RUTHFULLY YOURS

The idea that, because Sunni and Shi’ite elements are locked in battle with one another today, they will not pose a threat to international security tomorrow, is little more than wishful thinking.

The increased Iranian-Hezbollah presence needs to be closely watched.

A policy of turning a blind eye to the Iran-led axis, including Syria’s Assad regime, appears to be doing more harm than good.

As the regime of Bashar Assad continues steadily to lose ground in Syria; and as Assad’s allies, Iran and Hezbollah, deploy in growing numbers to Syrian battlegrounds to try to stop the Assad regime’s collapse, the future of this war-torn, chaotic land looks set to be dominated by radical Sunni and Shi’ite forces.

A deeper look into the history of Turkey reveals that, unfortunately, Turkey has never been either truly secular or democratic. In Turkey, freedom of conscience and religion is respected — but only if you are a practicing Sunni Muslim.

The problem is that “modern” Turkey claims to be a “secular” republic; a secular republic is supposed to treat all people — Muslims and non-Muslims — equally. The objective of the Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs), on the other hand, is to keep religion (Islam) under the control of the state, and to keep the people under the control of the state by means of religion.

“Those who are not genuine Turks can have only one right in the Turkish fatherland, and that is to be a servant, to be a slave. We are the most free country of the world. They call this Turkey.” — Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, Turkey’s first Minister of Justice, 1930.

When many Western analysts discuss the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, they rightfully criticize it for its religious intolerance, authoritarianism and lack of respect for secular principles and minorities. They also tend to compare the AKP to former Kemalist governments, and draw a distinction between the Islamist AKP and former non-Islamist governments.

http://edgar1981.blogspot.com/

The anti-semitism v anti-Zionism question revisited

Streetwise is an organisation whose website says that it “works nationally with Jewish schools and Community organisations, enhancing the personal safety and personal development of young Jewish people to support their safe, physical, and emotional wellbeing.” All very well meaning. But last week at a Jewish school in London the Streetwise ‘training’ told pupils that “anti-semitism was completely different to anti-Zionism”. This suggests Streetwise is part of the problem, not the solution and it prompted me to produce below an updated version of a posting I did a while back.

I have written to Streetwise asking “In what way are you preparing Jewish students, for example, for the tsunami of hatred they will face when they go to University given that 100% of the hatred will be dressed up as anti-Zionism rather than what it really is?” PLEASE SEE THE CHART AT THE SITE

In 2012, a couple of weeks after the assault on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, I noted the strange chumminess of Hillary Clinton’s eulogies to her “friend” “Chris” Stevens:

On Hugh Hewitt’s radio last week, National Review columnist Mark Steyn accused the Obama administration of using slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens as a political prop.

Steyn, author of “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon,” particularly criticized the way top administration officials — including the president — referred to Stevens as a “friend…”

“They have spent the next four weeks in effect lying to us, including people who claim to be Chris — everyone calls him ‘Chris’ in this administration — Chris, he is known to all, he is friend to all, Chris Stevens. Hillary Clinton calls him ‘Chris.’ Barack Obama calls him ‘Chris.'”

“Hillary Clinton stood next to her friend Chris’ coffin and went on about this video, even though she knew it was nothing to do with that,” Steyn continued.

I disliked the mateyness. I would have preferred it had Obama and Clinton referred to him as “Ambassador Stevens”: He was the representative of the United States, and that is why he died. And it seemed to me that all the Chris-this-Chris-that stuff was designed, like everything else, to deflect from the reality of what had happened – a successful military assault on the anniversary of 9/11 – and to turn it into merely a personal tragedy for poor “Chris”. I returned to the theme on several occasions:

Once Ambassador Stevens was in his flag-draped coffin listening to her eulogy for him at Andrews Air Force Base, he was her bestest friend in the world — it was all “Chris this” and “Chris that,” as if they’d known each other since third grade.

Yet, for such a close personal friend, “Chris” evidently had trouble getting hold of Hillary when he needed to:

THE LONDON CENTER FOR POLICY RESEARCH

The Islamic State dealt a crushing blow to the Iraqi army in Iraq’s largest province (Ambar), including the city of Ramadi – once home to nearly half a million people. What this victory revealed is the fragility of the Iraqi army, despite vigorous U.S. efforts to train it.

The deterioration in Ramadi was so rapid, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi was left flat-footed. He immediately called in the Shiite paramilitary force to recapture lost territory, but altering the situation on the ground seems fruitless.

President Obama – in his what me, worry stance – indicated this setback will not change the tempo of U.S. operations, i.e. large scale response by American troops is unlikely. Nonetheless, the White House signaled last month that it is coordinating a plan to reclaim Mosul, Iraqi second largest city. Certainly that plan would have to be reevaluated on the basis of current events.

So complete was the Islamic State victory that Iraqi police and security forces were ordered to withdraw completely in order to prevent massive casualties. Naseer Nori, head of the defense ministry’s media office, suggested that deeper U.S. involvement is the only way to save Iraqi sovereignty. At the moment, there are 3,040 U.S. personnel in Iraq.

Colonel Steve Warren, speaking in behalf of the Pentagon and obviously the present administration, said, “ISIL seems to have the advantage. They will use this for their own propaganda purposes, but it doesn’t give them a significant tactical advantage.” Yet most of the support for ISIL terrorists comes through Ambar.

This overwhelming defeat put Mr. Abadi in a ticklish position: He could have either called the Shia militia forces that were critical to stability elsewhere in the country or he could have reinforced Ramadi with regular forces. He chose to do the former which may undermine his hold on significant parts of the country and even control of the government.

What this situation reveals is that despite the White House assertion that ISIL is being pushed back and the situation is improving incrementally, there is scant evidence to back up the claims. Airstrikes targeting extremist positions have been ineffective, in large part because there are relatively few sorties and, in most instances, ISIL forces are notified when U.S. plans are about to take off.

U.S. Special Forces have engaged in successful raids such as the one that killed Abu Sayyef, Islamic State’s finance leader. But as talented as our forces have proven to be, they are hampered by constrained rules of engagement and by fighting against an army of more than 100,000.

While most field officers contend a dramatic increase in Special Forces is the only way to win, Mr. Obama is reluctant to get “bogged down” in another Middle East war, to use the vernacular of the president’s spokesmen. There is the hope that with the president’s accommodative position on Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Iran will land major support to the Iraqi cause thereby stabilizing the region.

Of course an Iran more deeply involved in Iraq than is presently the case, also means Iraq will be converted into a full blown pawn in the Shia empire. Sometimes it is best to not get what you wish for. But there are very few options if President Obama retains his recalcitrant position. There is also little doubt that Iraqi officials wish openly for real U.S. engagement in their dissembling nation.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Heart surgery saves baby from East Timor. Surgeons from Israeli charity Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) successfully operated to repair the congenital heart defect in baby Lisa from East Timor. The Southeast Asia country is the 50th country to send its patients to Israel. SACH doctors have saved over 3,500 children’s lives.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/71579-150518-a-baby-from-east-timor-an-ethiopian-doctor-and-an-israeli-charity-come-together

How ALEH Negev was founded. I visited the special facilities for the disabled at ALEH Negev in Oct 2012. This new video features Maj Gen Doron Almog, who gave up his army career to found the village.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psPkBNtbx7s&feature=em-uploademail

Sensors for Japanese hospital beds. Israel’s EarlySense makes sensors that detect when patients are at risk of falling from beds or chairs. EarlySense has just announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Japanese giant Mitsui that will help launch the distribution of EarlySense products in Japan.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-earlysense-teams-with-japans-mitsui-1001028418

Advancing cancer detection. Israeli biotech Rosetta Genomics boosted its molecular diagnostics capability by purchasing PersonalizeDx in the United States. Rosetta also received US patent protection for its cancer tests.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150414005159/en/Rosetta-Genomics-Completes-Acquisition-PersonalizeDx#.VVzo8VIpqSp http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150513005723/en/Rosetta-Genomics-Receives-Additional-U.S.-Patent-Protection#.VVzpr1IpqSp

Never too late. 65 year-old Chaya Sarah Shahar of Bnei Brak gave birth to her first child, after 46 years of marriage. The healthy baby boy was born at a Kfar Saba hospital. Last year, a 61 year-old woman gave birth to her first child in Jerusalem. Chaya is the second oldest woman in the world to give birth.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/195589#.VV2XeFIpqSp

ReWalk makes paraplegics healthier. Israel’s ReWalk exoskeleton not only enables paraplegics to walk upright, it also improves their overall fitness. It allows users to exercise, use the toilet, boost their self-image and improve their mental health.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/rewalks-benefits-go-beyond-ambulation-company-says/

The BDS movement and Islamic supremacism are birds of the same anti-Semitic feather.

There is a troika of movements that’s coalescing into one ugly phenomenon, a phenomenon that may rival what the world witnessed in the 1930’s in Germany. They are a virulent anti-Semitism promoted by the Progressives and the left, its appearance on college campuses and in university classrooms, and the assault on freedom of speech in the guise of being combating “Islamophobia.”

A Jihad Watch article of May 23rd, “Campus Watch: Legitimizing Censorship – ‘Islamophobia Studies’ at Berkeley,” by Cinnamon Stillwell and Rima Greene, details the pitiful and organizationally inept efforts of the Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project to pass itself off as a major mover and shaker in the fight against Islamophobia.

“Islamophobia studies” is the latest addition to the academic pantheon of politicized, esoteric, and divisive “studies” whose purpose is to censor criticism of differing views by stigmatizing critics as racist or clinically insane. The University of California, Berkeley’s recent Sixth Annual International Islamophobia Conference—organized by the Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project (IRDP)—was titled, “The State of the Islamophobia Studies Field.” The fact that this “field” doesn’t yet formally exist in the U.S. may explain why speakers the first day of the conference barely mentioned it. As in years past, the conference featured victimology, academic jargon, and anti-Western rhetoric.

Mucahid Cihad Han is a Muslim televangelist of sorts. On Turkey’s 2000 TV Sunday, he sat there with his laptop answering questions about what’s haram or halal, and received one question that, based on the uproarious Twitter reaction, may have just been thrown out at the cleric as bait.

The concerned viewer told the “self-styled” cleric, as described by Hurriyet Daily News, that he can’t help himself — he’s married but masturbates all the time, even while on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Han mulled the concern and figured he could, indeed, help the Mecca masturbator:

After repeating the question a few times, Han claimed that Islam strictly prohibits masturbation as a “haram” (forbidden) act. “Moreover, one hadith states that those who have sexual intercourse with their hands will find their hands pregnant in the afterlife, complaining against them to God over its rights,” he said, referring to what he claimed to be a saying of Prophet Muhammad.

As an image for countering anti-Semitism, I once used to keep tacked over my desk the Polish proverb, “It’s lousy to swim upstream in a filthy river.” Happily, upstream swimmers who now overtake me seem better shielded from the pollution. I’m enormously grateful to Ben Cohen, Douglas Murray, and Bari Weiss for essays that make it feel as though we are within sight of the open sea.

Ben Cohen enlarges the historical context by reminding us that ours is not a new story. Hitler’s attempt to establish the Third Reich in 1930s Europe gained legitimacy when leaders in Western democracies excused the Nazi assault on democratic institutions as long as it aimed at Jews alone. Prominent among such leaders were presidents and faculty of American universities who extended a welcome to Nazi alumni and officials, and maintained cordial relations with anti-Semitic institutions. The universities’ appeal to academic decorum as a reason for tolerating German anti-Semites finds its equivalent in today’s invocation of “free speech” as the excuse for sanctioning Arab and Muslim anti-Israel incitement.

But comparing the 1930s with today also reveals how the shift of anti-Semitism from the right to the left of the political spectrum has allowed Arab and Muslim grievance to penetrate deeper into the American academy than Nazi racialism ever did. Key to this change are the Palestinians who were relegated by their fellow Arabs to permanent refugee status so that they might serve as eternal proof of Jewish “usurpation” and guarantors of Israel’s eventual destruction. It is well known that even as Israel strove to integrate the Jews who were driven from Arab lands, the Arab world refused to accept the partition of Palestine, prevented the resettlement of those Arabs who fled Israel, and with unspeakable cruelty consigned generations to refugee camps so that Jews could be blamed for it.

Amid all the Islamic State’s atrocities — its massacres of civilians, its beheading of hostages, its pillaging of antiquities — the systematic violence the jihadists have carried out against countless enslaved women and girls never fails to shock. For months now, we’ve heard appalling testimony from women who escaped the Islamic State’s clutches, many of whom endured rape and other hideous acts of violence.

Zainab Bangura, the U.N.’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, recently conducted a tour of refugee camps in the shadow of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, war-ravaged countries where the Islamic State commands swaths of territory. She heard a host of horror stories from victims and their families and recounted them in an interview earlier this week with the Middle East Eye, an independent regional news site.