Friday, March 27, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Monday, March 23, 2015
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Gazans Speak Out: Hamas War Crimes
"If Hamas does not like you for any reason all they have to do now is say you are a Mossad agent and kill you." — A., a Fatah member in Gaza.
"Hamas wanted us butchered so it could win the media war against Israel showing our dead children on TV and then get money from Qatar." — T., former Hamas Ministry officer.
"They would fire rockets and then run away quickly, leaving us to face Israeli bombs for what they did." — D., Gazan journalist.
"Hamas imposed a curfew: anyone walking out in the street was shot. That way people had to stay in their homes, even if they were about to get bombed. Hamas held the whole Gazan population as a human shield." — K., graduate student
"The Israeli army allows supplies to come in and Hamas steals them. It seems even the Israelis care for us more than Hamas." — E., first-aid volunteer.
"We are under Hamas occupation, and if you ask most of us, we would rather be under Israeli occupation… We miss the days when we were able to work inside Israel and make good money. We miss the security and calm Israel provided when it was here." — S., graduate of an American university, former Hamas sympathizer.
While the world's media has been blaming Israel for the death of Gazan civilians during Operation Protective Edge, this correspondent decided to speak with Gazans themselves to hear what they had to say.
They spoke of Hamas atrocities and war crimes implicating Hamas in the civilian deaths of its own people.
Although Gazans, fearful of Hamas's revenge against them, were afraid to speak to the media, friends in the West Bank offered introductions to relatives in Gaza. One, a renowned Gazan academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that as soon as someone talked to a Western journalist, he was immediately questioned by Hamas and accused of "communicating with the Mossad". "Hamas makes sure that the average Gazan will not talk to Western journalists -- or actually any journalists at all," he said, continuing:
"Hamas does not want the truth about Gaza to come out. Hamas terrorizes and kills us just like Daesh [ISIS] terrorizes kills Iraqis. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us. The Gazans you see praising Hamas on TV are either Hamas members or too afraid to speak against Hamas. Few foreign [Western] journalists were probably able to report what Gazans think of Hamas."
When asked what Gazans did think of Hamas, he said:
"The same as Iraqis thought of Saddam before he was toppled. He still won by 90-something percent in the presidential elections. If Hamas falls today in Gaza, people here will do what Iraqis did to Saddam's statue after he fell. But even though Western journalists may not have been able to speak freely with Gazans, they still need a story to send to their editor by the end of the day. So it is just easier and safer for them to stick to the official line."
"What was that," I asked: "'Blame Israel'?"
"I don't know about that," he said. "More like, 'Never blame Hamas!'. Hamas was making a 'statement': Opposing Hamas Means Death. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us." (CONTINUED)
Saturday, March 21, 2015
France balks at the US-Iranian deal on five counts – not least with an eye on its Gulf ties
President Barack Obama failed to shift French President France Hollande from his objections to the nuclear accord taking shape between the US and Iran in the call he put through to the Elysée Friday night, March 30.
US Secretary of State John Kerry fared no better Saturday, when he met British, French and German Foreign ministers in London for a briefing on the talks’ progress intended to line the Europeans up with the American position. He then found, according to DEBKAfile’s sources, that France was not alone; Germany too balked at parts of the deal in the making.
The French are demanding changes in five main points agreed between Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif before the Iranians quit the talks Friday:
They insist that Iran can’t be allowed to retain all the 6,500 centrifuges (for enriching uranium) conceded by the Americans. This figure must be reduced.
US Secretary of State John Kerry fared no better Saturday, when he met British, French and German Foreign ministers in London for a briefing on the talks’ progress intended to line the Europeans up with the American position. He then found, according to DEBKAfile’s sources, that France was not alone; Germany too balked at parts of the deal in the making.
The French are demanding changes in five main points agreed between Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif before the Iranians quit the talks Friday:
They insist that Iran can’t be allowed to retain all the 6,500 centrifuges (for enriching uranium) conceded by the Americans. This figure must be reduced.
- Similarly, the stocks of enriched uranium accepted by the US to remain in Iranian hands are too large. (CONTINUED)
France balks at the US-Iranian deal on five counts – not least with an eye on its Gulf ties
Friday, March 20, 2015
Petraeus: Iran, not ISIS, is main threat to Iraq - Al Arabiya News
By Paul Crompton | Al Arabiya News
Friday, 20 March 2015
Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. forces during the 2007-2008 surge in the Iraq war, has said that Iran and the Shiite militias it backs pose “the foremost” strategic threat to Iraq, superseding the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terror group.
“I would argue that the foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State; rather, it is Shiite militias, many backed by — and some guided by — Iran,” Petraeus told the Washington Post during a recent visit to northern Iraq.
He said while these Shiite militias helped stop ISIS’ advance toward Baghdad, they were responsible for “atrocities” against Sunni civilians and could later emerge to be the dominant power in Iraq outside the government’s control.
“These militia returned to the streets of Iraq in response to a fatwa by Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Sistani at a moment of extreme danger. And they prevented the Islamic State from continuing its offensive into Baghdad. Nonetheless, they have, in some cases, cleared not only Sunni extremists but also Sunni civilians and committed atrocities against them,” Petraeus said.
“Longer term, Iranian-backed Shiite militia could emerge as the preeminent power in the country, one that is outside the control of the government and instead answerable to Tehran,” he added.
Petraeus said the increasing Iranian influence in Iraq, through Revolutionary Guard Commander Qassem Suleimani, underlines “a very important reality: The current Iranian regime is not our ally in the Middle East.” (CONTINUED)
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Petraeus: Iran, not ISIS, is main threat to Iraq - Al Arabiya News
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
STEALTH NAZIS: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus
TIME TO FIGHT THIS EVIL ON OUR OWN CAMPUSES!
VIDEO LINK: Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus - YouTube
Friday, March 13, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
THE MOMENT APPROACHES: 'Furious 7' Revs Up for Likely $110 Million Debut
By Pamela McClintock
Universal’s Furious 7 is on the fast track to score one of the biggest box office debuts in recent memory when hitting theaters April 3.
Furious 7 — marking the final film from the late Paul Walker — could open between $110 million and $115 million in North America, according to box office pundits with access to early tracking.
Last year, the only movie to come in at $110 million or more in its domestic launch was Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 ($121.9 million). And, to date, the current record-holder for top April opening is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which debuted to $95 million in late April 2014. (CONTINUED)
FULL ARTICLE: Box Office: 'Furious 7' Revs Up for Likely $110 Million Debut
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Boko Haram said to swear allegiance to Islamic State | The Times of Israel
The leader of Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in an audio message disseminated on social media on Saturday.
The unverified message was posted on the Nigeria-based Islamist terror group’s Twitter page and appeared to be a recording by the African Islamist group’s leader Abubakar Shekau. (CONTINUED)
FULL ARTICLE: Boko Haram said to swear allegiance to Islamic State | The Times of Israel
Friday, March 6, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Ex-Iranian hostages agree with Bibi: Tehran can't be trusted | Fox News
For 444 days from 1979-1981, 52 Americans were held hostage in the American embassy in Tehran. (AP)
They dealt with the Iranian regime first-hand more than three decades ago, when it was founded in an act of war against the U.S., and several survivors of the hostage crisis say the idea of the U.S. negotiating with an unrepentant Tehran makes their blood boil.
For 444 days, the 52 Americans were held prisoner in the U.S. Embassy by the student revolutionaries that would help usher in the hard-line Islamic theocracy that remains in place today. Many of the hostage takers and guards held key roles in the Iranian government then and continue in important positions today.
“I think it’s very naive because the Iranians talk out both sides of their mouth,” said Clair Cortland Barnes, 69, of Leland, N.C, who was a 34-year-old communications officer at the time he was taken hostage. “Their actions betray their conversations. Their conversations say one thing and then they do something else.'
“They have an agenda that is to wipe out Israel and take over America,” he added.
FULL ARTICLE: Ex-Iranian hostages agree with Bibi: Tehran can't be trusted | Fox News
Netanyahu's devastating, irrevocable indictment of Obama | The Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the United States Congress in the House chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 (Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP)
It was widely suggested, ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s spectacularly controversial address to Congress on Tuesday, that the prime minister would have to deliver the speech of his life in order to justify the damage he would inevitably be causing to relations between his government and the Obama Administration. In the event, Netanyahu did deliver the speech of his life… and caused devastating, presumably irrevocable damage to his relationship with President Barack Obama.
On CNN, former administration official Martin Indyk called ties between the two leaders “toxic.” And that was moments before Netanyahu began his address. It’s hard to imagine the adjective that would best describe feelings in the Oval Office once the prime minister was done. (CONTINUED)
FULL ARTICLE: Netanyahu's devastating, irrevocable indictment of Obama | The Times of Israel
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Thousands of Russians March in Honor of Slain Opposition Leader in Moscow - Breitbart
An opposition march in Moscow evolved into a memorial march for opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin on Saturday. Thousands of Russians streamed through Moscow to show Russian President Vladimir Putin they are not afraid to voice their opinions and wish for a “Russia without Putin.” Images of the march flooded social media.
(FULL ARTICLE) Thousands of Russians March in Honor of Slain Opposition Leader in Moscow - Breitbart
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