From Ian:
PMW: Abbas falsely claims 6,000-year-old Palestinian nation
Abbas’ advisor: Jews “are thieves who stole the land… we have been here for 5,000 years”
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PMW: Abbas falsely claims 6,000-year-old Palestinian nation
Mahmoud Abbas:Mahmoud Abbas fabricates history: "The Bible says the Palestinians existed before Abraham..."
"The Bible says that the Palestinians existed before Abraham"
"The invention of the Canaanite-Palestinian alphabet [was] more than 6,000 years ago"
Abbas' advisor claims 5,000-year Palestinian history in the land:
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "We have been here for the last 5,000 years, and have not left this land"
"Our forefathers are the monotheist Canaanites and Jebusites"
In order to make Palestinians believe that they have an ancient history that precedes Jewish history in the land of Israel, Palestinian Authority leaders regularly fabricate tales of a 5,000- or sometimes 6,000-year-old Palestinian nation. Recently, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash each spoke on two different occasions about a Palestinian nation that they claim preceded Abraham in the land of Canaan. Abbas even misrepresented the Bible by claiming biblical support for his claims:
Transcript: PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "Our narrative says that we have been have been in this land since before Abraham. I am not saying it. The Bible says it. The Bible says, in these words, that the Palestinians existed before Abraham. So why don't you recognize my right?
[Official PA TV, March 21, 2016]
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "This land was never without a people, as we have been planted in its rocks and dust and hills since the beginning of civilization and writing and the invention of the Canaanite-Palestinian alphabet more than 6,000 years ago."
[Official PA TV, May 14, 2016]
Abbas’ Fabrication #1: The Bible says that Palestinians predate Abraham.
Fact #1: The Bible says Abraham dwelt “many days in the land of the Philistines.” (Genesis 21: 34). The Bible’s “Philistines” have no connection to today’s Arabs called “Palestinians.” The Philistines were a people of Greek origin who settled in the land of Canaan and lived beside the Israelite tribes. Both nations were exiled by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Philistines in 604 BCE and the kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE. The Philistines ceased to exist as a nation soon afterward, while the Judeans returned 70 years later, and rebuilt the Jewish/Judean national home.
Abbas’ Fabrication #2: There was an ancient Palestinian- Canaanite people connected to today’s Palestinian Arabs.
Fact #2: The land of “Judea” was renamed “Palestine” by Rome in 136 CE, as a punishment to the Jews for participating in the Jewish Revolt against Rome, known as “The Bar Kochba Rebellion.”
Arabs first arrived in the land of Israel/Judea with the Muslim invasion in 637 CE.
Arabs of “Palestine” first identified themselves as “Palestinians” in the 20th century.
Abbas’ Fabrication #3: Canaanite-Palestinians invented an alphabet 6,000 years ago.
Fact #3: Writing was invented around 3,500 BCE. The earliest Canaanite alphabet, considered to be the ancestor of most modern alphabets, is dated to around 1,500 BCE.
Abbas’ advisor: Jews “are thieves who stole the land… we have been here for 5,000 years”
Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "They [the Jews] claim that there was a Temple here. Those are unfounded claims, myths, and rumors. However, the problem between us and them is not a problem of religious or historical narrative. The problem is that they are thieves. The problem is that they are thieves who stole the land, and who want to steal the history, but history cannot change and cannot be falsified. The facts bear witness to it. We have been here for the last 5,000 years, and have not left this land. We have not left this land. Our forefathers are the monotheist Canaanites and Jebusites. They are the ones who built Jerusalem, before Abraham was even here."Abbas’ advisor: “The Palestinians have been in this land for 5,000 years.”
[Official PA TV, June 3, 2016]
Note: There never was an ancient Palestinian-Arab nation. Arabs first arrived in the land of Israel/Judea with the Muslim invasion in 637 CE. Arabs first identified themselves as "Palestinians" in the 20th century, after the creation of the State of Israel. Claiming a 5,000 year old Palestinian nation is a historical lie.
Video transcript: Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "The Palestinians have been on this land for 5,000 years. Of course, we were the first to reside in this land. The first to reside in it. There was no one before us. Never was there a period in this history of this land when we were not in it. Over the course of these millennia, many have passed through this land and left. History has turned the page on them, but the land remained as well as its people and its true owners who never changed. This occupation is a transient thing, despite the pain and suffering."Celebrating the Truth About Jerusalem and Lie Behind ‘Pinkwashing’
[Official PA TV, April 1, 2016]
Note: There never was an ancient Palestinian-Arab nation. Arabs first arrived in the land of Israel/Judea with the Muslim invasion in 637 CE. Arabs first identified themselves as “Palestinians” in the 20th century, after the creation of the State of Israel. Claiming a 5,000 year old Palestinian nation is a historical lie.
Two Israeli celebrations in recent days underscore the uniqueness and heroism of the Jewish state, while highlighting the concerted effort on the part of its enemies to undermine and delegitimize it.Legislators from 19 Countries Congratulate Israel on Jerusalem Day
The first was Gay Pride Week, which culminated in a massive parade in Tel Aviv. The second was the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem, capped off by a flag march through the streets of the Old City.
Though unrelated in content and focus, what these annual events have in common is their misrepresentation by ill-wishers.
Let’s begin with what Israel’s detractors concocted to counter the consensus, revealed in numerous tourist and other surveys, that Tel Aviv is among the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world. Coming up with the clever catch-phrase “pinkwashing,” left-wing activists accuse Israel of flaunting its gay-rights record so as to obfuscate its abuse of the Palestinians, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Never mind that such Palestinians sneak into Israel, where they can be free to be who they are without fear of rejection or slaughter for their sexual preferences. All one has to do to cast aspersion on the Jewish state is spread lies. It’s an effective propaganda tool, which works like a charm — though in this case, the fun that is had by all during Pride Week appears to trump the mud-slinging.
When it comes to marking the reunification of Israel’s capital 49 years ago, the lies are even more pronounced, as they have had many more years to take hold in the hearts and minds of people who don’t know any better, not to mention many whose motives are impure.
More than three dozen legislators representing 19 countries joined together on Saturday night to officially congratulate Israel on the occasion of Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of the city during the 1967 Six-Day War.Meretz condemns liberation of Jerusalem, blasts Jerusalem Day
A letter from the legislators, which was sent to Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, celebrated the “49th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel” and acknowledged the “three thousand years of the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem.” The American signers included Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), as well as the co-chairmen of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus, Reps. Trent Franks (R – Ariz.), Brad Sherman (D – Calif.), and Doug Lamborn (R – Colo.).
Other signatories were legislators from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, and Argentina, among other countries.
Jerusalem Day serves as a reminder that only under Israeli rule have “the rights of all ethnic and religious groups to enjoy the city’s religious and cultural sites been preserved,” the letter acknowledged. The full text of the letter, which was coordinated by the Israel Allies Foundation, is embedded below.
The Meretz party, whose formal registered name is “Meretz – the Israeli Left," has pushed its rhetoric even further to the left, openly condemning the liberation of Jerusalem as “occupation," and blasting Jerusalem Day celebrations commemorating the reunification of the city.'Plan to attack Muslim, Jewish places of worship during Euro 2016 thwarted'
As Israelis celebrated Jerusalem Day on Sunday, marking 49 years since the liberation of eastern Jerusalem from Jordanian occupation, Meretz condemned the holiday, publicizing on its official Facebook page an image decrying “49 years of occupation," and calling for an end to Israeli sovereignty over the united city.
“Let us not merit another year," reads the meme, with various words relating to security concerns in the background like “killing video," “separation fence," “Shin Bet (security services)," “security prisoners,” and “Kalandia," referring to the Kalandia crossing between Jerusalem and Ramallah, the scene of frequent riots and terror attacks.
Just hours later the party released an additional message, wishing Muslims in Israel and around the world a happy Ramadan.
Ukraine's state security service said on Monday a French citizen detained in late May on the Ukrainian-Polish border had been planning attacks in France to coincide with the Euro 2016 soccer championship it is hosting.The French Appetite for Appeasement
On Saturday the Ukrainian border guard service reported the unnamed 25-year-old had been arrested with an arsenal of weapons and explosives including rocket launchers and Kalashnikov assault rifles in his vehicle.
SBU chief Vasily Gritsak said the man had made contact with armed groups in Ukraine with the aim of buying weapons and explosives.
His intended targets included Jewish and Muslim places of worship and buildings involved with the soccer tournament, Gritsak said. French government administration buildings, including those dealing with tax collection, were also a target.
"The Frenchman spoke negatively about his government's actions, mass immigration, the spread of Islam and globalization, and also talked about plans to carry out several terrorist attacks," Gritsak told journalists.
"The SBU was able to prevent a series of 15 acts of terror (planned) for the eve and during the Euro soccer championship," he said.
France's Socialist Party government has unveiled a new legislative program designed to decrease the likelihood of further Islamic atrocities, largely it seems that would have ensured the success of the jihadist attacks committed so far.JPost Editorial: Peace order
In the measures revealed, proactively combatting criminals appears to have taken a back seat to placating the communities from which they are drawn.
Whereas protests by French people against Islamization or government policy, have been rigorously curtailed by the authorities, migrant gangs have still felt able to terrorize French towns, stampede French motorways, or conduct mass armed brawls in Paris, with little fear of intervention from either security services or the law.
In 2014, an ICM poll discovered that 27% of French citizens aged 18-24 supported ISIS.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first public statement after the swearing in of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in particular the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.Arab League won't accept any changes to 2002 peace initiative, says chief
But unlike the Arab Peace Initiative that made normalization with the Arab countries conditional upon a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu proposed normalization first and peace afterward.
“We are ready to negotiate with the Arab states on an updated initiative that reflects the dramatic regional changes that have occurred since 2002, but that maintains the agreed-upon goal of two states for two peoples,” the prime minister declared last Monday with Liberman at his side.
“The Arab Peace Initiative contains positive elements that can help re-institute constructive negotiations with the Palestinians,” he said.
A number of factors came together to trigger Netanyahu’s statements. The addition of Yisrael Beytenu (and not the Zionist Union) to the government coalition has fueled speculation in the world that Israel has become more intransigent vis-a-vis peace initiatives with the Palestinians. Netanyahu seemed to want to counter this impression by making a significant diplomatic statement.
The launch Friday of the Paris-led international peace initiative threatens to put pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians. Thirty countries and international organizations are actively working to seek ways of reaching an agreement that Netanyahu rightly fears could be foisted on his government.
And even if the French initiative fails, the next step might be an attempt to get a UN Security Council resolution passed. This time the Obama administration, which is in its final months, might not use its veto to stop such a resolution.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent calls to introduce changes into the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative in order to reinvigorate the Israel-Palestinian peace process.Netanyahu heads to Moscow for fourth Putin parley in a year
In an interview with the London-based Arabic-daily a-Sharq al-Awsat on Monday, Arabi cast doubt on Netanyahu's willingness implement the two-state solution and "end occupation."
When asked about a French-led Middle East peace summit that took place in Paris on Friday, Arabi defined the initiative as "helpful," saying it had refocused world attention to the "unpopular" Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, Arabi stressed that a summit aimed at generating actions on the ground was more dire than additional discussions that fail to yield results.
"We do not need another Madrid conference or a something similar to the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna. We need a productive conference, like the one that took place in Geneva in 1974," Arabi said in reference to the diplomatic efforts that preceded military disengagement deals between Israel and Egypt and later Israel and Syria.
"The Paris summit did not generate a mechanism to solve the conflict nor did it issue time limits for any Israeli-Palestinian peace talks," Arabi added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to Moscow on Monday for a two-day trip during which he will hold his fourth meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in less than a year. The two leaders on Wednesday are expected to discuss Moscow’s involvement in the Syrian civil war and its reported delivery of advanced Russian weaponry to Iran.Rivlin: I told Obama two-state solution is 'irrelevant'
In addition, Netanyahu is marking some 25 years of Israeli-Russian diplomatic relations, which were reestablished in January 1992, after the Soviet Union severed them in the wake of the 1967 Six Day War.
During their meeting, the two leaders will continue their ongoing discussion over security coordination between the Russian and the Israeli armies, especially their so-called deconflicting mechanism installed to assure the Israel Defense Forces does not strike Russian jets operating in Syrian airspace.
“They will also discuss various regional issues including the global fight against terrorism, the situation in and around Syria and the diplomatic horizon between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as bilateral economic and trade cooperation and the strengthening of cultural and humanitarian ties,” the Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday in a statement.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin recounted how he told US President Barack Obama that a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Arab conflict is "irrelevant."Those old State Department Arabists just won't retire
Rivlin was speaking during a tour of the Binyamin Region of Samaria, as a guest of Yesha Council leader Avi Roeh. The Yesha Council represents the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria.
Addressing a group of some 80 local community leaders at Psagot winery just north of Jerusalem, Rivlin described his last meeting with Obama at the White House.
"I told President Obama that the two-state solution is not relevant - that is my personal opinion," Rivlin said.
Rivlin - a longtime supporter of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria - highlighted the ancient Jewish connection to those lands, and brushed off attempts by UNESCO to deny the existence of Jewish heritage sites in Israel.
Old State Department Arabists never seem to retire. Even years after they have left government service, they strive to remain in the public eye, getting themselves onto op-ed pages and television talk shows, where they tell anybody will listen why Israel needs to make more concessions. This week's examples: David Makovsky and Dennis Ross.The UN fails History 101
Until a few years ago, Makovsky was the right-hand man of U.S. envoy Martin Indyk, whose unfriendly statements and actions regarding Israel are infamous. Ross is one of the unrepentant architects of the U.S. government's 1990s embrace of Yasir Arafat. In one of his books, Ross boasts about pressuring Israel to re-divide Jerusalem; more recently, he has admitted pushing the Israelis to permit cement deliveries to Gaza. It's no secret what that cement is being used for.
Makovsky and Ross currently are enjoying the revolving door that helpfully shuttles members of their circle between the State Department, select Washington think tanks, and assorted visiting professorships. At the moment, they are comfortably situated at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) where they are now once again campaigning for--you guessed it--more Israeli concessions.
Their latest eruption comes in the form of a WINEP "policy paper," in which they presume to offer what they call "the only real option" for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. Their recommendation is the only way "to restore a sense of possibility and preserve hope for a two-state outcome." Why is a "two-state outcome" desirable? Makovsky and Ross don't say. As far as they're concerned, it's obvious; it's a given. They don't think they have to provide any rationale for pursuing it.
There is overwhelming archeological, literary, and linguistic evidence confirming the continuous presence of Jews in Israel for millennia, including, the ruins of ancient Jewish dwellings, synagogues, and mikvas; treasure troves of ritual objects, artifacts and writings (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls); and Hebrew inscriptions aplenty. There are also living landmarks, like the Temple Mount, the Kotel, and the ancient Jewish town of Peqi’in. In contrast, there is no evidence of an ancient Palestinian presence as identified by language, literature, culture, social institutions or archeological footprint. Today’s Arab population is largely descended from itinerant latecomers attracted by Jewish-created economic opportunities.PreOccupiedTerritory: Fatwa: Depicting Israel Forbidden, As Negev Shape Too Erotic (satire)
The UN embraces the myth that Jerusalem is integral to Islam, but this is a political contrivance not found in Muslim scripture. Indeed, the Quran does not mention the ancient Jewish capital at all, whereas the Tanach contains more than eight-hundred specific references to Jerusalem or Zion. The Dome of the Rock was not built over Judaism’s holiest site because it had any significance in Islamic tradition, but rather to show that the Jews were subjugated and regarded as dhimmi in their homeland. This same doctrinal motivation compels modern jihadists to assert religious supremacy by building mosques over the destroyed sacred places of the vanquished.
The Islamic world sacralized Jerusalem only when the Jews reasserted dominion and control over their ancestral capital. But this claim is political and apocryphal, not scriptural or historical.
Unfortunately, anti-Israel revisionism has been repeated so often that it is believed by those who don’t know any better, and has become dogma in progressive society where political correctness inhibits any challenge. Jews who accept such myths without question are subverting Jewish national claims and sowing the seeds of their own cultural destruction.
Though truth is often said to be a silent casualty of war, its loss has perhaps the loudest and most enduring impact.
A new religious ruling by one of the Muslim world’s leading clerics makes it a violation of Islamic principles to show the shape of Israel, especially in a map of the region, because the shape of the country’s southern section as it connects with neighboring Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula resembles a woman’s groin area.IDF denies B’Tselem claim second Hebron stabber ‘executed’
Imam Aisi Buti of Egypt’s Islamic Academy, the foremost institution in Sunni Islam, issued a fatwa today forbidding all Muslims from depicting the southern portion of Israel in its entirety, regardless of whether one call the country by its name or Palestine, for reasons of modesty.
“The borders with Egypt and Saudi Arabia create an image evocative of a woman in a high-cut swimsuit or underwear, seen from the front,” wrote Imam Buti. “As such, beyond the problematic question of dignifying the illegitimate Zionist Entity with actual depiction, there is a violation of modesty, often in public, that occurs when one displays such an image.”
“The use of such a picture with the border lines drawn poses a grave risk to public morality,” continued Buti. “We cannot have our men driven to licentious behavior as a result of seeing the eastern and western borders of the Negev converge as they move south, much as a woman’s lingerie narrows as it moves from the hips down between her legs.”
The army, which is currently conducting a military tribunal against Azaria, rejected the latest claims by B’Tselem. The accusation, the army said, was “inconsistent with the findings of the operational investigation and conflict with the information the IDF has about this incident.”'Majority of Israeli public fearful of visiting Jerusalem'
“The shots fired at the terrorist were carried out in order to eliminate a threat while he was attacking the soldiers with a knife,” an IDF spokesman told The Times of Israel.
The Tel Rumeida neighborhood is under surveillance by security cameras, and the claim should be relatively easy to prove or disprove.
According to B’Tselem, the delay in releasing the new information was the result of the IDF’s 8-month closure on Tel Rumeida, which kept the organization’s investigators from interviewing witnesses.
“The military has recently lifted the strict travel restrictions imposed on Tel Rumeida, so for the first time since the incident, B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bri was able to get into the neighborhood and collect testimonies from its residents,” the group said in a statement.
A majority of the Israeli public have refrained from visiting Jerusalem in the past year due to security concerns, according to a poll released Sunday.Bus was attacked with ball bearings, not bullets, army says
According to the Smith Research Center poll commissioned by the Commanders for Israel's Security movement, 57 percent of non-Jerusalem residents said they had feared visiting Jerusalem in light of the recent wave of violence in the capital.
Seventy-three percent of Israeli Jews surveyed also said they would feel safer if Israel separated the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
In addition, the poll shows that 64% of women as opposed to 49% of men expressed concern over visiting the capital.
The IDF said Monday morning that an attack on a bus in the West Bank the night before was not a shooting incident as initially thought, and that damage to the vehicle was caused when it was was struck by ball-bearings.Norwegian embassy driver busted with 10 kilos of antiquities
The projectiles shattered the windshield of the Israeli bus but causing no injuries to those inside. The attack occurred on the Hawara highway, near a Palestinian village by the same name, just south of Nablus.
“In a followup to the incident at Hawara last night, it is evident from findings at the scene and forensic testing that the damage to the bus was caused by steel ball bearings that were apparently not fired from a live weapon,” the army said in a statement.
Overnight Sunday IDF soldiers and border policemen arrested seven wanted suspects in the West Bank, the IDF said.
Three Hamas activists were arrested in Hebron, the army said. Four others were picked up throughout the West Bank for engaging in “popular terrorism” and violent protests, it said. The suspects were all taken for questioning by security forces.
Also on Sunday, another bus traveling in the West Bank on a road between the settlement of Adam and the Palestinian village of Hizme came under a hail of stones that damaged the windshield of the vehicle.
A driver for the Norwegian Embassy in Israel was arrested last week at the Allenby Crossing to Jordan on suspicion of attempting to smuggle out 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of ancient coins and statuettes, the Tax Authority said in a statement on Monday.MEMRI: PLO Executive Committee's Decision To End Security Coordination With Israel Sparks Debate Within The Organization
The man, Issa Najam of the Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem, arrived at the crossing with Jordan on May 31 in an official diplomatic vehicle with a senior Norwegian diplomat. Customs officials searched the vehicle and found the presumed antiquities hidden in the car’s paneling. Najam was arrested and charged with attempted antiquities smuggling.
A Tax Authority spokesman said it was not protocol to search diplomatic vehicles at the crossing but refused to comment on why the search was performed, due to the ongoing investigation into the incident.
The spokesman said it was exceedingly rare for customs officials to find antiquities being smuggled out of Israel at the Allenby Crossing.
The contacts with Israel, and especially the security coordination with it, are the topic of an ongoing internal debate within Palestinian political circles and among the Palestinian public. Calls for ending the security coordination and severing the ties with Israel are heard from time to time from officials in the various Palestinian factions within the PLO.What is Happening in Jordan?
The debate on the security coordination reached a turning point on March 3, 2015, when the PLO Central Council resolved to "end all forms of security coordination with the Israeli occupation authorities," on the grounds that Israel was not complying with agreements it had signed with the Palestinians. Following this decision by the Central Council, calls were heard to implement it in practice, including from prominent Fatah members such as Marwan Al-Barghouti, 'Abbas Zaki and Tawfiq Al-Tirawi. However, Fatah movement chairman Mahmoud 'Abbas, who is also president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, refrained from taking any action to stop the security coordination, and even clarified that it continues as usual. As the largest faction in the PLO, it is Fatah that determines the policy of the movement as a whole. Hence, in the absence of any action to implement the Central Council's decision by either the Fatah leadership or the PA (which is Palestinian executive authority), the Central Council's decision remained effectively meaningless.
Recently, the PLO Executive Committee also announced that it decided, in its May 4, 2016 session, "to immediately begin implementing the Palestinian Central Council's decisions regarding limiting the political, economic and security relations with the occupation authorities [i.e., Israel]," and this due to "Israel's disregard of signed agreements and its insistence on destroying the two-state solution."
In November 2014, I published an article in which I warned that Jordan’s regime was planning to set the West Bank and Jerusalem on fire in order to stay in power. Also, a month before the “knife intifada” broke out, I noted several times on social media that Jordan’s regime was going to launch unrest in Jerusalem itself.Saudi Claim: Iranian, Israeli Espionage Plots Uncovered
Change is coming to Jordan. It could be tomorrow morning or in five years, but the Hashemites already have a one-way ticket out, and it seems they are now purposely causing damage to Jordanian, palestinian, American and Israeli interests.
It is about time the few pro-Hashemite hopeless romantics wake up and smell the strong Jordanian coffee already brewing in Amman.
As far as the Israeli government is concerned, it has been clear from the beginning: The Israelis will not be involved in the Arab Spring or its aftermath, and will keep good ties with Jordan’s regime, military and intelligence agencies, without any involvement in Jordan’s internal politics. As Jordan’s opposition, we highly appreciate Israel’s stance and fully understand it.
As we expect change in Jordan, we must work hard to make sure Jordan remains committed to peace while it becomes economically prosperous and gives hope to all its citizens.
The Saudi security services have uncovered 33 spies working for the Israeli Mossad and Iranian intelligence for the past three years, Saudi news reports claimed on Sunday.How Ayatollah Khomeini suckered Jimmy Carter
The Saudi Okaz newspaper reported that the ring consisted of 30 Saudi nationals, an Iranian, and an Afghani who were Iranian agents, as well as a Jordanian who worked for the Israelis. The two espionage agencies, the paper claimed, are “committed to the same cause.”
According to the paper, the suspects confessed to the charges and some of them said they had been trained in intelligence collection. It was also claimed that the Jordanian man had met with the prime minister of Israel, and members of the Iranian ring met with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Jordanian man, who was sentenced to nine years in prison, after which he is to be deported from the kingdom, allegedly contacted Mossad and offered his services online, the report claims. He later met with his recruiter and was paid.
The report comes less than 48 hours after a Saudi military official told an Israeli newspaper that the two countries have shared interests and common enemies.
Dr Anwar Ashqi, a former top Saudi officer and head of the Strategic Studies Institute in Jedda told Yediot Ahronot newspaper that Riyadh will lobby Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that he accepts the Arab League’s peace initiative.
New depths to Jimmy Carter’s fecklessness have emerged through the declassification of State Department cables relating to the fall of the Shah of Iran.Iran leader slams 'fake' BBC report on secret US contact
As reported by the BBC, the Ayatollah Khomeini, in January 1979, secretly sought Carter’s assistance in overcoming opposition from Iran’s military, still loyal to the shah. Khomeini promised that if he could return to Iran from exile in France, which the United States could facilitate, he would prevent a civil war, and his regime would not be hostile to Washington.
The soon-to-be Supreme Leader of Iran certainly knew a sucker when he saw one. What Carter did in response to Khomeini’s pledge is not entirely clear from the newly declassified materials, but Khomeini did return; the military either fell into line or was ruthlessly purged; and Iran switched 180 degrees from being a strategic US ally to being one of our most implacable adversaries.
Carter’s unwillingness to back the shah, a staunch American ally, has long been well-known, despite constant protestations of support at the time. Khomeini could not then, however, have relied on that for certain. Within Carter’s administration, hostility to the shah over his human-rights record, a centerpiece of Carter’s policy, was certainly extensive.
Iran thus posed one of the first clear tests of an American administration’s devotion to abstract principles over concrete US military and political interests.
Iran's Supreme Leader has dismissed a BBC report revealing secret contact between late Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and US presidents before the Iranian revolution.State Department: Iran is top state sponsor of terrorism
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said "Britain has always been hostile to us" and the report was "fake".
The story was based on newly declassified US government documents from the Cold War.
Mr Khamenei suggested they were forged.
The original report revealed how Ayatollah Khomeini had courted the Carter administration from exile in Paris to broker his return to Iran.
In the official Iranian narrative of the 1979 revolution, Mr Khomeini bravely defied the United States and defeated "the Great Satan" in its efforts to keep the Shah in power.
The US State Department released its annual report on global terrorist activity on Thursday, listing Iran as the top state sponsor of terrorism and labeling the Islamic State as “the greatest threat globally” and a “formidable force” in Iraq and Syria.Iran: US is biggest state sponsor of terror because it backs Israel
“Iran remained the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training and equipment, to groups around the world,” the State Department report read.
The report listed Sudan and Syria as the other two state sponsors of terrorism, and included a 2015 tally of 11,774 terrorist attacks in 92 countries worldwide, resulting in more than 28,300 total deaths and more than 35,300 people injured.
In a briefing to reporters Thursday, the Department’s Acting Coordinator for Counter-terrorism Justin Siberell said: “Iran continues to provide support to Hezbollah, Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, and various groups in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.”
Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism, charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.Iran: 'There's no difference between Clinton and Trump'
Foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency that Washington’s support for Israel made it the “biggest sponsor of state terrorism.”
The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighboring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition, as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.
Washington “turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world,” Ansari said.
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has appeared more appeasing vis-a-vis Iran than Republican nominee Donald Trump, publicly endorsing the controversial nuclear deal - but according to Iran's Parliament Speaker the two are the same.D-Day Cancelled After Cultural Appropriation Incident (satire)
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday that Tehran doesn't see any difference between whether Clinton or Trump win the elections, reports the Iranian Fars News Agency.
"It doesn’t make so much difference for Iran since we have had confrontations with both the Republicans and Democrats in the past 37 years (since the Islamic Revolution - ed.)," Larijani said.
"Both the Democrats and the Republicans have negative records in dealing with Iran and it depends on how people can correctly analyze issues in the current conditions and how much wisdom they show in ruling their country."
The Iranian Speaker called to "reinvigorate Iran's might and power" in an "economy of resistance," according to the site, saying, "if we understand these elements well, then anyone that is elected as the US president will have not so much affect on us."
Citing published reports of inappropriate activity among personnel, General Dwight Eisenhower delayed Operation OVERLORD indefinitely. OVERLORD, the planned invasion of Nazi-Occupied Europe, was a closely guarded secret until this morning’s Press Conference. At the Press Conference, General Eisenhower outlined the infractions.
“The reported incidents within the 101st Airborne of soldiers applying Native American traditional male facial adornment, along with the cutting of hair in traditional Native American style is simply unacceptable in today’s Army. Not only that, but by combining quote unquote warpaint used by Plains Indians in the 19th Century with hairstyles prevalent among 18th Century Iroquois of what is now Central New York, the soldiers displayed a profound ignorance of cultural norms. I mean, it’s almost as if they weren’t even paying attention during last week’s Cultural Anthropology/Human Terrain Briefing. Who is their Unit FAO anyway?”
News of the delay spread quickly among the ranks. Technical Sergeant Donald Barclay of the Army Air Corps shared his views with the Daily Freier. “The worst part is that everyone knows this will lead to a mandatory Awareness Briefing, which they always seem to schedule for Friday nights. This is seriously cutting into my drinking time. Oh, and don’t let them see the Rita Hayworth mural on our B-24.”
When asked when the Allies planned to re-schedule the liberation of Europe from Fascism, General Eisenhower stated that perhaps some time in Autumn, but “Definitely not until after all units have successfully verified compliance with the scheduled retraining and submitted the results through the Chain of Command. Priorities, people!”
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