Arab Leaders Give Hamas Silent Treatment

While Israel is being chastised by many in the international community for their defensive war against Hamas terrorists, there is an unusual deafening silence emanating from the Arab world.  This silence can be construed as a major defeat for Hamas in particular and for Turkey and Qatar in general.

In years past, every time Hamas had attacked Israel, the Arab world had always publicly backed Hamas and denounced Israel.  Fast forward to 2014…Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt have given tacit support to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.  Unfortunately, Turkey’s current Islamist government led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Qatari’s still support Hamas in their terrorist activities.

This tacit approval given to Israel by Arab countries has to be on the minds of the Hezbollah terrorist leadership as well.  In 2006, much of the Arab world considered Hezbollah a legitimate resistance movement, but things have changed dramatically over the last 8 years.  Iran’s support of Hezbollah and Hezbollah’s military support of Syrian President Assad has created a backlash from the Arab world.  It has been reported that Hezbollah had considered joining the fight against Israel in an effort to take some of the heat off of Hamas, but I think that is unlikely at this point.

In past conflicts between Israel and Hamas, Arab leaders would always pressure the American president to persuade Israel to stop their military activities.  Today, we have an American president and Secretary of State demanding that Israel halt their military advance, while Arab leaders stay silent on the sidelines.  In an odd twist, Egyptian President Sisi has become more of an ally to Israel than Barack Obama has been. 

Israel’s Channel 1 has published an alleged leaked phone transcript between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama.  In the transcript, Obama is demanding that Bibi unilaterally halt all military activities in the Gaza Strip.  Both the US and Israeli governments deny the authenticity of the leaked transcript, but both governments have their reasons for denying such an exchange.  Channel 1 stands by their story and says their award winning journalist received the leak from a senior American government official. 

The following is an English translation of the Hebrew account of the talk given in the report:

Barack Obama: I demand that Israel agrees to an immediate, unilateral ceasefire and halt all offensive activities, in particular airstrikes.

Benjamin Netanyahu: And what will Israel receive in exchange for a ceasefire?

BO: I believe that Hamas will cease its rocket fire — silence will be met with silence.

BN: Hamas broke all five previous ceasefires. It’s a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

BO: I repeat and expect Israel to stop all its military activities unilaterally. The pictures of destruction in Gaza distance the world from Israel’s position.

BN: Kerry’s proposal was completely unrealistic and gives Hamas military and diplomatic advantages.

BO: Within a week of the end of Israel’s military activities, Qatar and Turkey will begin negotiations with Hamas based on the 2012 understandings, including Israel’s commitment to removing the siege restrictions on Gaza.

BN: Qatar and Turkey are the biggest supporters of Hamas. It’s impossible to rely on them to be fair mediators.

BO: I trust Qatar and Turkey. Israel is not in the position that it can choose its mediators.

BN: I protest because Hamas can continue to launch rockets and use tunnels for terror attacks –

BO: (interrupting Netanyahu) The ball’s in Israel’s court, and it must end all its military activities.     

Many leaders in the Arab world see Hamas as a destructive force in an already hostile region and their tacit support for Israel’s military campaign is a victory.  It may be a quiet victory, but it’s a victory nonetheless.  Do I think the Muslim sheiks and kings of the Middle East will join hands with the Israelis and sing Kumbaya?  Absolutely not, but the behind the scenes support of Arab leaders can change the equation on any future conflicts between Israel and Hamas or even Israel and Hezbollah.  If we can just get Barack Obama and John Kerry on board, then Hamas might realize the folly of their continued missile attacks on Israeli citizens.                

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U.S. Navy takes position near Suez Canal

Just when it seemed the violence was easing in Egypt new clashes have erupted in southern Egypt. AFT is reporting that three people have been killed and 100 others were wounded. The latest violence comes after Vice President Omar Suleiman stated the uprising cannot continue to be tolerated. Suleiman promised the opposition during negotiations that the government would embark on a far-reaching set of reforms to include amending the constitution. The government also made pledges not to harass protesters and to investigate election fraud and official graft while hinting darkly at foreign influence in the protests.

Egypt could be on the verge of financial breakdown as large sections of its economic machinery are shut down by spreading strikes and workers' revolts against managements appointed by the Mubarak regime. The Obama administration is apparently readying the U.S. Navy in case military force is needed to keep the all important Suez Canal open for business. Debkafile is reporting the USS Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group, which consists of six vessels, has taken the strategic point opposite Ismailia between the west bank of the Suez Canal and its eastern Sinai bank. Helicopters on some of their decks are there to transport the 2,200 marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has been bolstered by two special operations battalions. The flotilla has a rapid strike stealth submarine, the USS Scranton, which is designed to support special forces' operations.

The Suez Canal and its 120 mile supply route has for years served as a vitally important passageway for oil. World oil prices were trading at their highest level in three years this week amid the revolt in Egypt, which for decades has served as a major petroleum transit route. So it would make perfect sense that the U.S. military would take a vital interest in the free flow of traffic in the Suez Canal. It's also being reported that since the uprising began in Egypt two weeks ago, more than 1,000 Hamas terrorists have infiltrated North Sinai from the Gaza Strip and seized control of the region. They were followed by Al-Qaeda cells which redeployed from Iraq in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has established a command center in North Sinai for coordinating its operations with the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.

The Egyptian crisis is far from over and many surprises remain to be seen. Will the United States military or the international community take control of the Suez canal? Will Hamas and Al-Qaeda take advantage of this crisis and set up shop in the Sinai? Stay tuned for further developments!

****UPDATE*****

Saudis told Obama to back Mubarak

Hugh Tomlinson Riyadh

February 10 2011 12:01AM

Saudi Arabia has threatened to prop up President Mubarak if the White House tries to force a swift change of regime in Egypt. In a testy personal telephone call on January 29, King Abdullah told President Obama not to humiliate Mr Mubarak and warned that he would step in to bankroll Egypt if the US withdrew its aid programme, worth $1.5 billion annually. America’s closest ally in the Gulf made clear that the Egyptian President must be allowed to stay on to oversee the transition towards peaceful democracy and then leave with dignity. “Mubarak and King Abdullah are not just allies, they are close friends, and the King is not about to see his friend cast aside and humiliated,” a senior source in the Saudi capital told The Times. Two sources confirmed details of the King’s call.

The Times

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Israel, Obama may be parting ways on the Iranian question

There is chatter coming out of Israel that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Obama Administration are locking horns on the Iranian question. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is reported to have put the brakes on the common practice of American military leaders from consulting one-on-one with their Israeli counterparts. It is believed that President Obama has used these opportunities to go around the Israeli ministers and convince Israeli military leaders that military action against Iran would be counterproductive. DEBKAFILE reported that Ehud Barak denied Obama's Special Adviser on the Middle East Dennis Ross from setting up separate interviews with the IDF's incoming and outgoing Chiefs-of-Staffs and head of intelligence. During 2009 and early 2010, hardly a week went by without high-ranking US bureaucrats and generals touching down in Israel and going straight into nonstop meetings with IDF officers according to DEBKAFILE.

In March 2010, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised President Barack Obama to withhold public statements on the Iranian nuclear threat for a year, during which he would give President Obama the chance to try his hand at halting Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon according to reports. It is apparent that the Iranians continue to play the West as fools, all the while the Iranians continue down the road to a nuclear bomb. The Israelis have apparently concluded that Obama's overtures to Iran to be ineffective and Israel may be gearing up for a preemptive strike.

While the Stuxnet worm may have set back the Iranian nuclear program by two years, the Israelis cannot sit idly by and allow Persia to continue in their quest to annihilate the Jewish state. Iran continues to arm Hezbollah and Hamas with more sophisticated weaponry to attack Israel, creating a three front war. It is reported that Obama has concluded that Israel has hardened its position on military action against Iran – deciding, in particular, that the accumulation of weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah had gone beyond what Israel found supportable for its security. I would agree the scales are tipping in favor of the Muslim terrorists in the region and no amount of "negotiations" will stem the tide. 2011 should be the year when Neville Chamberlain-style weakness ends and Churchillian gallantry begins.

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Cuban missile crisis in Venezuela

According to the German daily Die Welt(Nov. 25, 2010), the Iranian regime is planning to place medium range ballistic missiles on Venezuelan soil. An agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October 19, 2010. According to Die Welt, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1,300-1,500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) missiles will be deployed at a base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an "emergency."

Why we haven't heard about this situation in the American main-stream media just baffles the mind. The Obama Administration has dithered on our missile defense shield in Europe and continues to dither while the Iranians inch closer to a nuclear bomb. Maybe this news will get the presidents attention, but I'm not holding my breath. Hugo Chavez has always made a lot of noise trying to be relevant on the international stage, but if these reports turn out to be true, it's time we give him our full attention. There are already credible reports of the Iranian proxy terrorist group,Hezbollah, being trained on Venezuelan soil, so this new information comes as no surprise.

Venezuela has become the primary country where the Iranians move restricted materials to avoid international sanctions. The Nu-Soviets have restricted the sale of the S-300 missile defense system to the Iranians, but have announced they will sell the advanced system to Hugo Chavez. You can bet this system will end up in Iran to protect Tehran from an Israeli preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. According to Reuters, Iran has developed a version of the Russian S-300 missile and will test-fire it soon, as declared by the official news agency IRNA, two months after Moscow cancelled the delivery to comply with United Nations sanctions. The Iranians have become quite good at reverse engineering and will do the same with the S-300.

This situation may end up looking like the Cuban missile crisis, circa 1962, and I can assure you Barack Obama is no John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy had the gravitas to stand up to the Soviets and to impose a blockade on Cuba. Mr. Obama has not shown he has the intestinal fortitude to stand up to despots and these thugs can smell chum in the water. The Iranians are being very smart in their actions regarding the United States and Israel. The Iranians are using Hamas and Hezbollah and their proximity to threaten Israel and now they are using Venezuela and our southern border to threaten our soft underbelly. I wish I had the confidence in this administration to protect our country, but I must admit, I have my doubts.

****UPDATE*****

MAY 16 2011. According to Die Welt, Iran is now funding the construction of missile silos in Venezuela that will house Iranian missiles. The Iranian Shahab 6 is reported to have a range of 3500 miles. Distance between Caracas & Miami=1363miles. Caracas & Houston=2260miles. Caracas & Wash DC=2051miles. Read Jpost story here.

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Will Iran sabotage Palestinian-Israeli peace talks?

With the start of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in Washington I predict we will see a Hezbollah attack on Israel’s northern border within a week. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (Quds Force) controls the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and will do all they can to sabotage any agreement between the Fatah controlled Palestinian Authority and Israel.

While most would agree that these talks are doomed to failure without any help from outside forces, the Iranians can take no chance of any semblance of success. If by some chance Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas succeed in the framework of a peace plan, enormous pressure from the international community will force both party’s to implement said plan.

The fact that the Arab league pushed Abbas into agreeing to direct talks with Israel says much about the Arab world mindset. The Arab nations (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt) fear Iranian influence in the Middle East and they know Iran is using the Palestinian issue to further their cause. The so-called moderate Arab nations have turned their collective backs on Hamas and Hezbollah because they know these groups are Iranian proxies and are being used to expand Iranian influence in the Middle East.

Debkafile is reporting that the Iranian al Qods commander of Tehran's networks and surrogates in Iraq, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority has spent the last ten days in Damascus Syria planning new attacks on Israel. According to Debkafile, Hezbollah's direct commander on behalf of the IRGC, Hassan Mahdavi, is reported by Western intelligence sources as monitoring events in Lebanon. Mahdavi is reportedly leaning hard on Hezbollah's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to strike IDF forces within a few days in response to US sponsorship of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks.

The Iranians know Hamas can do little to damage any agreement between Israel and the PA because Hamas is still smarting from Operation Cast Lead. Minus an attack by the United States or Israel on Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure anytime soon, the only Iranian option is to use Hezbollah to create chaos. I will also predict that the UN will soft peddle any attack on Israel by Hezbollah and press Israel into another worthless agreement like 1701. Let’s hope I’m wrong!

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Obama fails Israel

I and many other bloggers warned before the election of Barack Hussein Obama that he would not be a friend of Israel. Obama's first year in office saw him placing unreasonable demands on Israel and public lashings when they did not concur. I cannot remember an American Administration placing such demands on Israel, much less in the public forum, during such troubling times in the Middle East. A recent poll shows that only 6% of Israelis think Obama is pro-Israel and 50% say he is pro Palestinian. Israels own Ambassador is calling the recent dust up the worst in 35 years.

I will admit that the announcement of the building of new housing in Jerusalem during Vice President Biden's visit was ill timed, but to call out Israel and to cancel high level visits is just unprecedented. The Palestinians are on the verge of a third Intifada and the image of conflict in American-Israeli relations only encourages such action. Hamas has called for an Intifada against Israel and will use this ruse to unite Palestinian voters in Gaza and the West Bank to support Hamas versus Fatah in upcoming elections.

Israel is under a continued threat from the North with Iranian-Syrian backed Hezbollah, Iranian backed Hamas in Gaza and from Iran itself and their quest for nuclear arms to annihilate the Jewish state. President Obama may not agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but Obama needs to understand that the terrorist elements are taking this cue as a weakness in our relationship with Israel and will try to exploit it.

The election of President Obama and his inexperience in foreign policy just shows what can go wrong when you let emotion rather than substance guide your vote. Israel is our only true friend in the Middle East and to treat them as our enemy is just a huge mistake and one we will pay for in the near future. The animosity that this Administration shows towards Israel needs to be reined in and more support should be offered. Israel does our bidding in the turbulent Middle East and we need to show our support, whether it be militarily or financial , but encouragement nonetheless.

UPDATE LINK: This just goes to show the disdain that this White House for Likud. LINK

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What defines "victory" for Israel

With the international outcry of the pacifists of the world, Israel is once again being forced into a corner that will spell its defeat. The current "cease fire" accord being passed around is the work of the French and Egyptians and demands for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the terrorists. The UN resolution that stopped the Second Lebanese War allowed Hizbullah to rearm under the auspice of the UN. These worthless resolutions do not and will not promote peace. Any meaningful peace accord must have two partners that are willing to dance. Radical Muslim terrorists only dance around the truth and are unwilling partners for peace.

If there is any doubt in the willingness of Hamas to abide by any peace accord, let us take a look at their charter. Article 13. "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. The initiatives, proposals and International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility." The Hamas charter also calls for the destruction of Israel and they have refused to alter it to this day. Hamas and other radical Islamists will never abide by any peace accord with Zionists and or Christians. They raise their future little terrorists to hate everything that is non-Muslim and proudly send them to martyrdom and the 72 ugly virgins.

Anything less than a full defeat of Hamas by Israel will be a defeat for PM Olmert. If history is any guide, Israel will agree to some worthless resolution that will allow Hamas to rearm and fight another day. Israel holds all the cards in this morass and should play them accordingly. Any truce should demand the following:
International troops would be deployed in and around Gaza.
The immediate return of Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
Any missile and/or other terrorist activity will be dealt with a massive military response by Israel.

Hamas has rejected any form of International troops to monitor Gaza and rejected the PA from monitoring the crossings. Why do you think Hamas would be against international monitors? Hamas are masters of faking deaths of children and innocents and that would be harder to do with international monitors. It is easy to fake and promote collateral damage when you have the UN staff and AP reporters who gladly promote Hamas propaganda. The ideal situation would be to give Gaza back to Egypt and the West Bank to the Jordanians. The Palestinians have proven that they are unable to provide for themselves and produce jobs for their people.

Israel has done everything to avoid collateral damage and Hamas has done everything to inflict collateral damage. America and Western nations should support Israel in their fight to protect themselves from terrorists. Some Arab countries are turning against this fecal matter called Hamas and that is a positive result coming from the Middle East. I urge Prime Minister Olmert to ignore the pacifists of the world and inflict a massive blow to Hamas. Anything less than victory or an iron clad accord will be seen as a failure. Mr. Olmert, you already have one defeat on your resume, let us not have another.

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The Genesis of Islamo-Fascism

It looks as though the Israelis have finally had enough of the daily terrorist attacks from Hamas. The Hamas regime has launched more than 3000 missiles and mortars at Israeli citizens in 2008 and their snipers continue to target farmers and other innocents. International condemnation of Israel is no surprise and has come mostly from Muslim countries and the United Nations. What is a surprise is the statement from French President Nicolas Sarkozy when he accused the Israelis of "using disproportionate violence." The French have always (last 100 years) been seen as weak and pacifists in nature. The election of Sarkozy brought hope that the French would finally see the world as it really is and get aboard with the global war on terror.

Another surprise is emanating from a Middle Eastern country that you might not expect. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has blamed Hamas for their current situation and has been quoted as saying, "They (Hizbullah) have practically declared war on Egypt and they want for there to be chaos in Egypt as there is in their country." Hizbullah, as you may know, has vowed to attack Israel in the North in retaliation for the Israeli Gaza operation in the South. Hizbullah and Hamas are both terrorist proxies of the Republic of Iran and the Egyptians are now publicly stating the dangers of both groups in the region. That is a welcome development from a Muslim country.

Most of the Muslim leaders in the region defend the Palestinian terrorist activity mainly for local public consumption and to avoid looking pro-Zionist. Egypt and Jordan distrust Hamas because they are a splinter group of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni group that wants to create a Muslim Caliphate under Sharia law that spans from Spain to Indonesia. The Muslim Brotherhoods credo is: Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qu’ran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way Allah is our highest hope. Sounds a lot like our Al Qaeda friends mind set to me.

The world must support Israel in their fight against Hamas even if the Jews have to invade the Gaza Strip. The missiles will not stop until the Hamas regime is defeated. There will be no two state solution between Israel and the so-called moderate Palestinians until Hamas is defeated. The Gaza Strip has Iranian Al Quds and Al Qaeda terrorist cells that operate freely to plot their destruction. Defeating Hamas is just another battle in the global war on terror and I would like to see even more shock and awe from the Israelis. The Israeli battle is our battle.

The pacifists of the world need to learn that Islamo-Fascism wherever it lurks will inevitably affect their way of life. As I have wrote previously, modern Islamic fanaticism began in Iran in 1979 with the Islamic revolution. Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, was quoted as saying “Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." This was the genesis of Islamo-fascism in the modern world that bred the groups we have today. In the end, we must destroy the birthplace of Jihad and that place is Iran.

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