News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- No Agreement in Iran, U.S. Talks - Jay Solomon and
Carol E. Lee
Two days of exhaustive negotiations in Oman between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, resulted in no significant breakthrough in forging a comprehensive agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program by a Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline, said senior U.S. and Iranian officials.
"Real gaps" remain between Washington and Tehran, said an American diplomat.
(Wall Street Journal)
- UN Unveils Panel to Probe Gaza War
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Monday that he had established the "internal and independent" UN Headquarters Board of Inquiry to review and investigate "a number of specific incidents in which death or injuries occurred at, and/or damage was done to United Nations premises" in Gaza during the recent summer conflict.
The Board will also "review and investigate incidents in which weapons were found to be present on United Nations premises."
The Board of Inquiry will be led by Patrick Cammaert of The Netherlands and will include Maria Vicien-Milburn of Argentina, Lee O'Brien of the U.S., Pierre Lemelin of Canada and K.C. Reddy of India.
(United Nations)
- Iraqi Shiite Militias Grow Brutal in Anti-IS Fight
The Shiite militias who have answered the call-to-arms by the Iraqi government to fight the Islamic State are growing more brutal, stoked by a desire for revenge against the Sunni extremists who have butchered Shiites who fall into their hands. In a grisly video recently posted online, a Shiite fighter poses beside decapitated bodies. Another militiaman sits nearby, grinning as he maims a corpse.
Sunnis, whom the government is trying to win over, accuse the militias of atrocities against their community, and there are concerns over the militias' links to Iran and Lebanon's Shiite Hizbullah group. Still, the tens of thousands of fighters in about half a dozen Shiite militias have been credited with many of the recent battlefield victories south and west of Baghdad. (AP-Washington Post)
- Palestinian Woman Found Guilty of U.S. Citizenship Fraud - Niraj Warikoo
A jury on Monday found Rasmieh Odeh, 67, a Palestinian immigrant, guilty of not disclosing she had been convicted in a 1969 Israel bombing when she was applying for U.S. citizenship. Odeh is associate director of the Arab American Action Network in Chicago. (Detroit Free Press-USA Today)
- Report: Gunmen Kill 5 Nuclear Engineers in Syrian Capital - Guy Taylor
Five nuclear engineers - four Syrians and one Iranian - were killed Sunday when gunmen opened fire on their bus just north of Damascus,
the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Al-Watan, a pro-Syrian government newspaper, suggested that the al-Qaeda-linked Nusrah Front was responsible. (Washington Times)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Palestinian Stabs Israeli Woman to Death at Bus Stop - Noam Dvir and Yoav Zitun
Dalia Lemkus, 26, from Tekoa, was stabbed to death at the entrance to Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion on Monday. The terrorist, Maher al-Hashlamun, first tried to run her over at a bus stop, crashing his car after striking her. Then he got out of the vehicle and stabbed her and two other civilians before being shot by a security guard.
Hashlamun, 30, from Hebron, is a member of Islamic Jihad who was jailed in Israel during 2000-2005. Lemkus had suffered a previous stabbing by a Palestinian terrorist in Gush Etzion in 2006.
(Ynet News)
See also What They Didn't Tell You about Dalia - Sherri Mandell (Times of Israel)
- Palestinian Stabs Israeli Soldier to Death in Tel Aviv - Shahar Hay
Sgt. Almog Shiloni, 20, from Modi'in, was stabbed to death on Monday after a struggle with a Palestinian who attempted to grab his weapon at the Haganah Train Station in Tel Aviv. Police arrested Nur al-Din Abu Khashiyeh, 18, of Nablus, who was in Israel illegally.
(Ynet News)
See also More Israelis Murdered by Palestinians in Past Month than Last Two Years
Sgt. Almog Shiloni and Dalia Lemkus were the tenth and eleventh Israelis to be murdered in the past six months. They are the fifth and sixth fatalities in the past month, compared to five Israelis killed by Palestinians from the West Bank in all of 2012 and 2013. Furthermore, more than 100 Israelis have been wounded in the past month due to Palestinian terror attacks.
(Ynet News)
- Israel: Hateful Beliefs about Jews Are Ingrained into Palestinian Psyche - Daniel K. Eisenbud
Fueling months of chronic rioting and terrorist attacks by Palestinians is a widespread and systematic campaign of the dehumanization of Jews, who must be eradicated "by any means necessary," Strategic Affairs Ministry Director-General Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser said Sunday. Core tenets comprising the Palestinians' "psychological infrastructure" include the belief that Jews are "defiling" Jerusalem "with their presence," and if you kill them you will "become a hero."
These hateful beliefs are ingrained into the Palestinian psyche at birth, via textbooks, social media, cultural activities, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is culpable for this narrative because he is contributing to it by commending killed terrorists, while implicitly stating that "this is what you are expected to do." "In the morning Abbas says we don't want escalation, and in the evening he says, 'by all means necessary'," Kuperwasser explained. (Jerusalem Post)
See also
Photo: Al Quds University in Jerusalem Offers Exhibit Praising Shooting and Running Over Jews
The Hamas-affiliated Shehab News Agency has this photo of a new exhibit set up by the Islamic bloc at Al Quds University in Jerusalem dramatizing the shooting of Yehuda Glick as well as the recent car terror attacks and praise for the murderers and terrorists. (Shehab-Elder of Zion)
- Israel Slams UN for Silence on Terror Attacks
Israel's ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor on Monday criticized the UN Security Council's silence following multiple terror attacks against Israelis in the past three weeks. "Every day Israelis are coming under attack. Every day the crowds of violent Palestinian rioters grow larger. And yet, this institution has not uttered a word to denounce attacks against Israelis. Ignoring incitement and terrorism is similar to supporting terrorism."
"A person doesn't just wake up one day and decide to stab someone or ram his car into a crowd of people. These attacks are the results of years of anti-Israel indoctrination and the glorification of so-called martyrs. The incitement is everywhere. In schools, mosques and media, the Palestinian Authority is glorifying terrorists and celebrating attacks on Jews and Israelis." (Times of Israel)
- Is Hizbullah Smuggling Weapons to Brazil?
Hizbullah is being investigated in Brazil for the illegal trade of firearms, Rio de Janeiro's O Globo newspaper reported Sunday. Hizbullah-linked groups began smuggling arms into Brazil back in 2006. Brazil-bound weapons ultimately reached jails, from which criminal gangs operated, in exchange for "protection of any foreigners [already] detained in prisons," as well as a slice of the profit. Hizbullah also helped negotiate deals to obtain explosive devices for terror plots. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
- The Temple Mount in Jerusalem - Shmuel Rosner
The area of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has been controlled by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. But the Waqf, a Muslim body affiliated with Jordan, handles the day-to-day management of the Mount itself. Unlike most other past conquerors of Jerusalem, Israel did not use the pretext of victory in the war to take full control over the Mount.
The Palestinians keep building a campaign of lies around the Temple Mount - by denying any Jewish connection to the site and alleging that Israel seeks to dismantle the mosques on top of the Mount. This campaign presents the Jews as a colonizing force that has no historic, religious or cultural claim to the land. And it has a practical component: utilizing a made-up threat to rally the Arab street against Israel.
Jews visiting the Temple Mount are not allowed to pray, to carry with them demonstrably religious objects, to make a blessing, to bow down. Lip movements are monitored.
Jews are forced to channel religious expressions to the Western Wall - namely, they are barred from the site where the Temple stood and are relegated to a secondary remnant of a supporting wall of the Mount. The writer is a fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute.
(New York Times)
- Questions Raised about Support of Arab Allies Against ISIS - Bryan Bender
As air operations by the military coalition attacking the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria enter their fourth month, the vast majority of bombing runs are being conducted by U.S. forces, with the majority of the others performed by Western allies. According to U.S. Air Force Central Command, 86% of the 8,007 missions flown between Aug. 8 and Nov. 3 were carried out by the U.S.
"This mission made sense if we are supporting regional actors willing to police extremism in their own region," said Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who recently visited the coalition's joint air operations in Qatar. "It makes no sense if the regional actors are not willing to stand up to it and we are being called on to do what regional actors should do." (Boston Globe)
See also In the UAE, the U.S. Has a Quiet, Potent Ally - Rajiv Chandrasekaran
As part of the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State militants,
on many nights, American planes from Al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE are accompanied by F-16s operated by the UAE air force.
After the U.S. military, Emirati fighters have conducted more missions against the Islamic State than any other member of the multinational coalition. In August, several UAE F-16s flew all the way to Libya to assist the Egyptians in bombing a militia that is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Obama administration's ongoing efforts to broker a deal with Iran over its nuclear program have prompted deep worries. Emirati officials do not believe Iran will comply with the terms of any agreement limiting their attempts to build a nuclear bomb - an argument they have made repeatedly to the White House.
(Washington Post)
- ISIS Unchecked - Hazem al-Amin
In Syria, ISIS and the Nusra Front have been making advances in Idlib and in the north, despite the air raids. The regime also has been advancing in Aleppo, Damascus, and the capital's countryside. The sole party to suffer from the raids has been the non-extremist opposition factions that have been unable to move out of their points of concentration.
In other words, the international coalition seems to be achieving the opposite of what it proclaimed to achieve. It came to strike at ISIS and prevent the regime from benefiting from these strikes; but what is happening is the exact opposite. It is only logical that the regular Syrian military units that were fighting against ISIS should step aside and make room for the air raids, which enables the regime to exploit these raids in order to consolidate its position in Aleppo. (Al-Hayat-Mideast Mirror)
Observations:
Looming Iran Deal Spells the Empowering of Evil - David Horovitz (Times of Israel)
-
We know where the negotiations to regulate Iran's nuclear program are heading.
Iran pours its energies into mastering the technology for nuclear weapons. From its "supreme leader" on down it makes crystal clear its hegemonic regional ambitions, its contempt for the West, and its aim to bring about the demise of Israel. And the U.S.-led international community willfully closes its eyes and ears to the dangers, wishing them away.
- What the U.S. administration would like to have perceived as a new generosity of spirit emanating from Washington, a desire to conquer past animosities, to build new bridges, to play fair, is regarded in this brutal region, by the purveyors of that brutality, as weakness.
- Statecraft in the face of an extraordinarily dangerous regime required mustering the international resolve to reverse Tehran's drive for the bomb; it required maintaining the unity of purpose to ensure sanctions were kept in place and ratcheted up as required; it required making plain that there would be no deal at all unless the necessary terms were reached, with the combined threat of more sanctions and a military readiness to underpin that stance; and it required the dismissal of arguments such as the one that holds that the Iranians have the knowhow anyway.
- As Emily Landau, an expert on nuclear proliferation at Tel Aviv University's INSS think tank, points out, Syria's scientists did not suddenly lose the knowhow to build chemical weapons, but their leadership no longer risks having them utilize it. If only the Iranians had been forced into a similar capitulation.
- Whether the deal now taking shape ostensibly keeps Iran six months or eighteen months from the bomb makes no significant difference. An arrangement that depends on verifying Iranian good behavior and taking speedy counteraction in the event of bad behavior is simply not workable - and both sides know it.
- "The United States," says Landau, "has been acting as though it is engaged in a confidence-building effort, showing the other side that it can be trusted, that 'we can reach a common goal.' But there is no common goal. Iran does not want a deal that would require it to back away from its nuclear program. It wants a deal that allows it to become a threshold state that can go for the bomb at a time of its choosing."
See also If Iran Says "Yes" - Bret Stephens (Wall Street Journal)
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