09/08 Links Pt1: Hamas: Give Us West Bank So We Can Destroy Israel; Brussels shooter planned Paris attack

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas: Give Us West Bank So We Can Destroy Israel

Abbas's initiative envisages the establishment of a Palestinian state within three years either through negotiations or by having the UN Security Council impose a solution on Israel.
Abbas's initiative, however, ignores the threat from Hamas and Iran to use the West Bank as a launching pad for destroying Israel. It also ignores that Hamas could easily seize control over a future Palestinian state by force or through the promised free and democratic elections, as assured by a recent public opinion poll published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
Abbas is demanding a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines (including the border with Jordan). But he cannot offer any assurances that Hamas and Iran would not use this border to smuggle weapons into the West Bank.
In fact, Abbas is demanding from the Israelis and Americans something that would bring about his own demise. His only option for now is to hold onto power in the West Bank and continue to work with Israel against the common enemy – Hamas. The day Hamas agrees to lay down its weapons and abandon its dream of destroying Israel, he will then be able to go to the U.S. and Security Council and ask for an independent state next to Israel. (h/t IronyDome)

Why a Palestinian state is not the answer

Every once in a while I feel the need to write some form of this post to explain to Americans yet again why a Palestinian state is a bad idea.
This is not a big issue in Israel, despite the impression you may get from reading Ha’aretz’s English website. Most Israelis understand that a peaceful Palestinian state is not on offer, and that withdrawal from Judea and Samaria would create a security nightmare. But a large number of Americans still think that the moderate answer to the Israel-Arab conflict is a “two-state solution.”
They think this because they hear it from liberal Jewish leaders, and because they hear it from the President, whom they by and large respect. And they hear it from the Israeli Left, which has a voice in the media that is far out of proportion to its numbers.
After all, Americans are not here in Israel to see for themselves, so they depend on ‘experts’. And who is a bigger expert than the head of the Union for Reform Judaism or the President of the US? Those who oppose the two-state idea are called ‘extremists’ or worse, and nobody wants to be an extremist.
So here are the reasons against creating a Palestinian state. See if you think I am an extremist.

‘Brussels shooter planned massive attack in Paris’

Mehdi Nemmouche, the man who allegedly shot up the Brussels Jewish Museum earlier this year, killing four, reportedly plotted a large attack during Paris’s Bastille Day celebrations.
Based on the testimony of four French reporters who were kidnapped by the Islamic State and held captive by Nemmouche, French daily Liberation reported Monday that the returned IS fighter planned “at least one attack in France, in the heart of Paris, which would be at least five times bigger than the attacks in Toulouse.” The attack would allegedly have taken place on Paris’s iconic Champs Elysees boulevard on July 14, the French national holiday marking the beginning of the revolution.
The March 2012 Toulouse attacks targeting Jews and soldiers in the southern French city left seven dead and five injured, and the suspected perpetrator, Mohammed Merah, killed himself after a 30-hour siege.

Mofaz: Islamic State's goal is to conquer Jerusalem, just like Hamas

The Islamic State's goal is to conquer Jerusalem, Kadima party chairman and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz said Monday. Speaking at a conference held by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Mofaz said Islamic State terrorists are active throughout the region, and are looking to move in to Jordan, Gaza and Lebanon. "But their goal is Jerusalem, just like Hamas.
Islamic State and Hamas are one, let us make no mistake. They are from the same village, and they are branches of the same tree," he said.
"The Islamic State beheads its victims, and Hamas operates with the same cruelty. True, this is not photographed. But anyone who heard the recording of the murder of the Israeli teenagers kidnapped three months ago, and the laughter of the Hamas men who shot them, understands that Hamas is no less barbaric than the Islamic State," Mofaz said. "Hamas is much more advanced. It uses rockets and attack tunnels. The Islamic State isn't there yet, but it's seeking to get there." Hamas employs terrorism as part of its strategy to head a Palestinian state in place of Fatah and PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Mofaz argued.
"Hamas is parked on our border. Two months ago, I turned to the prime minister in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and proposed that we demand the disarmament of Gaza in exchange for its rehabilitation. Disarmament is a must. We can't not negotiate with the Palestinians on one channel, while allowing Hamas to dominate the lives of millions of Israelis in the second channel," he added.
He called for a demilitarized Palestinian state, with no army, missiles, or armored vehicles that can threaten Israel. "Hamas is stronger and bigger than the Islamic State. The Islamic State has about 15,000 members. Hamas is made up of 25,000 members. It can continue to function despite the very severe blow it absorbed [this summer]," said the Knesset Member and ex-IDF chief of staff.
In exchange for disarmament, Gaza could receive 50 billion dollars over five years for reconstruction, he said. This would "disconnect Hamas from [Gazan] civilians and give the Palestinian Authority an opportunity to move into Gaza, together with reconstruction." But if no arrangement that includes disarmament is reached, Israel will have no choice but to disarm Gaza by force, he warned. "Before we send in the army and our sons, we must try it through an arrangement.

Muslim leaders continue to betray Australia by condemning Tony Abbott

Last week, same thing again. On Wednesday, we woke up to news of another Islamic State beheading, this time of Stephen Sotloff.
Same killer and same message. In fact, if the West kept attacking the Islamic State, a British aid worker would be next to have his head sawn off.
And that very day Muslim leaders again put out a statement condemning ... Tony Abbott.
This time, it was from the Australian National Imams Council, our highest Muslim body, and quoted the Grand Mufti, Professor Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, our most senior Muslim cleric.
Again, it made not one criticism of the Islamic State. Again, it blamed the West for jihadism: “One of the main causative factor (sic) for local radicalisation in the West has been the western governments’ military involvement in the Middle East.”
It even said the Mufti “opposes the Government’s current decision to transport and provide weapons to the Kurdish forces in Iraq” — arms the Kurds need to save themselves from being massacred by the Islamic State.
And there was this warning: “If the Australian Government is serious about reducing the terror threat locally, then it must review its foreign policy decisions with regard to this region.”
Consider that warning carefully. If we don’t change our policies in the Middle East — and the ANIC hates our support of Israel — then “the Government will be imputed (sic) for further radicalisation locally”.
That sounds like an outrageous threat. Name one other ethnic or religious group here that warns Australia to change its foreign policies or face violence from its members.

Hate for sale as Muslim flag adopted by jihadists goes to auction at Sydney mosque

The flag, used by the terrorists responsible for thousands of murders across Iraq and Syria, including the execution of two Western journalists, was auctioned at a Liverpool mosque.
Disturbing footage of the sale is being shared among Australian teenagers, some of whom appear to have been radicalised by the extreme violence associated with the outlawed Islamic State, and its black and white flag featuring the Shahada.
One 15-year-old Muslim boy who posted footage of the auction to his Instagram account has since posted pictures with the black flag of jihad.
In a chilling reflection of the IS campaign in Syria, another image of himself in a headscarf has a caption directed at Syria’s president: “going to kill Bashar al Assad now”.

The viability of a two-state solution after Operation Protective Edge

It is western conventional wisdom that a two-state solution is the laudable goal of the Palestinian people. As US Secretary of State Kerry presumptively declared, “We all understand the goal... two states living side by side in peace and security.” Those in the West who advocate for the two-state solution cannot fathom that Palestinians do not want two states for two peoples.
Nor do they realize that many Palestinians seek all of Israel, not just a state composed of the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has deftly used the rhetoric of a two-state solution to his advantage, claiming in English that a two-state solution is the PA’s goal. Unfortunately, his record (which the West ignores) is completely at odds with his words.
His refusal to sign an end-of-conflict agreement or to recognize a Jewish and Arab state, and his refusal to relinquish the right of return all belie his deceptive support for a two-state solution.

Steinitz: Abbas is offering us 'collective suicide'

PA President Mahmoud Abbas is offering Israel a recipe for collective suicide, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Monday.
Speaking at a conference held by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Steinitz said, "Every examination of what happened in Gaza, and every look at what is happening around Israel, leads to the conclusion that the demand for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines, without holding on the Jordan Valley, without defensible borders, without security control, and without the demilitarisation of Gaza... is a recipe for collective suicide."
Stressing that "we all want a diplomatic process and peace," the cabinet minister said, "We must be careful, for despite our desire for peace, we are talking about our existence. We must look at what is happening in the Palestinian arena, not just in the context of Israel and the Palestinians, but as part of the wider regional development in the Middle East."
Terror organizations are spreading throughout the Middle East, Steinitz said, noting developments in Libya, the Sinai Peninsula, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and several other arenas.
"When you look at the whole of the Arab-Muslim Sunni arena... organizations with jihadi agendas are spreading. Hamas took over half of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza through force, while executing hundreds of Fatah members. Hamas took over half of the PA. We can't disconnect that from the wider context," Steinitz said.

Israeli lawmakers back reported bid to settle Palestinians in Sinai

Right-wing Israeli politicians on Monday came out in support of a reported Egyptian-proposed deal to cede land in the Sinai to a future Palestinian state as a means of resolving the refugee issue.
The deal was rejected out of hand by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over a week ago and denied by Egypt on Monday.
Israel’s Hebrew-language media on Monday picked up a report that Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi had proposed resettling Palestinian refugees in a large tract of land in the Sinai Peninsula that would be annexed to the Gaza Strip. The Times of Israel reported on September 3 that Abbas had rejected that Egyptian proposal.
Abbas’s dismissal of the proposition didn’t stop members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition from piping up in favor of the plan.

Egypt Denies Offering Land for ‘Sinai State of Palestine’

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry says President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi never offered the Palestinian Authority a chance to establish a new state in the Sinai Peninsula, according to i24 News.
On Monday morning, Israel Army Radio had reported the Egyptian president had made the suggestion to to Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas earlier this week in Cairo.
The alleged proposal would have provided a tract of land 1,600 square kilometers (618 square miles) adjacent to Gaza, to “end the refugee story,” as Abbas told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.

Abbas Denies 'Fabricated' Reports of Sinai State Offer

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's office wasted no time on Monday denying reports that Egypt had offered the PA a state in the Sinai Peninsula, in return for the PA agreeing to forego demands on the 1949 Armistice lines as borders.
Al-Tayyib Abd Al-Rahim, Secretary-General of Abbas's office, told the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency that the reports were "fabricated."
Al-Rahim added that Abbas would not accept any alternative to a "Palestinian state" on the 1949 Armistice lines with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.
"This news is completely false and the proposal is an old one suggested by former head of the Israeli National Security Council Giora Eiland, who suggested to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza and parts of Sinai with autonomy in the West Bank," al-Rahim said.

'Yikes!': Influential Think Tank In The Tank For Muslim Brotherhood-Supporting Qatar

Numerous prominent foreign policy think tanks took millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments seeking favorable research and connections to U.S. policymakers, raising questions over whether the organizations should have filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The New York Times uncovered arrangements between 28 U.S. think tanks — including the Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development — and 64 foreign entities worth at least $92 million.
The Brookings Institution, considered by many to be the most prestigious think tank in the world, comes off especially poorly in the report.
“There was a no-go zone when it came to criticizing the Qatari government,” Saleem Ali, formerly a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, told The Times.
Qatar, which backs the Muslim Brotherhood, paid Brookings $14.8 million over four years to fund the center and for a special project to address relations between Muslims and the U.S.

Revealed: Hamas-Backing Qatar, Also Funding Brookings Institute, Home of Former U.S. MidEast Envoy Indyk‏

In comment over the figures in The Times’ report, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of Jerusalem-based funding watchdog, NGO-Monitor, told The Algemeiner that, “Indyk’s Brookings activities have been a part of the focus of this article, and the fact that Qatar is a primary funder of Brookings and that Qatar is also a major funder of Hamas are very clear conflicts of interest that Indyk never acknowledged, which makes all of the activities even more problematic than before.”
“Indyk was never forthcoming about that issue, and that’s the overall criticism that he’s faced,” Steinberg said.
Steinberg says that the report exposes a wider issue of NGO influence on U.S. and Israeli politics.
“This is a problem that Israel has faced for 20 years, and now it’s clear that this is something that the Americans are waking up to,” he noted.
“This isn’t just about Qatar,” he said. “It’s about Norway, it’s about the European Union. What the article didn’t say, for instance, was that the European Union provides money to political groups, NGOs, and think tanks, to lobby against the death penalty.”
“And, of course, they’re heavily manipulating Israeli politics in a much more intensive effort, basically to control the Israeli democratic process on issues like war and peace, and boundaries.”

Shimon Peres: Qatar and Turkey must be punished for supporting terror

Former president Shimon Peres opened the 14th annual International Conference of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya on Monday by saying that the international community must include Israel in its fight against terror.
"Terror is a system that needs to be addressed religiously, militarily, nationally and financially. The world needs to join together to fight terror and Israel must be a part of that," he said.
"Terrorism is tearing apart the Arab world. It has destroyed Yemen, Libya, Iraq and will only continue. Terrorism has to be fought with an all-out war and people cannot shy away because of the beheadings."
Peres also gave strong support to the use of tough economic sanctions against Qatar and Turkey to punish them for financing terror.

It’s time to learn the facts about Judea and Samaria

The recent furor surrounding the government’s decision to declare nearly 1,000 acres at Gvaot in Gush Etzion “State Land” is a classic example of the ignorance of history and law that governs most discussions of Israeli actions beyond the internationally hallowed “Green Line.” Media headlines around the world screamed about “annexation” and “land grab,” the Palestinian Authority declared it a “crime” and foreign ministries around the world have demanded the reversal of the decision. However, few articles, press releases or communiques mention the crux of the matter; the legal and historical status of the land in question.
For many, if not most, around the world, every inch of land beyond the 1949 armistice lines is automatically Palestinian; a display of unfamiliarity with history and international law.
To truly understand the status of this territory we have to first differentiate between the personal and the national.

MKs to Reexamine Security on Mt. of Olives

Despite the fact that police recently opened a station in the area, there was almost no police enforcement whatsoever in the area, and Arabs had a free hand to harass Jews and desecrate graves at the cemetery.
Rivlin told the pair that his own parents were buried at the site, and he was well aware of the problems there. He promised to assist Jewish groups seeking to ensure safe worship for Jews at the site, and to work with police to ensure real security in the area.
“Tens of thousands of Jews are buried on the Mount of Olives, and it is a symbol for Jews around the world,” Rivlin said. “We cannot have a situation where Jews cannot ascend the Mount of Olives and pray there without interference. We must do everything to achieve security there,” he added.

East Jerusalemites riot after Palestinian teen dies

Rioters threw rocks and attacked a gas station convenience store near the seam line between the East and West sides of Jerusalem Sunday night, as the capital saw the worst spate of violence since the killing of an East Jerusalem teen in June.
The rioters — angry over the Sunday death of an East Jerusalem teenager from wounds sustained a week earlier after being shot by Israeli police during a riot — plundered and threw Molotov cocktails at a gas station in the capital’s French Hill neighborhood.
No one was injured in the attack on the gas station, but serious damage was inflicted to the store and the station after it was torched.

Arab Rioters Attempt to Blow Up Jerusalem Gas Station

During the course of intense Arab rioting in Jerusalem on Sunday, Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King reports that a massive explosion was miraculously averted in the north-eastern neighborhood of French Hill.
King arrived at a gas station in the Jewish-majority neighborhood on Sunday night, and reports that dozens of Arab rioters attempted to ignite the fuel reserves in what potentially could have caused a huge blast.
"Muslim terror is raising its head in French Hill," King told Arutz Sheva on Monday. "A huge disaster was averted yesterday towards midnight, when no fewer than 40 Arab terrorists broke in to the French Hill gas station and tried to set off the fuel stores."

IAF Bolsters Sorties Along Syrian Border; Any Spillover ‘Will Cost Them Dearly’

Senior Israel Defense Force officials said in recent days that they will not countenance any infiltrations by Syrian aircraft or ground vehicles, and that the Air Force has boosted patrols along the tense border, Israel’s NRG News reported Sunday.
Air force officials at Israel’s Ramat David airbase said they had increased overflights of the area by “dozens of percent,” in recent weeks due to the rising carnage just over the fence, potentially threatening Israel.
“A great responsibility rests on our shoulders which requires our alertness, readiness and presence on a larger scale in the North than in the past,” base commander Col. Nir said in an interview.
“We’re up there a lot more, with the intention of maintaining the sovereignty of the State Israel’s northern border, and ensuring that what is happening beyond it, does not seep over into our territory,” he told the Air Force magazine.

Defense sources deny Hamas rebuilding rocket arsenal

Defense officials rejected claims by a senior official on Sunday that Hamas has already begun rearming and rebuilding its attack tunnels, not two weeks into a month-long truce in the Gaza Strip.
“We don’t know of this information, and it is not clear to us on what the senior official’s [statements] are based and from where he derived this information,” the sources said.
Earlier Sunday, an unnamed senior official said Hamas had resumed digging the cross-border tunnels, replenishing its weapons stockpile, and manufacturing projectiles.
“We see that they’ve already started smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt, producing rockets and repairing the tunnels,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Hamas Rebuilding Attack Tunnels, Says Jerusalem

Two weeks after the IDF's counter-terror operation Protective Edge in Gaza was halted by a ceasefire, a senior diplomatic source says that Hamas has renewed its production of rockets and the smuggling from Egypt, and is rebuilding its attack tunnels.
The terror group is smuggling in materials for restoring its rocket array, says the senior source. “Hamas did not wait a single moment after the last round of fighting, and began its rearmament in anticipation of another round [of fighting].”
The senior diplomatic source is quoted throughout Israeli media.
Hamas appears to be “daring” Israel to take action against it, even as indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are about to start, with the purpose of reaching a long term “arrangement.” It is not known, at this stage, whether Israel intends to take action against the rearming and the renewed tunnel digging.

Leaders of South Say Renewed Tunnel Digging Means War

Leaders and residents of the south expressed frustration at the government, after a senior diplomatic source revealed assessments on Sunday showing that despite the ceasefire Hamas has restarted construction of rockets and terror tunnels to attack Israeli civilians in the region.
"Continued tunnel digging towards our communities is a cause for war," Hof Ashkelon Regional Council head Yair Farjoun told Yedioth Aharonoth, calling on the government to take decisive action against the threat on his constituents.
The talk of war comes after a controversial ceasefire was reached on August 26 by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu despite opposition in the Security Cabinet. Polls after the ceasefire found 54% of the public opposed it, and further found Netanyahu's approval had sunk from 82% at the height of the operation to a paltry 32%.
Residents of the Gaza Belt region told Yedioth Aharonoth about the fears they have knowing that even after 50-day Operation Protective Edge their security still has not been returned, and the Hamas terrorist group remains a looming threat.

Israel, New Zealand in diplomatic spat over Palestine

New Zealand officials said Monday that Israel has rejected their new ambassador because he is also an envoy to the Palestinian Authority.
Since 2008, New Zealand’s ambassadors in Turkey have been responsible for covering a large swath of territory. But the officials said Israel has refused to accept their latest appointment to the post, Jonathan Curr, who was due to travel to Jerusalem in the coming days to present his papers.
“A few days ago, Israel advised New Zealand that it would not accept as ambassador a person who was also a representative to the Palestinian Authority,” Foreign Minister Murray McCully said in a statement.

UN Watch: New UN rights chief Prince Zeid criticizes Israel in opening speech

The former Jordanian ambassador to the U.N. also criticized several other countries, but he made no mention of many of the world’s worst human rights violators, including Council members such as China, Cuba, Pakistan, Algeria, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Prince Zeid made only passing mention of Council member Russia, despite its naked aggression in Ukraine. He also made only fleeting mention of North Korea, despite its shocking atrocities.
Jordan, despite its poor human rights record, including its recent turning away of Syrian refugees of Palestinian descent, was nowhere mentioned in his speech.

UN human rights chief: IS seeks ‘house of blood’

In his maiden address to the UN Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein lashed out at the militant group calling itself the Islamic State, which has carved out a stronghold and declared a “caliphate” in an area straddling the border of the two conflict-torn nations.
“The Takfiris (extremists) who recently murdered (US journalist) James Foley and hundreds of other defenseless victims in Iraq and Syria, do they believe they are acting courageously, barbarically slaughtering captives?” the Jordanian prince told the opening of the council’s 27th session in Geneva.
The massacres, beheadings, rape and torture attributed to IS militants “reveal only what a Takfiri state would look like, should this movement actually try to govern in the future,” said Zaid, the first Muslim and Arab to serve as UN High Commissioner of Human Rights.
“It would be a harsh, mean-spirited house of blood, where no shade would be offered, nor shelter given to any non-Takfiri in their midst,” warned the career diplomat.

Israel’s Foreign Minister: ‘Room For Optimism’ on Reports of Hamas Military Chief Deif’s Death in Air Strike

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday weighed in on discussion over whether Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif was killed in an Israeli air strike in August, saying, “Until now we have not heard his voice; there is room for optimism,” according to Israel Radio.
During Operation Protective Edge, Israeli officials said that a massive bomb dropped on a building in Gaza City’s Sajayah neighborhood on August 19 had targeted Deif. Hamas quickly denied that he was dead, although it admitted that the strike killed Deif’s wife and son.
Deif has not been heard from or seen since the bombing, although he has rarely been seen in public in recent years due to repeated Israeli assassination attempts.
Hamas, Lieberman also said, “is no less dangerous that ISIS,” and pointed to numerous intra-Palestinian public summary executions carried out during the 50-day operation to halt rocket fire and attack tunnels against Israel.

Mashaal calls for talks with Fatah to smooth over rift

Aiming to quell tensions with Fatah, the Qatar-based leader of Hamas Khaled Mashaal said Sunday that the two factions must resolve their differences around a negotiating table, rather than airing the grievances through the media.
In a video message broadcast at a Hamas rally in Sidon, Mashaal said it did not make sense for the PA to continue its security arrangements with Israel, or to disarm “the resistance,” Israel Radio reported.
Earlier on Sunday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also condemned the PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA leadership for remarks against the Gaza leadership, namely for calling Hamas a “shadow government,” and stating that the PA would not allow Hamas to make policy decisions like signing agreements or initiating conflicts. On Saturday, Abbas also mocked Hamas for launching thousands of rockets at Israel in the 50-day conflict, which did relatively little damage in Israel, Ynet reported.
“President Abbas’s remarks against Hamas and the resistance are unjustified and the sources of information and figures he relied on were incorrect and have nothing to do with the truth,” Abu Zuhri told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency.

Hamas Leader Ismail Haniya: Our Media Was the River from Which Global Media Drank Information


Palestinian Author Jihad Al-Rajabi: Blood of Mujahideen Makes Gaza Soil More Fertile


Egypt Arrests Seven Men from 'Gay Wedding' Video

Egypt arrested seven men on Saturday for taking part in a gay wedding video that went viral on social media, accusing them of inciting debauchery and undermining public morals. The arrest of two other participants is pending.
The video purporting to show the country's first gay marriage and featured two men exchanging rings surrounded by friends.
"Nine of the 16 participants were identified in an investigation and seven were arrested," state news agency MENA said, without specifying whether the two men at the center of the ceremony were among those detained.
The seven were remanded in custody for up to four days, accused of "incitement to debauchery" and "publishing indecent images," MENA added.

JCPA: The Structure of the Islamic State (ISIS)

Much has been written and said about the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (the Levant) — ISIS. Most of the commentators have looked at ISIS as another terrorist organization, an al-Qaeda off-shoot, waging a guerrilla war with cohorts of unorganized thugs. The Afghani-style gear, the pickup trucks, the all black or army fatigue uniforms which most ISIS fighters wear, the unshaven beards, the turbans, hoods and head “bandanas” with Arabic inscriptions have added to the confusion.
In fact, ISIS is much more than a terrorist organization; it is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last three years, since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the Islamic State developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction participating in the civil war to become the strongest, most ferocious, best funded and best armed militia in the religious and ethnic war that is waged today in Syria and Iraq.

Despite Setbacks, Islamic State Faces no Danger to its Existence

The evidence indicates that the tactics of the Islamic State which enabled the group to achieve its rapid gains in Iraq in the course of the summer are of less application when defending areas against a determined attacker. IS has fast moving, mobile light infantry forces and employs terror tactics to intimidate populations. It has limited manpower, however, and no particularly original tactical abilities in defense, beyond its fighters' willingness for self-sacrifice.
Further west, in Syria, when IS fighters have faced the well motivated and determined Kurdish YPG militia, they have failed to gain ground. In Hasakeh province, and further west in the beleaguered Kobani enclave, the lightly armed but highly motivated and well-trained YPG fighters have succeeded in holding off the jihadis (albeit with heavy losses on the Kurdish side). This was so even when IS began to deploy US weapons systems captured in Mosul against the Kurds in Kobani. The enclave remains intact.
So the Islamic State is not invulnerable. Nevertheless, its continued existence is under no immediate threat. This is because of strategic, not tactical issues.
The forces that would like to destroy the Islamic State cannot, and those that could do not wish to.

Saudi Cleric Sa'd Al-Shathri: ISIS Members Are Apostates; They Should Kill Their Commanders to Save Themselves from the Hellfire


Vienna Imam Extols Gaza Jihad and Martyrdom: This Is True Jihad, Not Like That of ISIS


Islamic State Wins Support From Jordanian Pol, Shocks Saudis

Ruthless violence from the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, or ISIS) is dividing people in the Muslim world, as shown by two recent clips from Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
In Jordan, politician Muhammad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi, a Palestinian, vigorously defended the group during a television appearance posted online on August 31. Islamic State ideology “stems from the Quran and the Sunna,” he said, according to MEMRI’s translation.”The Quran and the Sunna constitute their ideology, doctrine, and conduct…there is no such thing as ‘ISIS ideology’ – its Islam.”
The Islamic State has divided the world into two camps – those who stand with the West, including the United States – and those who stand with ISIS. A recent ISIS slaughter of Syrian troops was justified, Al-Tamimi said, because, “They had killed tens of thousands of Muslims… If these Muslims are terrorists – I salute those terrorists! I salute the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria! Blessed be your hands! March on!”
For Saudi Arabia, however, news that a 25-year-old Saudi doctor, Faisal bin Shaman Al-’Anzi, carried out a suicide car-bomb attack for ISIS in northern Iraq in July, killing and inuring approximately 30 people, sent shockwaves through the country’s press, a separate MEMRI report shows.

‘Photo of slain IS leader’ reported to be doctored

A photo purporting to show the slain body of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be a doctored picture of another slain militant killed in Syria in 2013.
Rumors circulated on social media and Iraqi media over the weekend that Baghdadi was slain in a US airstrike several days ago.
Later Iraqi reports said the IS leader was severely wounded in the chest near the Syrian border and was receiving medical treatment.
The reports could not be independently confirmed.

PreOccupied Territory: I’m Telling You, There’s No Military Solution To Nazi Germany By Zahava Gal-On, Meretz (satire)

You’re not going to hear this from your right-wing government, but as a member of the Opposition it’s my job to confront everyone with the unpleasant truth: despite the Allies’ superior military capacity, there is no military solution to the Nazi conquest of Europe.
I am aware of the indignance this assertion will generate, given what we know about Nazi ideology and practices. But we must be realistic: you can’t solve every problem by force. Even if the Allies invade Europe and occupy territory, all that means is assuming responsibility for millions and millions of people who will then live under Allied occupation – and occupation, I need not tell you, is the root of all evil.
Even if the Nazis suffer an initial defeat on the battlefield, who is to say they will not remain underground, regroup, and fight a guerrilla war with the support of the local population? Allied reprisals will turn the people against them, and the Allies will end up pouring more and more resources into suppressing the guerrillas, which will simply escalate the cycle of violence. Don’t we all want to avoid that?