkey from a secular democracy to a neo-sultanate once and for all.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used the failed coup to do what he has always wanted to do.  He has wasted no time in purging the Turkish courts and military of secular members and tightening his grip on the country.

The real question though is why did this coup involve only junior members of the military? If it had such support how could it fail so miserably?

There are many answers, but one likely possibility is that Erdogan himself could have staged the coup in order to give credence to his wanton desire to take full control over Turkey. If this seems far fetched, Erdogan has been accused of false flag attacks before. One such incident was uncovered last year and reported at Shoebot.com: “Twitter whistleblower Fuat Avni claimed on Monday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ordered the intelligence agency head to stage a false assassination plot against his son Bilal Erdoğan in order to blame the Gülen movement.”

Others have reported that Erdogan himself has been quite open on the need to use a false flag operation to make an excuse for sending troops into Syria.

The coup attempt in the last 24 hours has been very weak, lending fuel that this was indeed a false flag attack.

Erdogan has always been quite clear in seeing his role as one of a reinstated sultan, presiding over an expansive rebuilt Ottoman Empire.  Since he has become president, Erdogan has increasingly solidified control, while expanding Islamic influence throughout the Republic of Turkey. No one should forget that it was Recep Tayyip Erdogan who made the following statement: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers…”

Russia Will Not Wait

If it becomes clear that Erdogan is in fact strengthening his grip in a far more complete way than he already has, Russia will not hesitate to make moves to check Turkey in order to ensure Erdogan can do little harm to Putin’s influence in the region.

In the coming weeks the rapprochement moves that had been underway between the two countries may very well become frozen if Putin feels the need to put the Turkish ruler back in his place.

Israel will Stay Neutral

Despite reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, the last thing Israel wants is a newly emboldened Erdogan.  If Erdogan is really about to transform Turkey into a sultanate, Israel will think twice before restarting weapons sales to its military.  With Russia and Israel building a closer friendship the two will be in coordination. This means that Israel is quietly positioning itself in opposition to NATO’s strategy in regards to both Russia and Turkey.

The USA is Backed Into a Corner

Obama quickly mumbled support for Erdogan.  This, even as Erdogan is holding troops USA troops hostage until the United States extradites Muhammed Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish preacher Erdogan claims is behind the coup.

 

 

It is too early to see what Obama will do, but most probably nothing. Afterall, Turkey is a NATO ally and is needed as a forward base to bomb ISIS. Look for Gulen to be extradited or this to be settled quietly behind the scenes.

Erdogan has always been focused on spearheading political Islam at a regional level.  The question isn’t whether he wants to be a sort of neo-sultan, but how. I think we have just seen the first steps in Erdogan’s strategy.