Displaying posts categorized under

WORLD NEWS

A Hamas Terror Network in Europe A terror plot in Berlin shows the Islamic terror group has a bigger plan. by Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/a-hamas-terror-network-in-europe/

Hamas have been described as Nazis and recent arrests shows that the Islamic terror group tried to live up to the name by planning to kill Jews in Berlin.

The first warning that Hamas, an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, was preparing to deploy its international capabilities came when Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas spokesman, called for “violent acts against American and British interests everywhere, as well as the interests of all the countries that support the occupation.”

The question of whether this was anything more than empty rhetoric was settled when 7 Muslim terrorists were arrested across Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. While Islamic terrorist plots are nothing new in Europe, these arrests reveal that Hamas has built an international terrorist network across a number of nations in preparation for carrying out attacks.

The official release from Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed that four of the Muslim men arrested “have been longstanding members of HAMAS and have participated in HAMAS operations abroad.”

It revealed that Hamas had set up “an underground weapons cache in Europe… created in the past in a conspiratorial manner.” This weapons cache had been set up well before the Oct 7 atrocities committed by the Islamic terror group and the terrorists were activated and told to search for it “no later than spring 2023” making it clear that this was not an attack planned in response to Israel’s bombing of Hamas targets in Gaza, but long before the Oct 7 attacks.

Why Christian Leaders Ignore Attacks on Their Community by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20272/christian-leaders-ignore-attacks

As of this writing, no Christian leader had anything to say about Hezbollah’s missile attack on a church.

When Muslims commit such crimes against Christians in the Gaza Strip, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and other countries, no one, including the Western media, takes notice. Why? It is not about Israel. No Jews are at fault.

Where were the pope and other Christian organizations, one wonders, when Christians living under the terrorist group Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, were being systematically targeted and persecuted?

How ironic, then, that the latest attempt to label Israel as a country that targets Christians coincided with the massacre in Nigeria perpetrated against Christians celebrating Christmas. More than 160 Christians were murdered in coordinated attacks by Islamist militant groups that took place between December 23-25. Nigeria has been a hotbed for Christian persecution in recent years, with the country, in 2022, leading the world in Christians killed for their faith. When such atrocities are committed, we rarely hear the voices of those who claim to care about the well-being and safety of Christians around the world.

Worse, those who are ignoring the attacks on Christians are giving a green light to Hamas, Hezbollah and other Islamists to destroy Christian holy sites and murder Christians.

On December 26, Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah attacked St. Mary’s Greek Catholic Church in Iqrit, northern Israel. An anti-tank guided missile fired from Lebanon directly hit the church, severely wounding an 85-year-old civilian. Nine Israeli soldiers who rushed to rescue the churchgoer were then wounded by a second missile strike. Hezbollah boasted about the attack and posted a video of its missiles hitting the church.

Hamas in London by Robert Williams

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20264/hamas-in-london

At least four groups with links to Hamas are reportedly behind several of the marches: The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the Palestinian Forum for Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Friends of al-Aqsa.

“[M]embership of the Muslim Brotherhood remained (and still remains) a secret.” — UK government report, “Muslim Brotherhood Review: Main Findings,” December 17, 2015

Too often, unfortunately, those many propaganda goals evidently correspond to what the organizations behind the never-ending pro-Hamas protests in London — and around the world — seek to obtain: Creating sympathy for Hamas and the Gazans, demonizing Israel, which is fighting terrorism for all of us so that we will not have to, and increasing pressure for a permanent ceasefire that will enable Hamas to survive.

“Unfortunately, Hamas’s bloodlust is not limited to Israel and Jews but also extends to Europe and Christians. I want to remind you that in the past, Hamas members expressed the Islamic intention to conquer Europe.” — Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, in a letter sent to about 20 European leaders warning of “a massive network of Hams operatives and the growing activism of Hamas across Europe,” December 2023.

Uprooting Hamas in the UK anytime in the near future, given the lack of enthusiasm that the Met Police have shown in the wake of the pro-Hamas demonstrations, sadly seems unlikely.

The pro-Hamas protests in London are not, apparently, as organic and spontaneous as their organizers would like them to seem.

At least four groups with links to Hamas are reportedly behind several of the marches: The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the Palestinian Forum for Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Friends of al-Aqsa. The same groups were behind the largest protest so far, on November 11 in London, where it is estimated that around 300,000 people participated.

The Iranian Regime’s Killing Machine by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20262/iran-killing-machine

In addition to increasing the level of enriched uranium to near nuclear-weapons grade; helping to fund and plan a genocidal war against Israel; attacking US troops in Syria and Iraq with its militias more than 100 times in just the last two months to try to force the US out of the region, and incontinently bogus-trialing, torturing (even children) and executing its own citizens, the Iranian regime has also been orchestrating the assassinations of individuals, particularly those considered opponents to the ruling mullahs’ clerical establishment.

With Iran’s nuclear bombs now well on their way, how much more harm does the Iranian regime have to do to finally be stopped? ?

In addition to increasing the level of enriched uranium to near nuclear-weapons grade; helping to fund and plan a genocidal war against Israel; attacking US troops in Syria and Iraq with its militias more than 100 times in just the last two months to try to force the US out of the region, and incontinently bogus-trialing, torturing (even children) and executing its own citizens, the Iranian regime has also been orchestrating the assassinations of individuals, particularly those considered opponents to the ruling mullahs’ clerical establishment.

Authorities in Cyprus recently thwarted an Iranian plot to assassinate Israeli businessmen in the country. Cypriot police apprehended two Iranian asylum-seekers who were in communication with another Iranian linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops, as disclosed by a Cypriot official on December 19, 2023. The official conveyed that the arrest of the suspects resulted from a collaborative operation with Israel’s Mossad security service. A statement released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office on behalf of the Mossad, said that Iran’s utilization of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus for “terrorist purposes” and as an “area of activity and transit to attack Israeli and Jewish targets” is a matter of great concern.

This is not the first time the Iranian regime has plotted to kill Israelis in Cyprus. The attempt marks the third reported instance of an Iranian plot to target Israelis and Jews in Cyprus within the span of roughly a year. In July 2023, Cypriot authorities foiled a terrorist plot involving an Iranian-backed assassination squad targeting Israelis and other members of the Cypriot Jewish community.

Pakistan Deporting Afghans Who Seek Asylum from Taliban by Uzay Bulut

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20263/pakistan-deporting-afghans

“Those at particular risk are civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, former government officials and security force members, and of course women and girls as a whole, who, as a result of the abhorrent policies currently in place in Afghanistan, are banned from secondary and tertiary education, working in many sectors and other aspects of daily and public life.” — UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, October 27, 2023.

“Asad and his family fled Afghanistan in 2021 when his friends and colleagues were murdered after the Taliban came to power. ‘I am on several lists maintained by the Taliban and I am certain I will be killed if I go back…'” — Amnesty International, November 10, 2023.

The terrorism that Pakistan complains about comes from the Taliban in Afghanistan — that Pakistan supported for decades — not from the Afghan asylum seekers in Pakistan.

What Pakistan has done… is to counter terrorists that challenge its own authority while actively supporting other terrorists who challenge other governments — particularly in India and the West.

There are no “good jihadist terrorists.”

What has caused an increase in terrorism in Pakistan is not Afghan refugees trying to survive there, but Pakistan’s own policies that, for decades, have empowered jihadist terrorists both domestically and abroad.

Pakistan has started the mass deportation of “unregistered” Afghans in the country. The move sends back hundreds of thousands of people who fled the Taliban when they took over in 2021 after American troops withdrew, and violates principles of refugee non-refoulement. If forcibly returned, these refugees are at risk of persecution.

Pakistan claims its mass deportations of these Afghans is due to “increased terrorism” in the country — but it was the government of Pakistan that for decades supported the Taliban in Afghanistan. Ever since they took over the country in 2021, Afghanistan has just become a safe haven for terrorist groups.

China’s Increased Bullying of Philippines to Test US Resolve by Lawrence A. Franklin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20259/china-bullying-philippines

Despite the allegedly warm atmosphere of the San Francisco Summit between China’s Communist Party leader Xi Jinping and US President Joseph Biden, the Chinese dictator reportedly told Biden, “that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided,” and “that China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force.”

It is clear that Xi is doubling down on his claim of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, starting with Taiwan, and understands that he might have only a few “good” months left.

American and Chinese military leaders have communicated by video link on December 21, after a hiatus of more than a year. Hopefully, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown took the opportunity to raise the issue of China’s bullying of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea with his Chinese counterpart, General Li Shang-fu.

The latest aggressive move by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took place when a Chinese Coast Guard boat deluged three Philippine vessels with water cannon on December 9 and 10. This assault resulted in severe engine damage to one of the Philippine vessels necessitating it to be towed to home port.

Another vessel found itself rammed by a Chinese boat. That incident took place near the Second Thomas Shoal, an island in waters also claimed by China. CCP bullying in 2023 also included threatening maneuvers by Chinese ships against Philippine maritime exploration for hydrocarbons and natural gas, as well as frequent harassment of Filipino fishermen. In a more serious encounter in February 2023, a Chinese patrol boat lasered Filipino sailors. China’s maritime aggression against Philippine efforts to resupply a military contingent on a marooned vessel on an island in disputed waters of what Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.

China’s repeated targeting of the Philippines appears possibly related to Manila’s decision to grant the US expanded military presence in the Philippines, by granting the US military access to four additional air and naval facilities, raising the number to nine. The newly installed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reversed the his predecessor’s policy: appeasing China.

How UNWRA Grooms Terrorists by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20258/unwra-grooms-terrorists

By providing the residents of the Gaza Strip with various services, UNRWA exempted Hamas from its responsibilities as the governing body, such as creating a working economy that would pay for education and healthcare, and allowed it, instead, to invest resources in building tunnels and manufacturing weapons.

“They [UNRWA] teach us that the Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to us [Muslims], that Palestine belongs to us,” said Atif Sharha, a student at an UNRWA school.

“Yes, they teach us that the Zionists are our enemy,” said Nur Taha, a third-year student from Kalandia. “We should carry out an [terror] operation against them [Zionists].”

“The Palestinian matriculation exams [at UNRWA] have become a finishing school in extremism. It is as if the Palestinian Authority is cramming as much hate into the tests as possible, to ensure the twelve previous years of indoctrination stay with them into adulthood.” — Marcus Sheff, CEO at the Institute for Cultural Peace and Tolerance in School Education, i24news.tv, July 23, 2023.

Despite years of considerable condemnation of the textbooks, newly produced editions, approved by UNRWA, are exponentially worse….

Whatever hopes that anyone may have held for the trustworthiness of UNRWA have long expired, and were arguably misplaced at the outset. UNRWA, in its current state, has proven itself irremediably defective, unworkable and yet another massive stain on the already scandalously stained UN.

It is high time for the international community and those who actually want a better future for the Palestinians to liquidate UNRWA and take actions that truly help the Palestinians move forward to a golden life.

World’s Most Dangerous Combination: China and Russia by Gordon G. Chang

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20257/china-russia-dangerous-combination

China and Russia are more than just working together. They are forming the core of a new axis. Around this core are proxies and proxies of proxies, such as Iran, North Korea, Algeria, and a host of terrorist groups.

The Chinese and Russian leaders are forming this grouping because they believe the United States, the final guarantor of the international system that frustrates them both, must be taken down. Xi, by, among other things, declaring a “people’s war” on America, has made it clear that the U.S. must be destroyed and Americans exterminated. Putin is less ambitious, only wanting the U.S. out of his way as he recreates the Russian Empire at its greatest extent.

“Washington has little leverage over Russia. There are no carrots to offer to Putin, and the sticks haven’t worked.” — Rebekah Koffler, author of Putin’s Playbook and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, to Gatestone, December 2023.

In other words, China and Russia are preparing to go to war together. As no country threatens either of them, they are undoubtedly thinking of perpetrating more acts of aggression.

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy knows how to end the greatest threat to American national security. That threat would be the combination of the world’s two most dangerous states: China and Russia.

“I would freeze the current lines of control,” the candidate told Fox News’s Jesse Watters during his prime time show, referring to the battlefields in Ukraine. “I would further make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine to NATO. That’s enough to get Putin to do the deal.”

“But I would require something even greater in return, Jesse,” Ramaswamy said. “Russia has to exit its military alliance with China.”

Putin will take the deal, the charismatic candidate assured Watters: “He’s gonna say, ‘Ok’ because I’m going to say, ‘We’ll reopen our economic relations with Russia and further, we’ll end the Ukraine war and also make sure NATO never admits Ukraine.’ “

Crossing the Line: Justifications for Terror Brendan Craig

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2023/12/crossing-the-line-justifications-for-terror/

“As a historical scholar once put it: first, they said, You have no right to live among us as Jews; then they said, You have no right to live as Jews; the Nazi regime simply reduced the historical anti-Semitism to its logical endgame: You have no right to live. Once a nation and its citizens cross that line, once they can see the “other” as less human, or simply not human at all, then no atrocity is unthinkable.”

There are no innocent British: I struggled, as a ten-year-old in 1975, to understand the news reports on our television; why my parents were so upset, particularly my English mother. “Disgusting,” they would murmur. “What kind of people could do this?” Every other week, it seemed back then, a new IRA bombing would make headlines. In September 1975 an IRA bomb exploded in the lobby of London’s Hilton Hotel. Two people were killed and sixty-three injured, many suffering limbs blown off and other horrific injuries.

There is an excellent book by a former IRA member, Eamon Collins, called Killing Rage, in which he explains the cold rationale behind the IRA’s terror tactics. The fact was, while there were some attempts to target British soldiers and military targets, the IRA hard-liners argued that all Brits were complicit in the long-running abuse of Irish nationals, and no tears should be wasted on collateral victims. The cause was all. And any means was justified by the end goals.

There are no innocent Chinese: It is unfortunate that the West has learnt almost nothing about Japanese atrocities of the 1930s. Unlike the Holocaust, Japan’s shameful past has been effectively papered over, in part because of the tremendously successful efforts of the US since the war to rebuild Japan as a modern Western ally.

WHO is None Too Keen on Jews Stephen Buetow & Kira Baccal

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/israel/2023/12/who-is-none-too-keen-on-jews/

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a United Nations agency whose primary focus is to improve global public health. It claims to be politically impartial and to use its technical expertise to bring scientific evidence to bear on international issues whose politics impact health. However, the WHO r over-reaches this scope of practice and fails to uphold its founding principles, including egalitarianism and neutrality in global health governance. The 2023 Israel‑Hamas war is the latest reminder that the WHO, in its 75th anniversary year, perpetuates anti‑Israel bias and anti-Semitism.

Like any form of racism, anti-Semitism is an intolerable moral evil of concern to all people who value human dignity and justice. By anti‑Semitism, we mean Jew-hatred, as codified in the 2016 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition, and not a reasoned debate about or legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy.

Indeed, political divisions are evident in Israel itself. They accommodate calls to increase respect for Palestinians’ right to health without delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist and dehumanizing Jews and Israelis, including the 20 per cent of Israeli citizens who are Arabs. Contemporary expressions of Jew-hatred include anti-Zionism. Amid increased anti-Westernism, it weaponizes the anti‑Semitism  that is surging worldwide.

Anti-Zionism is the new anti-Semitism because, as British commentator Melanie Phillips explained in 2019, to treat Israel “as a Jew among nations to be uniquely vilified, slandered, and exterminated” is anti-Semitic. This article demonstrates how the WHO exemplifies such bias, acts against the sovereign equality of states, and promotes Israel’s disengagement rather than cooperation in confronting health emergencies in crises like the Israel‑Gaza war. We will discuss how WHO’s treatment of, and communications about Israel, differ from its diplomatic response to other states and conflicts. WHO’s condemnation of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and international pressure for a ceasefire serve as a case study.

Differential treatment of Israel